Playing It Safe When Shopping Online

by: Michael Kabel

How often do you shop online?

More and more people do their online shopping every year. When you buy from an electronic vendor or merchant, the prices are often lower than retail. Even the selection is usually bigger and more exotic than you can find in stores. This is because online merchants can focus the money normally spent on their showrooms and floor space onto selling more inventory.

But there's a downside to buying online, one that’s largely an issue of trust. You need to feel confident buying from an online merchant - ideally, just as confident and comfortable as you'd feel buying from a real-world, "brick and mortar" store.

Here are some ways to determine if an online Web site is safe and reliable before making your purchase:

Do they have a real-world address?

Businesses with real world addresses have an actual office where you can call and air your complaints if your order goes wrong. The address also shows that they're a real business and not a cover for something shadier.

You can almost always find an online business' contact address and phone number either in the About Us or Contact Us pages of the site. For example, a toll free phone number for this Web site is given on the Contact Us page, which is listed along the top menu bar.

If you don't see either a phone number of address, or both, it's a safe bet the site's customer service department is not as good as most customers would expect.

Do they carry seals of approval?

Reputable (having a good reputation) businesses will have the endorsement of many third-party consumer protection groups. The Better Business Bureau offers a seal of approval to only the trustworthiest sites. TRUSTe, America Online and Excite also sometimes offer their approval to sites with only the most secure shopping connections. This protects the credit card you use for the purchase from getting "phished," or intercepted by someone else along the way.

Look for these organizations' seals as you shop, and click on them to make sure they head back to their actual site. Dishonest businesses will sometimes use the seal without really having their endorsement.

Do they have endorsements from customers?

Some online sites specialize in customer evaluations of other Web sites. Going to sites such as Bizrate.com and Epinions.com lets you see how previous customers evaluate a variety of things about shopping on a particular site.

Of course, nothing beats a personal referral, so if you have friends or family members who have shopped there, you'll have that much more information on which to base your opinion.

Look for secure transaction tools.

Many Web sites offer encryption tools and buyer protection software that provides additional security for the credit card transaction. You can see what protection is available by looking at your browser's lower right hand corner. A tiny padlock symbol will appear at the bottom of the browser window if the transaction is secure.

Bid with confidence by only using the best.

Millions of people buy and sell on ebay and other online auction sites every day. For maximum safety, bid on items only from sellers with a positive approval rating or 99% or better.