Good afternoon ladies! Hope you're having a chill Friday. I just finished with an 8am event at SM Megamall, (Yes, some events can be THAT early. :D) and I'm just chilling somewhere before I head home. We have a very good Fan Mail Fridays query today, and it is from one of my avid readers, Joan Danielle. I'm sure you will all benefit from it, especially those who love online shopping. :)


Hello Ms. Martha, 

For the longest time now, I've been wanting to buy make up online in Multiply stores. However, I have 3 problems, 1. I don't have a credit card, 2. I don't know which Multiply stores are reliable, and 3. I don't really understand the whole online shopping process. So I was wondering if you can make a guide on online shopping? 

Joan Danielle


Photo Credits: iamthecoffeechic.com

Hi Joan Danielle!

Thank you for the question! Ah, Online shopping-the wave of the future. Everybody is into it because it's fast, easy, and convenient. However, the biggest risk here is cyber fraud. Many criminals saw the online shopping world as a potential place to execute crimes without being caught as it is such a huge and free environment where identities can be faked easily, and there are no strict restrictions on cyber activities except copyright infringement, human trafficking, and plagiarism. For a time, it has been a toxic place for most people because petty crimes have enormously evolved into serious ones. (Would you believe that there was this woman who bought a non-existent house and lot on a buying and selling site for P1,000,000.00, deposited the money to the agent's account, and ended up with nothing but fake documents!?!) But despite all these, a lot of people still love online shopping because it is where you can get tons of unique and cheap finds, most especially clothes. Your only defense against cyber criminals is intelligence: Do a lot of background checks on a particular online shopping site/dealer. It's a lot of work but I'm sure you don't want to waste your hard earned money, do you?

I've been an online seller/shopper since 2004 and I'm pretty confident to say that I already know my way around the online shopping world. So here's a list-based on my experiences-of online shopping tips from the basics to being a smart online shopper.

Click READ MORE and be a smart online shopper now!