Before I began, I should confess that I am a big fan of online shopping. I could not figure out the reason why anyone would not be. After all, with online shopping, you can do your shopping 24/7 without leaving the comfort of your chair or well, sofa if you are a couch potato like me. You do not have to spend time traveling to the mall. You do not have to spend time queueing just to pay for your purchase. And the best part, during the year's peak shopping season like the Black Friday, you do not have to risk losing your life being crushed in a stampede. I know it is not always happen but the idea of having to queue in the cold for hours simply turned me off.



Of all the things that I bought through online shopping, one of them is wristwatches. Is it really safe to buy watches online? You may ask. My answer is it depends. It depends on how much time you are willing to invest in research. Frankly speaking, if you are looking at watches that cost less than $50, I would say just go for it. I'm not trying to undermine your importance. The contrary is true. With a budget of less than $50, the best place to hunt for your favorite watch is online. You can browse through all the watches to your heart content. For less than $50 budget, you can go for brands such as Geneva. For less than $100, Relic watches do offer quite wide variety of chic watches. You do not have to worry about the sales person tailgating you or pestering you into buying or leaving. You can simply walk into any online watch store and leave if there is no watch model that strikes your interest. All these without feeling guilty of not buying.

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One tricky part about buying watches online is of course the warranty that comes with the watch. You need to go through the terms and conditions offered by the watch dealers. You need to confirm the authenticity of their warranty. I've heard many cases where buyers are tricked into thinking that the warranty is genuine, only to find out later that it is not when they brought their watches for repair or servicing. Make sure that you have done a background check on the online watch store that you are buying.



Do not be tempted by deals that sound too good to be true. If they seem too good to be true, high chance is they are. I know in places like eBay, there are times when you can find fashion watches such as Relic watches, are selling there for prices that are significantly lower than their recommended retail price. However, make sure you cross check the reputation of the seller and not your impulse take over your sanity.



Another tricky thing about buying watches online is to verify the genuinity of the watches. If you are into established brands such as Tag Heuer, Citizen or Casio, you can try to check if they are authorized dealers or AD. For certain brands like Tag Heuer for instance, you would be able to find the list of authorized dealers from their official website. When you have found the perfect watch, make sure you compare its price with at least two or three other online watch retailers. Pay extra attention to the model serial number of your watch. An extra character or number in the serial number should raise doubts and do not take it for granted that they are two of the same. They might be two different models entirely that can indeed amount to significantly different price tags.



As you can see, buying watches online may lead you to some good bargains but one that comes with its own set of risks.