Save Online Shopping
July 24, 2008
The convenience of shopping online has made it so popular that more and more people prefer to do their Diwali, Christmas or other special occasion shopping online, rather than battle the crowds that throng the shops and the malls during the festival season. Online shopping saves you legging it all over to compare products, services and prices, as just a click of the mouse and you can go from online shopping site to site to learn more about products and services before making a purchase. Shop for computer hardware, check out the prices for sporting goods or watches, visit the Body Shop or flower shops, candy shops or bridal shops, even photo shops for that perfect gift for friends and family.
On the plus side, while more and more people find it easy and convenient to shop online, the downside is that con-artists have begun to invade the online world. In a virtual world, one pays for goods and services with a mouse click, there is no physical interaction with a cashier or anyone else. Most online shopping sites accept credit cards, including debit cards and e-check. Some B2B even accept purchase orders and Paypal is now used by 70 millions users world-wide. It is quite common for people to conduct transactions purely via emails. However, if we play it say, shopping on the Internet can be just as safe as shopping at a store.
Be careful to shop at trusted sites i.e. shop at companies that are reputed to be safe for online shopping. You’ll be able to enjoy your online shopping experience without getting into trouble later.
Ensure that you are shopping at site that is what it claims to be. Con artists can easily create websites that look like the genuine sites shoppers normally shop at. You will receive eBay scam mail or Paypal customer service, but these are mostly bids to get you to reveal your username and passwords. Always, check the URL carefully, using a secure connection for making payments. Secure browsers not only encrypt the purchase information you send via Internet, but also authenticate the owner of a website, to ensure a site is genuine and not that of a predator.
Payment options that offer protection should be used. As long as you shop only on authenticated trusted websites, online shopping can be much safer than shopping at stores, as each transaction can be tracked, including a confirmation email being sent to the purchaser. And as you know, both credit card and Paypal transactions are protected by the payment service processors or issuers.
Never give out private or personal information before checking if the information is necessary for a transaction or not. Genuine and trusted websites only ever ask for minimum information that is necessary to put the order through, no more no less.
Always keep records all your online transactions, just case a refund is needed or you wish to file a dispute. For easy access, make an online folder to store all transaction confirmation e-mails in, including a backup copy of important electronic information.
Review all monthly credit card and bank statements, so that you can identify errors, unauthorized purchases, including reconciling account balances. Statements should be thoroughly reviewed and card issuers notified promptly if a disparity or unauthorized transaction has been noticed.
As long as you are careful, online shopping can be a whole lot of fun!
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