COVER STORY licensed websites , use those when possible . If you ’ re not using the official , licensed brand website , keep the following tips in mind : The Golden Rule : If it looks too good to be true , it probably is ! If a product is very cheap , be suspicious . Be sure online payments to the seller are secured . Check the origin of the goods ; are they coming from China ? Unfortunately , most counterfeits do . Check the rating of the seller on platforms like Ebay and Amazon .
Winter 2017 / Issue 52
COVER STORY licensed websites , use those when possible . If you ’ re not using the official , licensed brand website , keep the following tips in mind : The Golden Rule : If it looks too good to be true , it probably is ! If a product is very cheap , be suspicious . Be sure online payments to the seller are secured . Check the origin of the goods ; are they coming from China ? Unfortunately , most counterfeits do . Check the rating of the seller on platforms like Ebay and Amazon .
And what should you do , if you realize you ’ ve been scammed ? At a minimum , complain about the seller to the organization running the platform or social media account . Most platforms provide a place for you to submit complaints as a buyer . When it comes to commercial , standalone websites , you ’ ll have to try complaining to the site owner or the internet service provider , which is unlikely to result in appropriate action .
You can reach out to organizations as React to report these type of infringements , and even inform the right owners directly ; they might not be able to help you get your money back , but it could help prevent damage to other innocent consumers in the future ! Traditional consumer-protection institutions are generally not well-prepared to defend consumers online . Even-though it is clear a criminal activity has taken place , we struggled to identify and locate the infringer . There is no physical shop to which we can send market inspectors or police . Nevertheless , in some countries , authorities have organized in a way to be able to take online infringements very seriously in recognition of the damage they do to consumers and the overall economy .
Expats Can Avoid Paying Double Social Insurance Contributions
Macedonia has signed “ totalization agreements ” with a number of countries , allowing expats from those countries to work here , maintain their social security benefits and avoid paying social security contributions in two countries on the same earnings . The Macedonian Health Fund ( MHF ) informed AmCham that the current list of countries with which they have such agreements can be found on http :// www . fzo . org . mk /.* In short , eligible expats need to obtain a bilingual Certificate of Coverage issued by their national public health system at home and submit it to the MHF here in order to take advantage of this benefit . Once expats have received a Decision from the MHF , companies should apply to Macedonia ’ s Public Revenue Office to obtain a special code to be used when executing the expat ’ s salary payments using the MPIN system .
* At publication , the list included : Austria , Albania , Belgium , BiH , Bulgaria , Germany , Italy , Luxembourg , Poland , Slovenia , Serbia , Slovakia , Turkey , France , the Netherlands , Croatia , Montenegro , the Czech Republic .
AMCHAM MAGAZINE 15