Safe and Secure Online Shopping for All

We spend our money increasingly online, and this form of shopping has been a sea change for the retail industry and business in general. Web shopping or e-commerce has made the transfer of money and obtainment of products and services incredibly easy. With the good comes the bad, though. We have always been concerned that web sites and e-commerce online stores are safe to use and that our information is properly protected from web hackers and identity thieves.

SSL Certificates

SSL certificates stand for "Secure Socket Layer" certificates. This standardized form of technological tool encodes information provided through the browser, and in turn, through the website’s server. This increases data integrity and offers a protection for all details of a transaction. Through its encoding or encryption, the SSL certificate secures transfer of all the data that passes between the customer and the online retailer. The safety is verified by a lock symbol on the page or image index at the end of your browser and can be identified when the URL changes to https. High-end SSL certificates also light up major browser address bars in green as an obvious visual cue to proceed with the site.

The lock icon and https will not necessarily appear on the site until you log on to the pages that are secured. This typically occurs on a registration screen or any online account page or login.

Most sites ought to offer a link for users to view their SSL certificate. If you want to know what one might look like, click on this link: https://www.name-of-site.com/.
Credit Card or Debit Card

Try to avoid using your debit card. The bank provides you security guarantees with a credit card that are not afforded to the use of a debit card.

Never send payment information via e-mail

E-mail is not completely protected from reading by others. The most reputable merchant sites use encryption to protect your private data so that it isn’t read by others. This type of SSL encryption is utilized during an online transaction.
User Names and Passwords

If you have the opportunity to edit or create your own user name, do not use your e-mail address because it is too widely known. Take the original password, and modify into a mixture of letters, numbers and symbols as soon as possible. Make sure that you have it written down for next time.
Try not to use the optio
"remember password." This registers the password on the network and stores it on your computer. This is frequently the subject of fraud. Malicious software has been developed to find these passwords. Especially if you are using a portable computer, select to uncheck this feature.

Check Your Card Statements

Check your statements frequently, not only to confirm the transactions you've made, but to ensure lack of fraudulent activity. A fraud usually begins with a small "test" of personal information or credit card details prior to using stolen data seriously.

Privacy Policies

Make a routine examination of a site's privacy policy for information on how your private information will be used. Only make available the least amount possible of personal information in online forms.

Check Terms and Conditions

Verify the legal agreements of the site that you visit, such as the information return policy and your constitutional rights as a consumer. If these items do not exist, don’t do business with the site.

Separate Card

Think about using a separate card for online buying, to minimize damages in case your details are used unfairly.