I am in a small city on the Prairies and my shopping options are limited. Now more than ever I go to the internet to shop for my cooking needs.
My first online shopping experience was about 10 years ago when I wanted a pressure canner. I found what I wanted online at Golda’s Kitchen in Toronto and in a few days, it was delivered to my door.
I have also ordered Spanish marcona almonds from NutsOnLine out of New Jersey. Their family business has been serving customers since 1929. They take care of all the cross border details.
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I purchase fine chocolate from Chocolat Chocolat in Montreal. They have an extensive selection of good quality chocolate, chocolate moulds and packaging. They warn against shipping in the summer when temperatures may damage the products.
My favourite place to order spices is Silk Road Spices in Calgary. I have purchased their products many times at their brick and mortar store and would not hesitate to buy online when I need something special. I have also purchased organic food quality lavender from Okanagan Lavender.
I found that the shipping cost of one package was the same cost as four so I bought four packages of lavender.
I purchased pure Madagascar bourbon vanilla on Amazon. It was shipped from a Canadian supplier at a reasonable price. I also shop on Amazon to find missing pieces to my flatware pattern.
Three Farmers camelina oil and Daybreak Mill, with all their organic flours and whole grains, offer shopping online.
Costco offers online shopping and no membership is required. I purchased Atlantic sturgeon meat and caviar from New Brunswick. It arrived in Swift Current, Sask., by courier and the ice pack was still frozen.
Fancy Flours in Montana has an extensive offering of bakeware, cookie cutters and finishing touches for baking.
I buy my refrigerator water filters online, often at a discounted price. I found gift packaging for baked goods at Creative Packaging out of Coquitlam, B.C. They have closed their brick and mortar stores and are now entirely web based.
If you enjoy Canadian wines, the Okanagan Wine Club has no membership fees or minimum purchase requirements. Once a month, there is an offering from an Okanagan winery. Pay by credit card and the wine is shipped through Canada Post.
Some people will use a mobile device to do comparison shopping before making a purchase. There’s no need to be any more nervous about shopping on a mobile device than online.
The trick is to use apps provided directly by the retailers such as Amazon or Target. Use the apps to find what you want and then make the purchase directly.
Clues that a shopping site isn’t trustworthy
- The site looks poorly designed, unprofessional and contains broken links. There are spelling errors.
- You can’t find an address or phone number for the business. You should know the location of the business.
- Sales, return and privacy policies are hard to find or unclear.
- The back button is disabled. In other words, you get stuck on a page and can’t go back.
- You are asked for credit card information any time other than when you are making a purchase.
Protect yourself
- Never give anyone your credit card number by email. Phone with your credit card information if they do not have a secure website.
- Pay by credit card if you can. Do not send cash or a money order. Using a debit card is a direct line to your bank account. If you are uncomfortable using your credit card then get a prepaid credit card just for online purchases.
- Be on the lookout for prices that are too good to be true. It is a sure sign the product is a counterfeit or does not even exist.
- Don’t use public wi-fi to shop online.
- Read the privacy policy and find out how your information will be used.
- Don’t respond to an email or pop-up message that asks for financial information, social insurance numbers or personal information.
- Read your credit card statements and check for unauthorized charges.
- Make sure your firewall is on. For example, Windows Firewall is on by default on the latest version of Windows, but make sure it isn’t turned off.
- Don’t allow auto fill for your passwords or personal information and never allow a site to store your credit card information. Use strong passwords.
Source: The Canadian Consumer Handbook and the Government of Canada.
Never buy anything online using your credit card from a site that doesn’t have a secure sockets layer encryption installed. You’ll know if the site has SSL because its URL will start with HTTPS:// instead of just HTTP://.
Depending on your browser, an icon of a locked padlock will appear in the status bar or right next to the URL in the address bar.
Sarah Galvin is a home economist, teacher and farmers’ market vendor at Swift Current, Sask., and a member of Team Resources. She writes a blog at allourfingersinthepie.blogspot.ca. Contact: team@producer.com.
