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Online
vs. Offline subscription
It is quite obvious that there are certain advantages in the
purchase of a magazine subscription online, compared to the
old-day ‘fill-in the card’ magazine registration.
The process cycle from buying the subscription until the
first issue arriving to your doorstep is greatly
accelerated: waiting time is reduced by a couple of weeks,
so when buying a subscription online at the beginning of the
month, depending on the subscription site you choose, you
will at best receive your first issue by the end of the same
month.
The subscription fees are reduced; for my annual
subscription in
In Touch, I use
magazines.com and pay
25% less than the newsstand
price, and they pay the tax for me, no matter which state I
live in.
There is no nuisance from the usual gang of sales people who
get your personal information and try to get through your
door with leaflets, phone calls etc. When you buy the
subscription online, the information stays in the database
as private information, unless you choose a bad subscription
site.
The danger of credit card details being stolen has been
practically eliminated through the use of encryption
algorithms that cipher your information. Again, this is
subject to the site you register to. Moreover, there is no
third person reading your personal credit information,
whereas in offline payment there is.
The subscription cancellation process is easier and more
prompt; the old 0800 number that is busy is less of a
problem. Depending on the subscription Web site that you
choose, the process can get from really easy at best, to a
small nightmare.
Customer care is better and more prompt for either
subscription cancellation or other issue; for the good
subscription Web sites the provision of Customer care
service via E-mail is imperative. Offline registration
will mostly give you a number that works certain hours
of the day, and will mostly be busy.
Refunds are easier to obtain, if you are not satisfied with
your subscription, but there is a time period where you can
get a refund (except
magazines.com where you can get a refund on your
subscription anytime during the subscription period)
Security is also increase as far as the delivery of the
magazine subscription; offline subscriptions still
contain a danger of loss of subscription details. In
online subscriptions, the danger of being charged for
something that you do not receive, is practically down
to zero.
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