subject: How To Stay Safe When Shopping Online [print this page] The online shopping industry is worth hundreds of billions of pounds and it is used by more than half of all adults in the UK to buy products and services. However, this level of investment makes it a significant target for those that would seek to defraud people of their money and personal information. Spam campaigns target unknowing consumers with offers that sound too good to be true and usually are, whilst phishing sites steal financial data using well established tricks, taking advantage of your good nature or willingness to provide information to seemingly trustworthy sources. Of course this paints a fairly bleak picture of online shopping, whilst in reality it is easy to stay safe if you want to spend money online, provided you take onboard a few key pieces of advice and do not deviate from the well trodden path.
The best way to ensure that you are dealing with a legitimate retailer online is to consider the strength of its brand and the quality of its website. Most of the brands you see in the high street will have an online presence and a portal through which you can make purchases. There are also many reputable online retailers who have built themselves up over the years into venerable institutions. These kinds of sites are generally trustworthy and deal with millions of transactions every year. If you stumble across a site you have never heard of before it may well be perfectly legitimate. However, it is worth searching for reviews of the site written independently by other users to make sure that you are not walking into a trap.
Once you have established that the site is reputable, you will want to familiarise yourself with the terms and conditions of sale. Since all online shopping will involved goods being delivered to your house, you should check up on which delivery methods are available, how much delivery will cost and when delivery will take place, as you may need to make time to accept a delivery or pick up an undelivered parcel from your local post office.
To make a purchase online you will need to use a payment card. Many people choose to rely on debit cards, but it might be worth putting your purchases on a credit card because typically you will find that online transactions are protected by your card company's security policy. That means if your card is used fraudulently or you do not receive your goods, you can always receive compensation. To avoid having your card details stolen, make sure that the site you are buying from has a secure payment system in place. Depending on your web browser you should see a symbol denoting that you are connected to a secure server if the site you are using offers secure connections. Additional security checks may be required depending on which bank or payment card you choose if the seller is legitimate, so it should be fairly obvious that you are giving your details to a trusted source. If you are in any doubt, it is better to walk away than risk getting burned.
Another good tip to ensure your online shopping experience is free from worry is to check that you can get in contact with the site from which you are buying after you have made your order. Most will have customer service email accounts to use, but others will operate call centres so that you can talk to a real person. You should also consider the returns policy which sites operate, as some will be more difficult to use than others. Common sense is also useful.
by: Graham Worrall
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