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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 Sports Illustrated, I use magazines.com and pay
80%
less than the newsstand price, and they pay the tax for
me, no matter which state I live in.
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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.
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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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