ST. LOUIS, Mo. (First Alert 4) – Ever have the itch to do some online shopping or order food for delivery, but don’t want to spend the money?
So-called dopamine sites are becoming popular in South Korea, aimed at giving users a psychological rush from shopping. But users only pretend to check out.
Dopamine sites are websites that let you browse fake foods and merchandise, and pretend to order them. But the items never arrive.
So could the sites deliver dopamine to your brain instead?
“What’s more exciting, the ride to the mall, window shopping at the mall? Or the transaction that may lead to buyer’s remorse?” asks Ian Marlow, tech leader at FiTech, explaining how the sites work.
We asked First Alert 4 intern Payton Busselman to try shopping on the sites and give us the dope.
First, we looked at a site called FoodNeverComes.com.
“Right off the bat, I’m seeing 50% off every order forever,” reacted Payton.
She got a rush from the coupons and great photos of food.
“It’s already making my mouth water a bit,” she said.
She ordered macaroons using the pretend credit card on the site, and we watched the imaginary delivery move closer on a pretend map.
“It says your order has arrived,” she said.
We asked if she felt a dopamine rush.
“I liked seeing how immersive it kept me,” she said. “And I really like how you can see different situations and you can see the countdown.”
Next, Payton tried shopping on a site called DopaHaul.com.
“They have health and personal care, makeup and fragrances, men’s shoes, men’s bags,” Payton listed from the site.
While the site offered a wide variety of merchandise, she didn’t like that it had only three dresses or that some items, like a drone, were pretty expensive.
But she liked seeing pretend reviews and an icon indicating that other shoppers were looking at the same items that she was.
“It helps me with the dopamine because I’m not the only one who likes this,” she said.
The sites are free to use. But are they collecting or selling consumer data?
The DopaHaul site says nope, it doesn’t collect data. We’re waiting to hear back from FoodNeverComes.
But experts say if fake shopping sites launch in the US, don’t be surprised if they collect your real data.
“If you’re using any app and you think that it is free, it is free for a reason. And that is because data is being collected, data is being resold,” explained Marlow.
But users of the South Korean sites say they like that dopamine sites scratch their itch for shopping, while saving them cash.
“I saved about 10 dollars,” said Payton.
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