How To Find Online Retailers You Can Trust Leave a comment

When it comes down to it, we at Sterilizer Autoclave Solutions like to be as informative as possible. Whether it’s about our autoclaves and their inner workings, or current events within our part of the industry, the more you know the better. And that continues today with this article talking about online retailers and how to do your proper research to find one you can trust.

Online Retailers are nothing new of course, but the facts are that millions of dollars have been taken due to many different factors that shady resellers employ. And with the huge spike in online shopping due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this information is more valuable than ever. Some things are near impossible to get anywhere else but online, and scammers love to take advantage of that every chance they get. 

With that reality in mind we have some tips that we’d like to share on how to trust a reseller. And if you just want to talk to someone for any questions you may have, call our Free Tech Support at 704-966-1650 Option 3.

Always Read Reviews 

Reading a companies reviews will always give you great information. Even if a company has high ratings and reviews, that’s not always a sign of truth. Even the 5 star reviews. Always make sure that the reviews match the company and products they sell. And look through them all to get an overall feel for who you are purchasing from. 

Remember to also check the time in which the reviews were all posted for the product. Any cluster of reviews around a certain time frame indicate that the reviews could all be solicited. And any reviews that are short, one or two word phrases: “great” or “fantastic” shouldn’t carry any weight as being a satisfied customer.

It’s very important to read the bad reviews too, as they can also give you insight. They may be able to tell you how that seller operates or handles their business. Customers will write a bad review at the drop of a hat, but it’s difficult to get a satisfied customer to spend the same time praising a good transaction. You want to see how the online retailer responds to bad reviews to see if there was a real issue (and if the retailer helped the problem), or if it’s just a disgruntled customer complaining about something that is not the retailers fault. Reading the reviews will tell you a lot about an online retailers true customer service.

Research the Seller

If the reviews seem good, try doing some research on the seller specifically. Check to see if they sell other places online. Find anything you can to ensure the seller is legitimate and established in the market.

Test the Seller

Maybe there’s not enough information to go off of as your search continues. You’ve searched and looked through a lot and you’re still unsure of what to do. Well, you can always test the seller.

A lot of times, the sellers are bots set up for situations like this. So you can always try and figure out if it’s a real person or not by testing them. Send them a non-generic question or something product-specific. Something that a bot definitely cannot answer. 

Top rated sellers usually respond within 12-24 hours of the message’s delivery. 

Look for the Red Flags

This step is probably the easiest of the bunch, purely because it’s mainly about asking yourself the right questions. The most apparent question being: “is it too good to be true?” If the deal makes you ask yourself that, then the answer is more often than not yes. 

Ask and think about how recently the seller’s account has been made. Is the account brand new? Has it been there awhile? And when asking that, also ask this in tandem: “is the retailer well versed in this product?” In other words…does this retailer specialize in the product you want (like autoclaves), or do they sell autoclaves along with chairs, refrigerators, new trendy items, software, and more.

The answers to these questions will probably help narrow down your search a whole lot once you start finding trustworthy sellers. 

What Do They Offer? 

When you buy a product online, it’s not always 100% guaranteed to work when it arrives. Anything can be in perfect condition but no one expects the unexpected. So then what do you do? You try and reach out to whoever sold it to you, maybe one person, a small company, etc. and ask for help. But is that always what you’ll get?

For example, we here at Statim have some options such as the following:

Free Tech Support lines at no extra cost to help you for when you need help with something you’ve purchased from us (and we help even if you didn’t buy from us). But will all sellers give you that same courtesy? Because if you buy something that’s said to be working and the end product doesn’t, or if your complaints or notices fall on deaf ears to an indifferent seller then you’re out of luck.

Stanley Sterilizer Virtual Tech Support is another one of our services, albeit quite new. Stanley Sterilizer gives you the option to get more specific support by talking directly to a technician automatically. You can talk via text, email or even video chat. And you can even send a photo or video of your issue, and receive a photo or video from our technicians to help you resolve your exact issue.

You need to make sure that your seller can offer some sort of help or support for your product before and after-the-fact. At SAS we offer free support before, during, and after a purchase even if you did not buy from us.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to online shopping, it can sometimes be hard to figure out who to trust and who not to. And with the huge spike in online shopping due to the pandemic, it’s vital to know that you know how to not get taken advantage of. Hopefully our guide can help you sort the trusted online retailers from those who aren’t worth your time or money.

As always if you have any questions about this process or anything else please feel free to contact us and take advantage of our “FREE TECH SUPPORT.”

We also offer FREE VIRTUAL TECH SUPPORT to “See and Talk” with a “Real Time Live Technician” for any problems you may be in need of help with.

You can also use our “FREE MAINTENANCE PROGRAM”. Take the guesswork and worrying about what unit is due for maintenance and which maintenance cycle it is time for. We will keep track of all your autoclaves and let you know when it’s time for anything.