Safe Shopping Tips

Shopping online can be a scary experience, but you can also save a lot of money buying online. Using the same merchants can offer some sense of security, but it may not get you the best price or save sales tax and shipping. So how do you know who to trust?

Security

The first step is to be sure the merchant uses a security certificate. There is a little "lock" at the bottom of your web browser that shows a lock in a locked position if you are using their secure system. This makes your personal information unavailable to hackers with advanced technology called "encryption". Another way to tell if the server might be secured is to look at the address bar and see if there is an https://.... the* s* denotes a secure server. If there is no lock in the lower right part of your browser or https:// in the address bar DO NOT GIVE CREDIT CARD INFO VIA ONLINE ORDER FORMS. If you encounter a certificate popup, it's best to not use the site for purchase because the certificate may no longer be valid. If you want to order an item from a merchant that does not use a secure certificate contact them by phone to see if you can order by phone. NEVER SEND A CREDIT CARD # BY EMAIL!!!!

Privacy

A trusted merchant should have a publicly available privacy policy. Read the privacy policy closely! It can reveal what information they save and use. Some companies sell you information such as mailing address, phone# or email address to other companies. If you are concerned about spam, junk mail, or telemarketers it is best to stick with companies that do not sell your information.

Making the purchase

Be sure to view all the information regarding shipping and taxes. Shipping charges can be quite high and some merchants are required to charge sales tax to all purchases. To avoid sales tax you should use merchants that are outside your own state and do not operate a national chain. All states that require collection of sales tax should be clear on the merchant site.
Avoiding shipping charges may not be easy, but some merchants do offer free shipping. Read this section carefully as many merchants offer free shipping with restrictions. There may be a minimum purchase requirement, or possibly a wt limit, or they may hold all items until your complete order is available to ship. In these cases it may be better to create 2 orders to satisfy the requirements and you might end up paying for shipping on some items.

If the checkout procedure is confusing contact the retailer by email before providing a credit card #. If the merchant offers alternative payments that suit your lifestyle you may feel better about sending a personal check, or using a system like paypal. Many merchants are making progress by offering alternative payment arrangements.

An honest merchant will make their phone # (preferrably 800#) readily available to their customers. If you are uncomfortable call them to order by phone.

What about my credit card?

For safety I recommend applying for a separate credit card to be used for online purchases. There are cards available now that protect you from online fraud. You can also ask that the credit card company keep the limit low in case something goes wrong along the way. After 5 years of buying online I haven't had a problem using a separate card of online purchases. Don't use multiple cards online, pick one or get a new one to use online and stick with it!

Watch your credit card statement carefully. If you see charges that you do not recognize you can contact the credit card company and let them know about charges that may be fraudulent. Occasionally there may be charges that are correct, but the company name may not sound familiar. Be sure to print out the confirmation page for all orders. This will help you reconcile your statement at the end of the billing period.

What about shopping tools?

If you have been surfing around shopping portals you might have seen some friendly shopping tools that will help you save money, or receive rebates for purchases. The fact is that some of these sites require that you download special software and install it on your computer. Some of these shopping tools have been found to contain trojan horse code or spy on users online activities..... including recording personal data and keystrokes when filling out forms. In short, if you have to install something to get discounts or rebates, it's probably not safe and may infect your computer. The best practice is to use sites that do not require downloads to save money. The potential loss of money to replace a computer that has been horribly infected is much higher than any amount of discounts and rebates you can earn as a typical online shopper. If you do a lot of surfing it's a good idea to keep your security settings at default with IE (Internet Explorer). If you feel you need to change setting, it's best to keep the active X setting at "warn". If while surfing you are confronted with a security warning be sure to read the agreement. In most cases these are tools that can infect your computer so you should never click OK. To close the window and avoid infection choose the X button in the upper right corner. This particular type of advertising is a sneeky way to get software automatically installed on your computer without your knowledge. If you are concerned about possible infection visit this site to read about parasitic software. To protect yourself you can download this free parasite detector and remover.

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