With the holiday shopping season officially upon us more and more consumers will turn to online shopping. There are a variety of reasons for the increased popularity of online shopping, some people like the convenience, others enjoy the bargain hunting still others shop online to save some time. With the increase in online shopping comes an increase in online scams and fraud. The holiday season is an excellent time for fraudsters to plot scams and take advantage of consumers. Here are some tips that can help you identify potential scams and keep your holiday shopping safe.
- Photo: Keit Williamson
Secure Site
Before doing anything you should ensure that the website you are browsing is a secure site. How can you determine if it is a secure site or not? Secured sites often have a “s” at the end of http (https), the “s” stands for secured. Secured sites also tend to have a “lock” icon at the bottom of the screen. If the site is not secured you should avoid making any purchases or disclosing any personal information.
Extremely Low Prices
Although we all want the best things for the lowest prices, you should watch out for low price traps. Scammers know that cash strapped consumers will be looking for low prices and will try to take advantage of it. If the prices are much below the competition it should raise some red flags. If it is too good to be true, it probably is.
Too Much Information
Avoid divulging too much personal information when making online purchases. If the site starts asking about Social Insurance Number, Drivers license number, health card number and so on, don’t share it.
Keep Records
At least until you receive your items, you should keep your records of all your purchases. This can come in handy in case there are any issues with your orders and can help reduce the hassle.
Terms of Purchase
This goes for all types of transactions, not just online shopping. Be familiar with the terms of the purchase. How long of a warranty do you have? Can the item be returned for refund or will it be exchanged? Who pays shipping fees? What if the product is damaged? Familiarize yourself with these terms before making a purchase, if you do not like them or they seem unusual you may want to re-consider.
Public Wi-fi
You should always be careful when accessing the internet over a public wi-fi. Given the increased usage of online shopping during the holiday season, fraudsters will be looking forward to hack into public wi-fi and hoping to find some valuable information. You should avoid providing personal information, including credit card and banking information.
While these tips are not bullet proof they can help reduce the chances of you becoming a victim during this holiday season.
Have you fallen victim to cyber scams? Any other tips?
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Also to be safe, you should shop at reputable online stores, such as Amazon, Walmart, Buy.com, Best Buy, etc. If you find a good price at a store you haven’t heard of, you should check to see if it’s rated on Bizrate.com, Shopping.com, Epinions.com. If not, then do a google search for “merchant name” reviews.
Also, when shopping at an auction site or even Etsy.com, you should always consider the seller’s feedback. I have gotten a less than stellar product on Ebay and then noticed after the fact that the seller’s feedback was also less than stellar. It was a good lesson to learn, thankfully, the item wasn’t too expensive, as returning it would have been a hassle.
Online shopping can reduce overhead costs in a variety of ways, which can translate to lower prices for us online store allows you to shop 24 hours a day,7days a week. So you can shop at your leisure, regardless of your time zone.so we must admit its a in thing nowadays
Thanks for giving such tips and as said At least until you receive your items, you should keep your records of all your purchases is correct
Nice post very helpful tips given and as mentioned in it that Given the increased usage of online shopping during the holiday season, fraudsters will be looking forward to hack into public wi-fi and hoping to find some valuable information is the we should be careful is the important one
Great article thanks for giving the tips to be remembered during online shoping
Online shopping is far safer now than giving your physical credit card to a merchant in a store. Most consumers should realize that their credit card offers them a lot of protection against scams or even just a bad shopping experience. Only in the rarest of circumstances should you be using any ‘alternative’ payment method.
The key is – read carefully, know exactly what you are buying and what the seller is committing to. Many ‘bad’ retail experiences are a result of assumptions being incorrect rather than retailers being bad – you are not protected if you just assumed something that the retailer wasn’t offering.
Most of all, if you have even the slightest issue with accepting any of the retailers terms… go somewhere else. There is a whole world of choice these days.
Almost all I can say is, I am not sure what to comment! Except needless to say, for the great tips which have been shared within this blog. I will think of a zillion fun methods to read the reports on this site. I do believe I will ultimately make a move with your tips on those things I could not have been able to manage alone. You are so thoughtful to allow me to be one of those to benefit from your helpful information. Please recognize how great I appreciate it.
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