I always hear stories about the dangers of buying from WIsh.com, Aliexpress, and recently Temu. I’ve jokingly called them “buyer beware” sites even. Yet people still use them, and there’s just as many positive results as negative. But I’ve also heard about unexplained card charges, data hacks, pyramid-scheme-like behavior, etc. So which of those sites, or other similar sites, is the “safest” if I DID wanna shop there?
People in rural areas have significantly fewer options at their disposal for shopping. Say someone likes to cook as a hobby and can’t find herbs and spices that aren’t common in their area. Cardamom, Ceylon cinnamon, five spice. Or advanced culinary equipment and ingredients. Things like a mandolin, agar-agar, dry ice. I like to make craft cocktails at home as a hobby. If I had to rely solely on the liquor stores in my home town my bar would be less than half the size it is and I would have very little of the equipment I use to make ingredients. I’m also an amateur mycologist. I never would have gotten into the hobby if I didn’t have access the the resources I do online.
What am I supposed to do? Abandon my passions because the materials aren’t locally available?