The Pratfalls of Online Shopping

Getting a debit card might be the worst thing that’s ever happened to me; compiled with the internet, the two opened Pandora’s Box, rowed me across the River Styx and into Dante’s Inferno.

By CC Staff

My parents were always adamant about me not having a credit card and I actually agreed with them. It would just be too dangerous. But the debit card still enables me (and I wouldn’t hesitate to say it encourages me) to online shop unabashedly. Or at least until the honey pot runs dry.

In today’s New York Times, there was an interesting article about unintentionally buying/signing up for things online and then being charged for them for months, even years, without noticing. While this specifc problem might be contained to a specific generation (cough, your parents, cough), online shopping can be a different kind of issue when you’re just too good at the internet, like me.

Or so I thought. Ebay, I have found, is the greatest evil on the internet. I find one million things I want, usually designer and usually from China, and somehow I can justify paying ridiculous sums of money for them because they are still cheaper than they would be off-the-rack.

My most embarassing experience was paying $75 for what I thought was a Marc Jacobs messenger bag– it turned out to be a crappy clutch with a strap. I’ve never been so ashamed. I really should invest in measuring tape and improve my concept of size.

Nevertheless, the MJ messenger bag debacle cured me of my addiction for some time. But my internet is always there, as is my debit card. Thus, the demons linger…