10 Tips for a Safer Online Shopping Experience

Online shopping is convenient, often lets you find the best prices, and lets you enjoy delivery to your doorstep.

But getting a great deal online involves more than just getting the lowest price. You want to be sure that products arrive on time, that quality is what you expected, that items include a proper warranty, and that there is a way for you to return products or get support with any questions or issues you have.

Apply these 10 Tips to improve your shopping experience:

1. Make sure you are using a secure computing environment. If your computer isn’t protected from malicious software your financial information and passwords will be stolen (and everything else you store on your computer or do online). This concept is so basic, yet only a fraction of the U.S. population adequately protects their computers. Use a secure connection – make sure your computer’s firewall is on. If you use a wireless network it needs to be encrypted so someone who is lurking outside the house can’t collect your information. Avoid making any financial transactions when using a public network, you do not know how it may be compromised.

2. Trust is the key to all financial transactions. know the merchant – or their reputation

    If you already know the store, shopping their online store is very safe. You can always walk into the local store for help if there’s a problem.

    If you know others who have had consistently positive experiences with the online store, you can be reassured of the site’s quality.

    If you don’t know the store, it may still be the best bet; you just need to take a few more precautions. Conduct your own background check by looking at sites dedicated to reviewing e-stores. If the store isn’t reviewed or does not have favorable reviews don’t use it.

3. Look for any merchant offers, coupons or discount codes. Applying a coupon or discount code to your order can save a significant amount on your purchases or shipping costs.

4. Avoid ’too-good-to-be-true offers. Any e-store that promises too much at too low a price is suspicious. If the price is too low, consider whether the merchant came by the items legally, if you will ever receive the items you paid for, whether the items are actually the brand shown or a cheap substitute, if the item will work, if you will be able to return damaged goods – or if the merchant is earning extra income by selling your financial information. Disreputable online stores – like their brick and mortar counterparts, may run an absurdly low price offer and then claim the item is out of stock, to try to sell you something else in a classic "bait and switch" scam.

5. If you are buying a Gift Card, make sure you understand the terms – if the gift card is for someone else, be sure the store is legitimate, that the person uses the store, and that there are no hoops they will have to jump through.

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