Buying online is a challenge for many users, not because they can source the products on Main Street but because the idea that someone you have never seen can or will send you products you’ve ordered is still seen as something of a risk by customers who are increasingly wary about handing out the financial and personal information online.

Buying online does have its pitfalls but the advantages more than outweigh them and in any event, provided you take basic precautions and exercise common sense, you are not going to engage in any greater risk with making an online purchase as opposed to one with a Main Street merchant.

Check the Website for Who Owns It

Websites which have been around for a while tend not to be shy about telling you who they are and how to contact them. Usually you can find this information on the “About Us” page, but sometimes you have to hunt for it a little – scroll down to the very bottom of the site’s homepage and look for “corporate information” or something similar.
If you cannot find any information on who owns and runs the business – avoid dealing with them.

Financial & Privacy Security

A serious online merchant will know and understand your concerns over security, and especially over protecting you from the negative impact of your credit card or bank information falling into the wrong hands. You should see plenty of evidence from the website and especially from the payment and ordering pages, of online protection for customers when they are processing your payment information.

Whenever you are ordering products from a website you should be looking in the browser to see how the website address has changed. You are looking for a small but important security safeguard. A normal website address will start with the http.

Now you move to the part of the website which deals with secure information, your credit card information or your personal details and home address – you are looking for a small change in the “http” portion of the url to https

Notice the addition of the “s” to http? That “s” means you are in a secure portion of the website and it is safe to proceed with giving over your information to make the purchase. If you don’t see this happen – don’t proceed with the transaction.

Customer Service & Reputation

No company is going to tell you that they are bad at looking after their customers after taking money off them!

That said, you are going to find plenty of past customers who will be prepared to share their thoughts and views on the company – this of course applies irrespective as to whether the business is online or in the “real world”.

Checking for online reviews and customer comments will tell you a lot about the company you are thinking of doing business with. If you see consistently bad press, you may think twice about doing business with them but, on the other hand, if you are seeing good reports then this should give you confidence in placing your order.

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Category: Internet
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