Philippines' Wattpad Stories Publishers Review

Online shopping of books

How risky is Online Shopping?
I know right, the reasons for shopping online is because you can't find the book anymore, it's cheaper (but hello? Shipping Fee?), from the first edition down to the latest you want to have it, you just want to collect them all - bookemon (haha waley).

I suggest that you either
*Ask for a valid id or personal details.
--But even that also, bogus sellers have found a way like fake ids
Some are even proud to show off their ID but later on after you have paid you're blocked and that person has changed his/her name in Facebook.
*If you are in a Facebook group do a legit check.
*If you're in instagram or other social media platforms
-You should check how legit is that account. If it was freshly made, a dummy account etc.
*Ask for more photos
Make sure the items are onhand. You could ask them to take a selfie with the book, place the book near a tv whatsoever anything to prove that it's in their possession.

How about Self Published Books?
Don't think just because that author is popular he/she is already trustworthy. Yes, there are a lot of authors who make sure that you will receive the book but let us not rule out the possibility that there will be this author who would also fail to live up your expectations in receiving the book you ordered.

One great example would be...
I don't know if you are aware about this author. (I won't name that person) I'm a member of her Facebook group and all I can see there is posts about
"Refund na ang pera ko."
"May update na po ba ng libro?"
"Mag-dadalawang taon na pero wala pa rin gusto ko na pong kunin 'yung pera ko kasi kailangan ko na din."
"Kinasal na ako pero wala pa rin 'yung libro ko."
"I'm willing to take legal action because up to now wala pa ring nangyayari."
And so on...

I think there were hundreds or a thousand of complaints because they still haven't received the self published book they ordered. I won't judge that author she obviously has her reasons but look at the side of her readers, they are her customers. Money is involved in this matter. Number one rule is don't keep the customers' waiting for too long to the extent of... a year or years?! And considering the amount and quantity of those books ordered I could guess it amounted to a hundred thousand. And worse there are no updates coming from the author herself even though she went online even if it is only for a few minutes. Probably the most questionable situation that I've ever seen in terms of self published books.

Same goes with the admins of the author. Make sure that that admin is connected with the author because there were times that, that admin was already removed or no longer connected but they make transactions in behalf of or simply using the authors' name -
and the result? Scammed.

Online Shopping is a risk whether you know that person or not. The moment you transact with a person you are not looking at face to face you've already placed yourself on the risk line because you are not both in the same place at the same time. You can't even inspect the item you're buying thoroughly. You don't know if that person has sent you the item or not. Don't believe tracking numbers unless you see your name placed on it.

So how to avoid being scammed online?

*Buy books on warehouse sales (which is at a much cheaper price)
*Do meet ups (but sometimes even that too is being scammed by not showing up)
*Buy on legit websites like Summit, Pandayan, umm Psicom? (Sorry I don't support that publisher because up until now they don't do something about their books ending in "to be continued." They really have the guts to publish new stories and abandon the ones they've cliffhanged so long for the sake of marketing strategy. I better stop or I won't be able to hold it hahaha.)

I won't go around enumerating tips on how to avoid scammers it is up to you on how would you be able to get the assurance of receiving what you bought and that item you've bought is exactly the same as what was shown to you in the pictures.
I just want to say a simple advice:
"No one would be fooled if you won't allow yourself to be fooled."