Akshaya Tritiya 2016: Points to remember when buying gold online

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: It's Akshaya Tritiya today. Many would be interested in purchasing gold jewellery as the day is considered auspicious for gold purchase according to the Hindu beliefs. There must be many who would be considering purchasing gold online as well. Though online purchase offers many advantages, some pointers must be considered before you go for it.

Points to remember:

Authentic website/seller: First and foremost, you must ensure the e-commerce website or seller you are tracking is authentic. There are several fraudulent players venturing in the online space to rob your hard earned money.

Purity of Gold: Next is to check the purity of the yellow metal. Though online details will inform you that gold jewellery of 24 k is the purest but rarely you will find gold jewellery of such purity as gold becomes malleable at such levels. So alloys such as copper, silver and others are added to reduce the malleability. So decide accordingly.

Quality of Gold: The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has set up authorized testing centres . There the quality of the gold is checked. It's known as Hallmark certification. You must also check jeweller's mark and year of manufacture and purity code.

Refund and shipment charges: You must ensure that the jeweller you are tracking online has an active refund policy with the days inside which refund can be claimed clearly mentioned. You must also enquire about the shipment charges, if any. Also, many of the online jewellery sellers hire third parties for delivery of the purchase. Before taking the delivery, you must ensure, the package is not torn and in proper condition.

Payment process: Knowing about the payment process is important whether it is through debit/credit card, net banking, bank transfer or cheque/demand draft facilities or all.

Customization: You must enquire if necessary changes can be brought in the jewellery chosen. Also, you must thoroughly check the price differences in the same product across different ecommerce sites.

Make sure the size of jewellery is correctly marked by you while making the purchase.