Buying Equestrian Equipment Online - terrifying or easy?
Purchasing anything online can be daunting but it certainly doesn't have to be. We've put together our top tips for what to look for when purchasing for you and your horse online.
7 ONLINE SHOPPING TIPS FOR EQUESTRIANS
- Purchase from reputable websites. If someone is selling something cheap on a Facebook group it may be genuine, but remember you're highly unlikely to receive customer support or warranty when buying from someone who is not an official re-seller of that brand. This is especially important for helmets!
- Pay via secure methods. If a website doesn't offer you PayPal or Credit Card payments stay away. This screams scamming! Any website will happily accept Bank Deposits (and if that's how you'd prefer to pay no trouble at all) but have a look to see that they also accept other payment methods such as PayPal or Credit Card.
- Take a look at the manufacturers website and see if they list re-sellers on their website. If the shop you're planning to purchase from is not listed, reach out to the brand themselves and check you're purchasing from a genuine re-seller so you will be covered with warranty.
- Customer service! If there's no phone number to call this is also a red flag. Businesses like to be reachable not only via the internet but personally over the phone. If you can't get in touch with them via phone think twice.
- Shop from places that offer assistance and go out of their way to help you. A shop that will go the extra mile for you is generally a good place to shop. Small businesses rely on their customers so will often be more helpful then purchasing from a large "industry" type website.
- Sign up to Newsletters! You'll often save on your first order and you will be among the first to know about the best deals and new products. You may also receive extra discount codes to use on future purchases as well as receiving great updates about what's going on.
- Check out the business Facebook and Instagram pages. If there are no reviews this is also a signal to stay away. Business who are genuine and treat their customers well will always want reviews to be shown (good or bad experiences). Facebook reviews can't be filtered like website reviews so Facebook will show any review that has been left by a customer. If a business is not showing reviews on Facebook but have 100% 5 star reviews on their website their covering up from customers bad experiences and this should be a sign for you to steer clear!
We hope these few tips will help you when shopping for all your equestrian needs!
