How to shop online effectively like a true online shopper?

We at emmagem are going to attempt to write a series of articles on how to shop online effectively and how to set up an awesome online shop!:) Here’s our first one, E-Banking!

Online shopping is supposed to be hassle free and everything is a click away (Okay, so a few clicks away)! But, it becomes a hassle when we have to actually walk (or drive) all the way to the nearby bank and slowly deposit your cash on the machine, or eve worst, take a number to deposit it to the bank!! So annoying right, imagine, the hot scorching sun shining on your skin and the sweat dripping all over your face after you’ve finally found a parking 3 blocks away in the over crowded SS15!

Haih. All that hassle. One way to shop online the bestest and most convenient way is to get an online banking account! Many banks has already joined the bandwagon to have online services that can help online shoppers and buyers alike to track their accounts online. IF you’re a seller, I’m sure you must have already have a e-banking account to check to see if your customers has already banked in the money.

These banks are:

1. Maybank2u
2. CIMB Clicks
3. Hong Leong Bank Online Banking
4. EON Bank Internet Banking
5. Public e-Bank
6. PayPal
7. Any other banks i’ve missed out?

I’ve only used Maybank2u before, so I will review Maybank2u’s services for now. If you’ve been using any other services, comment and tell us whats good and whats bad about your service. But i assume that these e-banking services have almost the same services. We’re only interested in one of their service anyways, FUNDS TRANSFER!

To register for an account, all you need to do is to go to Maybank, or any banks for that matter to request for one. They will register for you and you will get a pin number for you to register online. Once you’ve done that, you can go online to register your account.

In the online bank, there are SO MANY things that you can do! Here are some of the features that are most used by an online shopper (ie: ME!)…I will explain them one by one.

Online Banking Enquiry
• Account Summary
• Your Internet Transaction History
• Request for Account Statement

These are the basics at Maybank2u. They are there so that you can check how much balance you have (omg, i dread clicking on this link, I’m ALWAYS BROKE!), check your transaction history and also ask them for a statement which can be printed out. This transaction history tracks all the transactions for all your internet transactions and also physical transactions done. Maybank-to-Maybank transfers appearsimmediately, as it is faster for the same bank transfers, but takes 3 days for interbank transfers.

Funds Transfer
Interbank
• Open Interbank (GIRO) Transfer
• Favourite Interbank (GIRO) Transfer
3rd Party & Own Account
• Open 3rd Party Accounts

So this is the most important part of a online shopaholic! This is where we click with guilt each time we confirm a purchase. This part is where we slowly click “SUBMIT” and hope that we have enough money afterwards to have lunch with our friends. (so drama -_-)

Interbank is where there is a transaction between two different banks. Like for example, I wanted to buy a top from this online shop, and they gave me a CIMB Bank account to deposit my money to. I would have to choose “Interbank-GIRO” feature to do so, as I am a Maybank Account holder. Open Interbank (GIRO) Transfer simply means you’re doing an adhoc transaction to a random seller that you just found, but a Favourite Interbank (GIRO) Transfer means that you’ve been buying from this favourite seller for a long time, and you shop at their shop 3 times a week, so you can sort of like book mark the CIMB account and save the settings so that you can easily just transfer them without having to request for a TAC number (Will be explained later in this article)

Open 3rd party bank transfers simply mean that you are sending money to any Maybank accounts! You can even favourite the bank account like the GIRO one earlier. this is to ensure that you don’t have to keep on typing in the bank details each time you make an internet transaction.

Online Bill Payment
• Open Payment
• Credit Card Payment

You can also pay bills on the e-bank! Bills like credit cards, TMNET, phone bills, cukai Pintu, club memberships, postpaid phone lines, and a whole long list of other companies! You can even buy GSC movie tickets online. No more long queues at the cinema!

Online Prepaid
• Mobile / Internet Prepaid
• IDD / STD Prepaid

Almost everyone is on prepaid nowadays. It is common to hear someone say “Aiyah, I cannot call you lah, no credit and its 12am, how to go shop buy credit, you tell me?” All this can be stopped, when you have an online banking account! lols! Maybank2u has a feature where you can buy reload from practically every Mobile Phone Service provider like Digi, Maxis, Celcom and even Happy! So, no excuses now, call your loved ones!

If you’re wondering about security of the internet banking, don’t worry! Besides the usual security features, Maybank has this TAC number (Something like a pin number) feature where, each time you are doing an online transaction, they will ask you to request for a TAC number, and it will be sent to your mobile phone for extra security. Not only that, it also has this non-refresh page feature where you will not be allowed to refresh pages to ensure that you do not send money to the same person twice!

But, there are downsides of internet banking! There are some people who will try to hack into your accounts, or send you hoax emails about signing up for fake e-banking account! Be vary of all these hoaxes. OF course, sometimes, Maybank2u is super slow and hard to load. But i wonder, is it Maybank, or the internet connection?

If you made a mistake like typing in the wrong account number, you can always call the customer service person to tell them and they will try to fix things. Happened to me once when I typed in the wrong account number. I super panicked. Called them straightaway and they reassured me that they will deposit it to my bank account back once everything was cleared. I was so relieved!

So, jump the bandwagon and get an e-banking account. Then you can enjoy online shopping like a true online shopper, never getting out of your chair.

But we’re not suggesting you to sit on your chairs the whole day (lol!). Real retail therapy is good too. But no one can resist the temptation of browsing for awesome stuff online!

GET AN E-BANKING ACCOUNT NOW!!

(No, I don’t work for Maybank, it is only the e-bank that i’m most familiar with!)

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