Tips for a Safe Online Shopping Experience
The main advantage of online shopping is its convenience, where anyone can search for and buy a product online using their smartphones or personal computers.
However, online shopping has some concerns and risks associated with it. Many of these risks are people-dependent and can be prevented by being a little vigilant and following some basic precautions.
Here are our 9 tips to keep online shopping experience secure.
1. Selecting a website: It is difficult to check for a reliable website for shopping online. As we know, creating a website is relatively easy and has no restrictions. One must ensure that the website they are transacting with is reliable. Always opt for buying from companies you already know. If you plan to buy from an unknown website, start with smaller orders until you are content with their service and reliability.
The URL of the website also helps you find out if the website is reliable. It should start with https://. The “s” displayed after “http” indicates that Web site is secure. Often, you do not see the “s” until you move to the order page on the Web site.
2. Checking if the website is secure:
- Make sure the website is consistent on security grounds. The company may be reliable, but it is troublesome if it has no proper mechanism to secure its customer’s information from hacking.
- Try to find out if the merchant stores your data in encrypted form.
- Please read the privacy and security policies of the website before providing your personal information to them.
3. Checking for its reputation: Though there is no good logic to prove the relation between reputation and reliability, reputed businesses rarely cheat. Thus, going with the website’s reputation before doing business with it is good. You can check this with the help of search engines. Reputed businesses often have first-page search listings.
4. Checking for its usability: Usability of the website helps you to attain certain knowledge on its credibility. Popup windows are always troublesome while doing transaction on any website. Stay away from popup windows and, if possible, from the sites which allow them.
5. Run Antivirus Software: Before doing any online transaction, one must update their antivirus software, which can help you to stay secure from unwanted cookies and applications.
6. Reveal Only the Bare Facts: It is common for any online merchant to ask you to signup before ordering a product. However, make sure you disclose only data which is mandatory and makes sense to provide. You do not require providing your social security number to any eCommerce merchant. If the site is trying to push you on edge to get too much information, it is recommended to simply leave the website.
7. Rechecking: Before making or finalizing payment to the merchant, make sure that the shopping cart has all and only the products that you have selected. You can add or delete any product only at this stage.
8. Payment Options: When it comes to payment options for purchasing online, there are many options like credit cards, debit cards, cash and cheques. Of all these options, credit cards are the safest option for purchasing online. It is recommended to have a separate credit card for e-commerce purchasing to help track dissolute credit charges easily.
9. Recheck:
- After the transaction is complete, recheck for transaction details.
- Try to record them if possible.
- Remember to sign off from the site.
Online shopping is a trendy boon for shoppers, only if they are cautious during the transaction.
