5 Tips for online shopping

5 Tips for online shopping

Shopping online is fast becoming increasingly popular. More people are coming online from around the world to make online purchases. With such an increase in overall online spend, it is imperative that you know exactly what you should be looking out for when shopping online.

1. Credit Card v Debit Card

When shopping online it is much more safe to use your credit card rather than your debit card for online purchases. The reason for this is that when you use a credit card you can charge-back the merchant if you are not satisifed with the goods or service that you purchased. It is also important to use a credit card because of online fraud. If you are subject to fraud with your credit card then the credit card company will give you a refund while your bank will not in the case of your debit card.

2. Shop Around

When you are online it is a good idea to look in many online shops before finally making a purchase. When you are shopping around and looking at the different prices offered it is also important to consider any shipping costs that are associated with a purchase.

3. Secure Payment Gateway

When shopping online it is imperative to note that you only enter your payment details via a secure payment gateway. In order to identify a secure payment gateway you should look in the address bar on the page where you are going to enter your payment details. If it reads https:// rather than http:// then it means that your data is being encrypted and as such will likely get to where it is supposed to. Please note that this does not apply throughout every page of the site, it only applies on the actual page that is being used to process payments.

4. Terms and Conditions

Please read the terms and conditions! Failing to read the terms and conditions may not seem too important at the time, but it certainly will affect you at a later stage should anything go wrong. A smart shopper will always identify the importance of ensuring they know exactly what they are agreeing to.

5. Contact Details

If a website doesn't have contact details such as address and telephone number then dealing with them is not a good idea. When you deal with a company and pay them money it is reasonable to assume you should be able to easily contact them when something goes wrong. If you cannot find anything other than an email address then don't give them your money!