Over the years, the shopping experience in Bangladesh has been deteriorating owing to the over-crowded, war-like scenario that shopping malls provide us with. Seriously, is it still fun wandering about in these malls when you have sweaty, bargaining shoppers constantly bumping against you and throwing insincere, custom-made versions of 'excuse me' at you? Well at least now, with online shopping sites sprouting like mushrooms, you have the comfort of relaxing at home and most of the things that you need are just clicks away.

Facebook has become one of the largest platforms for online shopping. Starting from accessories, dresses, shoes, books, household products and everything else that you can think of, you are sure to find a page dedicated to selling those products in Facebook. One of the biggest advantages of these pages being the little amount of effort that you have to put in finding your desired products (because the sponsored ads are sure to flood your news feed), some pages also offer  a wide variety of products that are not really available at shopping malls and top quality service.

Sometimes, the products are found to be less costly than in the market, so if you're on a budget, try going through some of these sites. The method of interaction is also easier, for in most cases, it only requires you to contact the seller through Facebook messaging. 

There are, of course, shopping sites, other than those on Facebook, and the best part is, you can buy anything you want from around the world! So it doesn't matter if you cannot find the new book by your favourite Chinese author at the local libraries, or if your Green Lantern outfit is not green enough, all you have to do is browse any such sites, buy what you need and have them shipped.

Shopping online helps skip the haggling. The cost is often non-negotiable, so if it doesn't suit you, you have to move on. Also, unless it's a site based in a foreign country, in which case you have to pay through credit cards, they do give a lot of paying options, the most efficient being 'Cash On Delivery.' You can also pay through bKash or have the money transferred to their bank accounts. 

Reliability always remains a question when it comes to online shopping. Having products shipped from different countries often results in delay in receiving the products. Shipping also leads to the products being damaged sometimes, for which a lot of sites do not take any responsibility and your money just goes to waste. 

The problem that arises with prepay is that there is a chance that the products that reach you may not be the same as those on the sites, and this happens often when you shop from an unknown site or from Facebook. There have been incidences where sellers lose all contacts once customers pay, and since the relationship between buyer and seller is usually solely based on the net, it becomes very difficult to track them. The product quality can be disappointing, and you may end up with things that you don't even want anymore without the option of changing them.

Yet, not all shopping sites are unreliable. It is better to establish a sort of link with the seller, and get the details of the products beforehand so that you do not have to feel sorry for your hard-earned money later on. After all, there actually are some online shopping sites in Bangladesh that have products that will blow your mind.