“Take it a step further by tapping on that brand’s pictures to see tagged users,” she says, “then go to those user pages to make sure they are satisfied with the products.” Keep in mind, however, that a brand can remove negative feedback from its Instagram feed. She suggested scrolling through the feed to make sure it’s well-populated with current photos. She recommends checking the BBB website if you’re thinking about buying from a company that you’re not familiar with.Īshley Ryon, marketing and savings expert at, says that you can also learn a lot from looking at a brand’s Instagram profile. “It’s thwarted quite a few would-be bad purchases.” The Better Business Bureau (BBB) is another good resource, according to Beverly Harzog, credit card expert and consumer finance analyst for U.S. “Now, whenever I see a product I'm interested in buying from an Instagram ad, I go to TrustPilot to see the company’s ratings,” she says. Journalist Valentina Valentini says she has had a number of purchases from Instagram ads go wrong, including a bait-and-switch on the goods, and “practically non-existent customer service” when she attempted to return the items. Of course, there are plenty of legit retailers advertising on Instagram, but the reality is you have to do your homework before you buy. Argh! After fruitless e-battles with customer service, there I sat with $54 of merchandise I couldn’t use. I already knew that I had to pay for return shipping, and that a refund would take several days, but after an e-chat with customer service, I learned that I had to ship to China-a cool $50-and would not receive a refund for more than three weeks after my items arrived in the country.

The sizing was off, and the products were poorly made. Indeed, my daughter recently found some cute clothes and shoes on a site that looked legit: an “https” URL-the “s” indicates a site is secure-cool videos, a well-organized selection of trendy clothing and a fairly reasonable return policy. But even I have fallen for the lure of the Insta ad. You would think that I’d know better than to get sucked into ordering from some random company that my teen daughter found on Instagram.

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