Avoiding Online Fraud by Doing Your Homework
Shopping on the internet has become what would seem to be a national past-time, and has been terrific for the consumer – it’s never been easier to buy things. Moreover, a more competitive market unified with low running costs has encouraged low prices for items.
Yet, as the shopping market has boomed, so too has the need to be heedful of your consumer rights, and what you should do if you are in receipt of faulty goods or items that don’t even turn up. Information is available on the internet, such as the consumer protection act 1987.
You also need to be aware of what payment provider to use to buy something, as each payment provider has its own terms and conditions. For example, Paypal act as an independent judge only for physical goods, not digital downloads. Knowing this type of information is the difference between getting your money back or being a victim of 419 fraud.
Our word of advice is to do your homework about the seller : do they display their phone number and postal address? What is the vendor’s terms and conditions? Their returns policy? Their privacy policy? All these inquiries need to be resolved prior to considering buying from the vendor.
Another very important point to consider: what are the methods of purchase? These days, it’s inadequate to merely look for a Secure Socket Layer Certificate – this doesn’t inform you how they keep your data, only how it’s transmitted when you make the order. If in doubt, only buy from vendors who use third party payment gateways such as Google Checkout, PayPal, SagePay, NoChex and WorldPay.Also you can see what reputation the seller has with his payment provider, e.g. check his PayPal account and how many orders have occurred on this individual account.
