We were travelling back from Gower this afternoon and had Nation Radio South Wales playing. It’s a decent station because there’s not much talk and plenty of decent music. Today though they had a phone in from someone who sounded uncannily like Zak from Prezzybox asking “Is online shopping safe and is it legal”.

The legal question was dismissed fairly quickly, although the listener didn’t seem to take the answer of “yes it is” on board. The issue of is online shopping safe though sparked some interesting debate and had myself and Jude laughing at the advice offered.

The DJ asked the expert how to be safe when shopping online. The expert (who’s name we missed) said “use a .co.uk website” (so that’s play.com, firebox.com, hmv.com, prezzybox.com amongst many others dismissed), “look for a padlock” (he didn’t explain this too well) and “look for a visa card symbol” (obviously dodgy sites can’t forge these then!).

If you thought that was bad… it got better!

Another suggestion the expert came up with was “go to the warehouse”. Yes, if you’re unsure of an online site you should jump in your car and drive to their warehouse. That makes sense! Oh and if you’re really concerned “pay cash”.

It’s at that point even the DJ started to question the credibility of his expert “you pay cash online” he asked!

However, he should really have known that this segment of the show wasn’t going to go well. As part of the discussion his expert suggested that you don’t just go into a normal shop and buy something. Instead you first check out the “shelves”, “if the staff had uniforms”, “engage in a chat with the manager” and “test the sturdiness of the counter”.

Even the bewildered caller was bemused at this advice and said quite firmly that when he goes into a shop he doesn’t worry too much about the quality of the counter and the attire of the staff.

In affiliate marketing we often forget that there are still thousands of shoppers who aren’t comfortable with using online stores. It’s up to us to make sure visitors to our sites understand how things work, even more so in the light of sites being closed down.

However, all online activity is hindered if media use complete idiots to explain to readers or listeners how things work and make ridiculous comments. Nation Radio please stick to the music in future (although to be fair it was damn funny radio).

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