Tips for Safe Online Shopping

So shopping is something that I do a lot of and something that I do a lot of talking about. I talk about getting the most value for your money, finding great deals and I also share some really good finds that I come across.

Since so much of what I do is online, I thought that I would post about safety when it comes to shopping online. In fact, I just had a virus removed from my computer that I am pretty sure I picked up at a shopping site that I must have been to in the past few months.

How safe are you when it comes to online shopping and giving out your financial information for purchases? I know that I haven't been very safe in the past.

I know that I learned a few things as I read over the information and hopefully you will too.

SOUND TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE?

If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is, right? I frequently click ads when I am on websites and after getting a virus,  am much more cautious now. If the website looks interesting from the ad, I might go directly rather than click the ad.

My mother also frequently clicks links in emails. She ended up with a non-functioning computer because of it. Now she will not click any emails links unless it is a large, well know site.

SHOP IN PRIVATE

Now this doesn't necessarily mean in your pajamas although you could do that. Rather it means “don’t shop in a public “hot spot” or in places with unsecured networks. ” I have always been bad about this but no more.

Now you will find me shopping from the comfort of my own home with a safe and secure network.

CONFIRM EVERYTHING

Back when eBay first started, I was a victim of clicking on a false site when I thought that I was going to eBay. They got my info and I, in turn, got a headache from all of the things that I had to do. I had to cancel my credit card. Create a new eBay account. Dispute some charges that were made. That never happened to me again.

Make certain that you are really on the correct site. Type the address in yourself.

KEEP RECORDS AND STAY AWARE

One of the things that I am bad about is keeping records of what I buy online. I usually look for the confirmation email but don't track things in a spreadsheet or anything. When I was phished on eBay several years ago, I actually figured it out when I did not get an email confirming my purchases. I started looking into it and knew something had happened.

Now I frequently match up my mail confirmations with my credit card statement. I have found errors many times and in fact I once discovered a double charge. It was fixed as soon as I called but I am not sure if it would have been a quickly corrected had I not caught the mistake.

We were given a gift card to shop on Cyber Monday and while my intention was to shop bigger sites, I still found myself on some smaller sites. Only this time, I looked for the lock symbol, made certain that I was shopping on a site that began with https and I only shopped at home rather than the coffee shop where I do a lot of shopping.

READY TO SHOP?