Online Shopping Safety Tips

Internet security - whilst shopping online - has become increasingly important lately as the numbers using this facility have risen considerably. More and more fraudsters and scam artists are seeing this new craze as an opportunity to fleece unsuspecting users.

Here, we’ll guide you through a whole host of friendly tips and advice which will help increase you’re awareness of pitfalls and improve your levels of online shopping safety.

Look out for the padlock

Whenever you are shopping online or giving out important information, information you want to be kept private. Have a look at the bottom right corner of the screen and make sure that there is a padlock icon (see below).

This little icon means that the information you are passing over the net is watertight and will not be leaked to outsiders. At this moment in time hackers and fraudsters haven’t found a way to penetrate this secure connection. This is probably the most important online shopping safety tip so make sure you follow it.

No trust?

Only shop with internet sites which you wholly trust. Go with your instinct, if you think their site looks dodgy or there isn’t something quite right about don’t buy from them; your instincts are usually pretty accurate.

Too good to be true?

When buying anything over the net, you should follow this basic and well practiced online shopping safety tip. If it seems too good to be true it probably is. There is no such thing as a free meal; it is more than likely that it’s a scam.

What are my rights?

Whenever you are about to buy anything online check the website’s terms and conditions to see where you stand. These should outline important terms such as returns and privacy policies, warranties and any refunds you’re entitled to.

The warranty attached to the item you are interested in should tell you how long the particular item is covered for, what will happen if it cannot be repaired and provide you with the relevant information with regards to who and where to contact if the product is defected.

Privacy should also come into contention too. Read any privacy agreement the website may have. Some websites will use your details to make extra money by selling them to third parties. This will result in you being bombarded with spam emails and junk mail. This is very important online shopping safety tip if you don't want that scenario to crop up.

Print out receipts

Whenever you commit to transactions over the net an important online shopping tip is to make sure you save and print off any confirmation of the transaction such as a receipt. This will have the date of the purchase along with the amount included on it. So if anything does go wrong you’ll be in a far stronger position.

If you are not happy with the product or the product has not arrived, any e-mail or letter you send to or receive from the shopping outlet should be held onto. The chances are you’ll definitely need this at a later date if you decide to start legal proceeding against the company in question.

Additionally, if the outlet takes your money and doesn’t deliver the item or they go into liquidation then you may be covered by your credit card insurance. You’ll have to provide the credit card company of proof of correspondence and transaction to get part, or all of your money back.

Use a credit card?

Leading on from the above tip, it’s a lot safer to use a credit card rather than a debit card to purchase goods online. This is because the former will protect you under something called the Fair Credit Billing Act if anything were to go wrong. If you use a debit card for these purposes then you won’t be entitled to the same protection.

This is very important online shopping tip to follow especially when dealing with unknown companies. Anybody can set up a company these days. Some companies pop up one day and the next they have conveniently gone into liquidation. Using a credit card will protect you against these scam artists. You should always check with the credit card of what you are covered for.

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