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Gothic Shoe Purchasing - 10 Tips To Ease Your Online Purchase

It wasn’t long ago, that the only way you could buy a pair of shoes was to get up off the couch, get yourself looking right and get yourself to the local shoe store. Try on a few or more pair of shoes and/or boots. Then choose which pair or pairs you wanted and off you went home with your brand new shiny shoes.

For the people who had very distinct tastes in footwear there were several mail order catalogs that would cater to their particular styles. However, these were few and far between and what seemed like only the people in the know had the resources to find the really good catalogs.

More and more, people are buying shoes online. It is just falling in with the trends of modern life, it is convenient, and you can accomplish a lot of comparisons without traveling all over town. However, the biggest reason we are turning to the internet for footwear purchases is the accessibility to specific brands, styles and sizes that we are not going to find easily in our local shoe stores. Let’s be honest with ourselves, only if you live in a major metropolitan area are you going to find a pair of 5” platform black knee high boots with stainless steel buckles up the shafts.

However, not all online gothic shoe stores are created equal, so here are 10 quick tips for purchasing gothic shoes online.

1.    The biggest obstacle to purchasing gothic shoes (any type of shoe) online is size and fitment. Does the online merchant have a detailed size and fitting chart and procedures? And be honest with yourself it will really benefit you, if you know you wear a size 10, don’t order a 9 just because you think 10s are big and maybe this style runs small. Ask the retailer, they will give you good sound advice if they are a reputable merchant.

2.    The second biggest concern to purchasing shoes online is appearance. Many people are concerned that the shoes that are pictured on the advertisement will not look the same when they arrive. Unfortunately there are some unavoidable obstacles when it comes to personal perception. There can be details that will not be prevalent in photographs and you have to understand this and have the mindset that some variation is acceptable. However, if there are large differences, you should not hesitate to express this to the vendor and ask for a return or exchange. This brings us to the next tip.

3.    What is the merchants return policy and is it clearly available and understandable? Make sure you understand if you have to return or exchange your purchase, who pays for return shipping, what kind of fees will be incurred? Re-stocking fees, under what circumstances does re-stocking fees occur?

4.    Another large concern for purchasing Gothic Shoes from an online merchant is the possibility of the merchant selling counterfeit products. Some counterfeit products are very difficult to identify. The easiest way to determine if the merchant is selling authentic merchandise is to check with the manufacturer. All manufacturers have records of what companies and websites are authorized to sell their products. You should be able to find manufacturers contact information through web searches, if not ask your potential merchant for their manufacturer’s representative contact information, the vendor should never deny you this information, if they do, they have something to hide and should not be trusted.

5.    So you are confident you have the right size, you are certain the Gothic Store is selling authentic merchandize and you are ready to order. Always use a credit card, never send cash or Money Order and if you are going to use a debit card, be very familiar with what protections your bank gives you on purchases made with your debit card. Credit Cards give you the most security possible. It gives you avenues to dispute charges and recover your hard earned money. If you are having problems with an online purchase, do not hesitate to contact your credit card company. They charge you enough to use their card, take advantage of the services they provide. No merchant wants a chargeback on their account; not only does it reverse the charges, it costs them at least $25.00 and if they get too many, their ability to accept credit cards will be revoked. This brings us to our next tip,

6.    Make sure the Gothic Store’s website is secured with encryption, so your personal information cannot be intercepted while you are using their website. All internet browsers give an indicator to whether or not a website is secured. In the Firefox browser a small padlock will appear in the lower right hand corner of the browser window. In the Internet Explorer browser a padlock will appear in the address bar at the top of the browser window. Please check your particular browsers way of indicting a secure connection to the website. Do not enter any personally identifiable information into a webpage that is not secured. Also, all reputable Gothic Online Stores should have prominent links to their security and merchant services vendors, click these links and verify the web site’s claims. Any halfway knowledgeable webmaster can copy any graphic file and use it to claim they are verified, however the link will not actually verify a fake merchant.

7.     Does the Merchant provide complete contact information? Including a phone number, email address, snail mail address and fax number? Most reputable merchants will provide all of these.

8.    Ask the merchant some questions. Does the merchant respond promptly? All online merchants survive solely on excellent customer service. Let’s face it, if you can’t meet the people you are dealing with, they better respond to any inquiries you have.

9.    Is there a warranty on the product you are purchasing? If there is who honors that warranty? The manufacturer or the vendor? How do you request warranty service?

10.    Understand the gothic store’s privacy policy. First make sure there is a clear and accessible privacy policy. All reputable merchants should have an easily accessible and clearly composed privacy policy. Understand what identifiable information will be collected and what does the merchant intend to do with that information is very important. There are a lot of unscrupulous merchants online that will sells its customer lists to marketing firms in return for payment. This will cause you to receive more junk mail; reputable merchants should value their customer’s information as their most precious asset and safeguard it as their own.

With these 10 helpful tips taken in consideration and staying aware of the potential problems, your shopping trip to your favorite online Gothic Clothing Store should be not only be successful it should be enjoyable and a little less stressful.

About the Author

Doug Scheck is an online retailer and IT Consultant with over 5 years retail experience and 15 years Information technologies experience. His company, Fade to Black, LLC owns and operates several online retail stores specializing in Gothic Clothing, Leather Lingerie and Biker Hide - Motorcycle Apparel. All of which have a similar color based in Black, hence the company name Fade to Black, LLC.

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