(WXMI) — With Thanksgiving weekend behind us, the holiday season continues with Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday.
We spoke with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) on things to keep in mind while shopping for last-minute deals and what to consider if you’re planning on donating to charity.
President & CEO Lisa Frohnapfeo wants to remind everyone of the key rule to follow when scouting for deals regardless of what time of year it is.
“If the deals are too good to be true, they probably are,” she says. “Before you do any purchases, make sure that the business is actually legitimate.”
Lisa also recommends checking the website’s URL and making sure it is a secure website before entering your credit card information.
When shopping on a mobile device, it pays to take the time to pull up the website on a computer to ensure “https” appears in the URL, especially if you’ve never purchased from that business before.
In case you do get scammed, the BBB stresses that all purchases should be made with a credit card.
“Make sure that you're doing it with your credit card because that way can be tracked back,” says Lisa. “Otherwise, you really have a very slim chance of any recourse on there.”
She also says to double-check the return policy on gift cards to make sure the recipient will have time to use them.
While the BBB has a list of businesses it tracks, not all companies that are unlisted are necessarily illegitimate. In those instances, they recommend looking up reviews on other sites.
However, be wary of potentially fake reviews.
“A lot of times, what you'll notice is it'll be the same review put in multiple times; it'll just have somebody's name change,” says Lisa. “Or … they'll go ahead and have a comment that's made; it'll say ‘great comment.’ And then all of a sudden, you'll notice right afterwards is something derogatory that was said about how it's not a legitimate website or the product was bad or it took a really long time to get the item.”
She says if you suspect any red flags, there’s a good chance the same or similar item can be found through another seller.
While it’s commonly believed that the elderly fall victim to scams more than any other age group, the BBB says Gen Z is scammed more often.
“I think a lot of times it's because we get so in the mode of clicking on our phone, click, click, click, work through the websites,” Lisa suggests. She says it’s best to take the time to make sure the website is legitimate and to stay away from sellers who only accept payment from services like Venmo or Zelle.
If you would like to make a donation on Giving Tuesday, the BBB recommends viewing their list of approved charities or paying a visit to Give.org. Again, it is strongly advised to pay with a credit card and review the website’s URL.
The BBB adds if you’re looking to make tax-exempt donations, make sure the business is a 503(c)(3) business. They say only those businesses are eligible.
“They should be giving you a receipt that shows that you did the contributing, and then they'll go ahead and provide how much you gave,” says Lisa. “And then it gives their information so that you can provide that to your tax person.”
Bottom line, whether you’re buying or donating, the BBB says to always check the fine print.
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