How to make a purchase online

What we are going to do now is just have a look through how to make an online purchase. Now, this is a basic skill, and what we are looking at, putting some things into your shopping cart and then going through the basic checkout process. Now if you are doing this as a full qualification, as in regulated qualification, then one of the tests you have to do is actually run through buying something using a test site, using a fake credit card, and actually going through that process. And that is one of the exam questions that you have to deal with so it is worth just having a little bit look at the details on how to do this. So now we are on here, this is a first aid supplies company, so what we are going to do is have a look through it.

So when you are looking on the website, you need to find the product you are after to start with. So with this particular site here, we can either put search words in here or we can use the menu. So the first time we are going to go just to have a look through, and we are just going to put "Pet first aid kit". So what we are trying to do is find a first aid kit for our pets. So we have hit the search button and it has come up with three options here. So we need to decide which one we want. So we want advanced, we want a normal pet first aid or an instructor? Well, we are not instructors, but we are going to go for maybe this advanced pet first aid kit. So what you do is click on the product, and once you clicked on a product, you can see more information about it.

So this particular website is aimed mainly at business people, but also at the general public. So we quote the prices on here excluding VAT but also list them as what they are including VAT. So when you are on websites, always be aware of some of them will be quoting prices excluding VAT. Now, this makes quite a difference because the current rate is 20% difference in the VAT figure. So with here, this price here is £18, but it goes up to £20.60... Sorry, £21.60, including VAT. Now, when you are actually looking at the price in your cart, some websites will display that as excluding VAT, and then they will add the VAT later on. So the first thing to do is be aware of it, but as you can see here, it is very clear exactly how much the product is with the VAT and without the VAT. The reason they are separate is if you are a business, you may well be able to claim that VAT back, so you want to know the excluding VAT price.

What you can also do with the product is pan down and have a look at information about it, so this particular one tells you exactly what is inside this kit. You can also go along a secondary menu here where it says specifications, and here, the only thing here is a product code. So if we just switch back to the information page, and then we have a look at the information there, and then we can see with this, we have got a drop-down menu. And sometimes, when you are buying products, you will see these drop-down menus. Now, the reason for it is there are choices to be made about this particular product. So if we just click on here, it will say, "Do we want a single first aid kit or a pack of five?" So if we have a single kit, then that is the price. But if we change that to a pack of five, then you see the price has gone up to £79 ex VAT and we are buying five. So let us just switch that back to a single kit. Now, we want to put that into our basket.

So there will always be words similar to "Buy it now" or "Buy" or "Add to basket", so we will click on this. It has then got a little message popped up, and it says that we have added this to our basket. We have got a remove button if we want to take it out. We got a quantity button, so if we did want to have two of them, we can just literally click on the plus and it will increase it to two, so let us just put that back down to one. We can go to check out. Go to check out means we are now... We are done, we just want to buy that one product. But for this example, we want to buy a few products, so we go to the bottom left and we say... Click there where it says "Continue shopping". So what we are going to do now, so we have got a pet first aid kit, we now want to get a human first aid kit, so we want one for ourselves. So what you can do then is instead of using the search at the top, let us have a look at how we can use these menus across the top.

So these menus will be the same in all sorts of different types of websites. Here we have got defibrillators, we have got CPR mannequins and also first aid. So if we just click on that, it will come up with a message, another drop-down message, and we can pick which one we want. So we want first aid kits, so let us just click on first aid kits. And then we have got another menu. This is often how websites are created, you look at the individual product you are after, and there is a grouping, and then there might be lots of different choices. So in this example here, we have got different choices, we have got workplace first aid kits, burns kits, catering, children's and so on. So we are going to have a look at this, we will say, "Well, we want a first aid kit," say, a workplace first aid kit, and then here we have got lots of different ones to choose from. So you can pick whichever one you want and you can find more information about it, or you can buy it straight away.

Let us just go back up to the top and we are going to have a look at more information about this one. Now sometimes on website's stores, you see a quick view. So if we just click the quick view, another window will pop up and it gives you a little bit more information about that, so you have a picture of it, and we have got a video on the right-hand side that tells you all about this particular first aid kit. If we want to, we can also directly add it to the basket, we can change the quantity in this field by either typing it in, so if we want 70 of them, we can have 70, or we can switch that down to one, or they will often have a little button on the right-hand side which means you can just increase them one to whatever at a time, so we put that down to one.

So if you just wanted to buy that kit, we can hit the "Add to basket" and it will buy it. Or if you want more information, we want the full product details, this will go to another page where the main site is, which is very similar to the one that we saw on the pet first aid one. And so here you can see the price is £22.19, excluding VAT, which is £26.63 including VAT. We can go through, we can see a video about it, we have got text about it, we can see the contents of it. It is worth just looking at the bottom page, we have rather got related products. Often, websites will have other suggested products that might be interesting to you if you are buying that one. Also, recently viewed items, as you can see there, are the two items that we viewed. So we are going back up to the top of the page.

We want to buy this, so we can add it to the basket. Now what you will also see on some websites, I think here, it says "Adds to a wishlist." If you have got an account set up with the company, you can add it to a list. So if you are going through thinking, "Well, I want these items," rather than just putting them in your basket, and if you have no intention of buying them now, you can then save them later on. So that is a wishlist. And some websites will let you set up more than once, so you might well be going through a website and thinking, "Well, I'll do this for Christmas presents," or "I want to get... " and another list of stuff that I want. So that is literally... To add it into the basket, we can just hit the "Add to basket."

Now, just before we do that, there is one thing worth looking at. A lot of websites will also have reward schemes. Now what you see here, you will earn... That rewards on the purchase. So the way often these rewards work, is that if you are buying a product, then you will get rewards, and say, 25, 26, whatever, points, will mean so much in credit against a future purchase. So the advantage of it is, is the more you buy from this particular company, the more credit you will get for later purchases. So if you do buy regularly from a company, it can mean you can build up credit and then you get something for free. So what we will do now is just add that to the basket, and you see now there are two products on the screen. You see the pet first aid kit we bought earlier and also the BSI first aid kit.

So what we will do now, just do one more, we will just run through, and along the top here, we can pick menus. Sometimes these menus are on the side, but what we will do now is just go onto this one and we can have a look at all different sorts of things on here. So if there is something particularly we want here, then we are not sure of what category it is in, we can just view it all. So the "View all" button, rather than will just show one small section, it then shows all the products in that particular section. So as you can see here, it is opening up lots of different categories and we can make a selection. So pretending we want to buy, I do not know, a stethoscope, we have got stethoscopes on here, you pick the one you want. So we will just go for this one here. We can hover over it.

This time, what we will do is we will look at the quick view and we will see this one, £34.95. And what we will do with that one is we will add that onto the basket. So we just literally click there. As you see now, the three products. So rather than this time clicking "Continue Shopping," we are happy that everything we have got there is what we want, we can then hit "Click here to go to the checkout." So this is the stage where we can oversee the order. Now, different websites will have different ways and systems it works. Some will show your shopping cart, some will ask for your personal details, but basically, they all need the same sorts of information. Now on this screen, it is showing what the shopping cart is. So down here, we have got the pluses and the minus, so maybe want to buy an extra pet first aid kit to give one to somebody else, we can change that.

And what it would do on the right-hand side then is quickly update the price. So it has now put the price in there for two of them. If you want to, along here, you can remove a product or you can save it for later. So if you are logged in, you can save that product. Lower down, it gives you all the key information you are likely to need. So we have the subtotal, which is the total excluding VAT. We then have a delivery charge and we have VAT, and we have had the total amount at the bottom. Now when you are buying from the sites that are ex-VAT, it is worth remembering that the subtotal will be an ex-VAT price. The VAT, in this example here, the delivery is free over £250 ex VAT. So because we are less than that, we are paying £7.95 for the delivery. And then what happens is the VAT is then added on to give the total. So the price that you will pay is this price down here.

So we have then got two ways of paying. Now, one would be through PayPal. So if you have got a PayPal account, you can click on the PayPal icon, and what that would do is it will then take you to a log-in screen where you log into your PayPal account. You are not then giving this company your credit card details. You secure who you are with PayPal. PayPal will then allocate the payment, and you buy it that way round. So it is all integrated and easy. Now, what we will do now is just show you how we do a manual checkout. So we click on the checkout and then we have got another page popped up, and on this page, it is asking you some more details. It is confirming the actual order on the right side. And the left-hand side is asking you to start with some details. So what we are going to do here is put an initial email in.

Sometimes they will ask you to secure... To do it twice, just to confirm it. But you see, is... It will tick in there, it is recognised, that it is a genuine email address. So what it is doing then, we can then go into the checkout. So it is confirming the details here, and then it needs to know what the delivery details are. So if you click that button, it will then take you to another screen where you can put more details. So on here, we are just going to put just some random details. So full name, the company, if it is a company it is going to. If it is just your personal address, then you will not need to have a company name there. And then here, you will put the address. Some websites will have a system where you can just enter the postcode and your house number and it will find it directly. We will just put in the address of where I am now. And if there is an extra line to it, you can put it in here.

I will just keep this quicker now, but we could put our full address in there. You see the red asterisks, the red asterisks mean it must be entered. So you will see that... And different websites will have different things. So this one, the full name has to be there, the address has to be there, and the town has to be there, and the postcode. So what we will do now is put this down as Colchester. The county is optional, but we will put that in any way. Postcode and then the country. Now the website knows because of your IP address of where you are actually using the site from, it should be able to detect what country you are actually in. But if it does not, you can then hit the button here and you can change it. Either type in there and change it or just move it down on the drop-down menu.

Now, telephone numbers, are often optional on these websites, but it is usually worth putting them in. We know from when we are dealing with products, that sometimes you do need to phone the customer up, or maybe the carrier, we need to phone up to find out exactly where you are or confirm an order. So if you have got one, always put a phone number in just so the company knows who you are. Now this box here, the same address as the billing address. The reason this is there is if you were, say, buying this on your personal credit card, but you want it being sent to your work address, you need to specify which is your credit card billing address and which is your delivery address. The reason for this is the security on your credit card is always linked to the home address or wherever that is linked to.

So if we try and buy this with a credit card, it will then try and check your address against the one on the credit card, but it will find out it is different. So an example here, if I did this from home, my postcode at home is different and my house number is different. And they are the two requirements they usually check against. The house number in this example would be 22, and the postcode is looking at the numbers in the postcode, the three eights, and this is the way that it can confirm it. So here is defaulted, as the billing address is the same, but if you take that tick out, then you can enter the actual billing address. So if this example, this is me, I would put my home address in there. But we will just leave that out for now. Down here is the delivery method, it is coming through APC, the £7.95 charge. If the order was over £250, that would say zero, but it will still say APC is the main carrier we use.

And then on the right-hand side, once we are happy with all these details, we can hit "Continue" just to get the summary of it. If there are any errors, the system will pop up with a message. So here, you can see it is still showing the actual order we have got, you can pay by PayPal, we could have done it earlier, but this is another way of doing it. So we can click along here, which means you are doing credit cards, or we can use the normal credit card facilities. So if we click on this one, we are just entering the card details in. So we can double-check all the details and then we go for the payment option. When we click the payment option, it is taking it to the... Nearly to the final end. And what we can do here is we enter in our card number, we enter in the expiry date of the card, the security number which will be the number on the back of the credit card, or if it is an Amex card, an American Express card, it is the four digits on the front of the card.

And also, with the new Amex cards, sometimes the credit card number is not on the front, it is on the back. So it is worth having to look through them up to make sure that you have got the right number. But it is always the 16-digit-long number, the expiry and also the three-digit on the signature strip, or with Amex, the other four numbers. So we then enter in the credit card number on here, and once you have entered that credit card number, we hit, "Pay." And then often now, what it would do is it will send you a text to your mobile phone, this is from your bank, not from the website, and it would give you a code, you can enter that code to validate the transaction, and from there, you can then just confirm the order.

So what would then happen typically with these websites is they will send you out an email to confirm receipt of your payment and also to confirm the details of the order. At later date, they will usually send you out an email to say it has been dispatched, and also either from the dashboard of the organisation or by email, you will be able to access the email receipt. And remember, you may well also get not only the text message to confirm the payment, but if you are working through your bank and you have these alerts on your banking system, you may well get a notification on your phone, on your watch, or a text message to say you spent that amount of money with that company. These are good security measures because if you suddenly got a text message come through to say you spent £100 with a company you have never heard of, then that will be the quick way of alerting that someone is using your card fraudulently.