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Nowadays, shopping online is a very common thing.
Making your purchases without leaving your house
is an attractive option for many of us. Purchasing
items over the internet using your
credit card
can be quite an unpleasant experience if you don't
make sure your payments are safe. Although many
people consider that using a credit card for
online transactions is not safe, they continue
using this method but with increased caution
measures. The greatest risk we expose ourselves to
when shopping online is
identity theft.
But this is not the only risk, and various studies
reveal that people have also other concerns like:
personal information will be sold to third
parties, unauthorized recurring transactions, not
receiving the ordered products or even higher
prices than advertised prices.
Many
people think that shopping online is risky, but
the risk is not greater than others. Taking few
precaution measures is the best thing to do unless
you want to quite shopping online. First of all,
we should not shop from unknown websites. Always
look for the companies you know or ask someone to
recommend you a site or a company that he/she
uses. Still, if you're not sure of the vendor's
identity try to find his address and phone number
and check them. Also check the refund and return
policies of the company in case they don't ship
you the right products or you're not satisfied
with their quality. Another thing to be careful
about is the browser that you're using, it has to
be a secured browser. A secured browser should
include Secure Sockets Layer that scramble the
information you are sending over the internet,
making the transaction more secure. You can easily
recognize a secured web site, because when you're
filling in online orders or applications a closed
padlock sign should appear at the bottom of the
screen. Another way to make sure that the web site
is secure is to check the URL; if it begins with
"https" it means the transaction is secure because
the "s" stands for secure.
Another important thing to be careful about is
your privacy. The information you're submitting
when you use your credit card online should be
kept private by the company that receives it,
meaning it should not be passed on or sold to
third parties unless you agree. Most web sites ask
for your permission to use personal details for
direct marketing, and if you feel uncomfortable
giving them permission you must know you have the
right to object. Anyway, before submitting any
personal details you should check the privacy
policy of an website; if there are things not
clear to you give them a call and see if your
understanding is correct or not. Do not submit any
information, unless you're absolutely sure that
your credit card details are safe.
Being able to safely use
credit cards
for online purchases is not only the buyer's
responsibility. The vendor has also his part of
responsibility in ensuring safe purchases for his
clients. Vendors also suffer from credit card
frauds. They have to take some security measures
in order for them and their customers to be
protected against online credit card frauds.
Security and privacy are two important aspects a
vendor should take into consideration. He must
ensure the client that the personal information
submitted are kept private and at the same time he
must check the details received to make sure that
he's dealing with the real cardholder.
It
is a well known fact that online credit card
transactions are risky, because your personal
information are exposed and can be stolen by
others with the intention of using them to commit
frauds. Yet, if the buyers are careful to whom
they relies these information and the vendors are
cautious from whom they receive credit card
information, the risks of online credit card
frauds decreases significantly. When disclosing
personal information, common sense should exist.
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