Online shopping today has been massively adopted. It is not just the young generation or the techy ones, even our senior parents and grandparents are already into the hype of purchasing items online.
On top of it, the pandemic happened and going out to shop in malls and department stores is not recommended. These physical shopping centers have somehow lost a few percent of their income indeed due to this.
Tapping on your smartphone, swiping for items, adding to cart, and checking out is such a convenient thing to do. Even in the comfort of your home, you can do shopping. Plus, the addition of cash on delivery services had made this virtual buying even more applauded.
I must admit that I am one of those who had embraced online shopping. Although there are risks involved, as a first-time mother, I can't just help but settle with online shopping because physical shopping in malls and centers is just not a thing that I can afford to do right now especially that most babies can't get inside department stores. So, considering the risks like wrong items to be sent by the seller, expectation versus reality in terms of quality, and even damaged items, I have brushed them all off. I have relied heavily on reviews from others who had bought these items and believe it or not, in my years of buying items online, it's just my first time to return something back to the seller.
Matti's Safety
Since Matti learned to crawl, I had been concerned with our bed. We custom built this bed, it's king-size but the height is not safe for a very active baby.
We co-sleep and I have been used to getting sleepy too when I breastfeed him. In fact, my mother would laugh at me for sleeping first. We do the side-lying position for this so it is very easy for me to sleep while feeding the baby. By the way, there's a special hormone that is produced when the baby latches which causes mom to become drowsy, it has a scientific explanation to it so it is not just because I am lazy and get to sleep first but because of the love hormone.
One time, I woke up finding no Matti beside me. I was shocked to find him on the floor, playing with the diapers. It felt like cold water was splashed into my sleepy body and I inspected him. He wasn't crying and there were no signs of any bruises at all so I kept on asking him why he was on the floor. I knew I just slept for maybe five minutes.
I know it was my fault for sleeping as well as for not babyproofing our bed and so I kept this event to myself and then shared it with my mother, I didn't tell James first because he is a little strict and I might get a mouth from him for neglecting Matti's safety. I know it was very dangerous and I thank God that He had kept Matti safe, without any signs of wounds or whatever.
I just had the courage to tell James about it when the same event happened again but thankfully, he was there with us in bed and he wasn't angry at all, he just laughed at me for keeping it from him for a while.
Bed Rail
I had been contemplating if I should check out this item and after a lot of thinking and talking with James about it, I finally hit the checkout button.
First, I thought we could just ditch the bed frame and put our bed directly on the floor but our bed has an eight inches thickness and that could still harm Matti.
So, I thought we'll just get a bed rail instead. So I shopped online on Shopee and found one which costs Php 1299 for a 2-meter bed rail.
I ordered it on the 23rd of June and it was delivered on the first of July. It took a week and this is already a fast one considering that we live in the province, the item comes from Manila, it was shipped to Cebu then from Cebu to Tagbilaran then to Guindulman where we are.
As soon as we received the package, we opened it and tried assembling it because these parents are already excited! However, my husband had a headache trying to figure it out. First, the size of the rail is not 2 meters but just 1.5 meters. Then the metal rods do not fit each other thus making these rods useless.
Return and Refund
This was the very first time that I have to return a package back to the seller. I contacted the seller, sent pictures and I am glad that the seller was responsive. He or she immediately apologized for the wrong size item and told me to request for the item to be refunded. The seller as well asked me to reorder the item and he will give me a discount. According to him, the item will be priced at Php 1149 instead of Php 1299. I agreed to this negotiation and immediately requested for return and refund.
Shopee's return and refund process are not too hard at all as the steps can all be done with just a few clicks. The only downside though is dropping the item in a courier's branch.
Drop Item to J&T Jagna
On Saturday, July 10th, we decided to drop the item at J&T Jagna Branch. There's a J&T warehouse in our town but they can't accept drop-offs so we have to go to Jagna, that's the nearest to our town. While it is a bit of work going there, I happily obliged to go because it means a get away from the house and it is not every day that we get to go outside.
I thought it would take some time but the drop-off happened in less than two minutes! The front desk just asked for the digital airway bill, scanned it, and stick it to the package! I am glad we didn't throw any packaging so it looked like the item was never been opened at all!
I was glad it didn't take a lot of time!
Snack at Snack Shack
After dropping the item, my husband agreed that we visit this eatery in Jagna which offers sweets and desserts and Samgyupal too! I wish James is a fan of Samgyupsal we could have eaten our lunch there but he is not so we just ate some desserts and had milk tea.
Boy, I like how the owner had designed the cafe plus the food items look appealing. I must blog about it some other time instead and would just give you a glimpse of how the cafe looks.
Conclusion
Purchasing items online is convenient but it also has risks. If you are okay with the risks, then there's no doubt that online shopping is for you.
But if it's the other way around, then you must reconsider buying from shopping applications like Shopee or Lazada.
Returning an item to the seller doesn't take a lot of time, at least in my experience, perhaps there are different situations per courier. Again, it all boils down to the weight of risks that you can afford. Enjoy shopping!
xoxo,
mommy jean of momentswithmatti
Love harder than any pain you've ever felt.
My parents told me that I fell from the bed when I was still a baby. Then my dad blamed my mom and vice versa. 😆 they said I was only a few months old and they were surprised that I did not cry when I fell. They just woke up and realized I was not in bed. They said that my guardian angel must have carried me when I was about to fall out of the bed.
With regards to returning items. I had encountered one way back mid 2019. The seller was too late to inform on where to drop it so I went to LBC and I covered for the shipping fee back to the sender. The fee cost a lot more than the refund. After that, we never return any items.