Since we are quickly coming up to June, I decided last week that it was finally time to get serious about buying things for my baby. I had done plenty of research and put together a registry but hadn't really made any final decisions on serious items like car seats. To be quite frank, there are too many choices, too much information, and too many long lists telling me what my baby supposedly will need. I struggle between feeling like he needs everything and the minimalist approach I would rather take with my kids. Anyways, the other night I thought about going ahead and buying an Ergo baby carrier. I already knew it was the baby carrier I wanted to buy (seems great for the hubby, older kids, and outdoors) so it was an easy task to accomplish. All I had to do was research which type and color. That, in and of itself, ended up taking up a couple hours of my evening but I eventually made the decision, and it was a much easier one than the much dreaded car seat decision.
I was also trying to decide that night which vendor I wanted to purchase the carrier from. I had Target, Amazon, and Ergobaby all open to see who had the best prices. I decided against Amazon, despite the fact that their prices weren't bad, because I had heard of counterfeit Ergos being sold on Amazon and elsewhere and figured if I was going to spend the money, I might as well spend a few extra dollars and safely avoid the counterfeits. It was down to Target vs Ergobaby. When I finally decided the exact one I wanted (organic in navy), it happened to be cheaper on Ergobaby because they were having a "sale" so I nixed Target. I didn't feel completely comfortable with the purchase but thought that I was being rather silly and didn't want to miss the "sale", so I went ahead with the checkout process, creating the dreaded account, putting in the shipping address, etc. I then stopped for a second to see if by some awesome but unexpected chance I could find a coupon code to make it even cheaper. And thank goodness I did that!
The website I had originally pulled up was www.ergobabycarriersusa.com. It wasn't the greatest looking website but I didn't give it much thought (and really, why would I if I thought I pulled up a legitimate site?) and was just happy they were running sales that day. Well, when I pulled up Ergobaby on Retailmenot.com they directed me to a much nicer looking website at store.ergobaby.com selling the carriers at the typical retail price. I was very confused (and to make it even more confusing, the retailer also just recently got a new website) so I googled www.ergobabycarrierusa.com and quickly pulled up confirmation that the website is indeed a BIG FAT SCAM. After all my efforts to avoid buying a fake, I still almost bought a fake (or worse). Buyers beware!
To be honest, I am not sure how I pulled up a website that wasn't legitimate. That has never happened to me before with a major brand. But because it did happen, it has made me even more aware of the prevalence of online scams and I thought I should share the experience to make you more aware as well.
I ended up putting off the purchase of the carrier. By the end of the night I knew exactly which one I wanted and that I could buy it from Ergobaby or Target, but either way I wasn't missing a good sale if I didn't buy it right away. And seeing that I probably wont actually need it until August or September, I decided I don't really need to purchase it right away after all, just so long as I know what I want when the time comes. After all, I would rather spend my time with my newborn (or sleeping) than spend my hours researching what the next best thing for him would be.
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