Online Purchasing

Online purchasing is a major business in our society today. I personally love online shopping, I am too busy to go shoppping so online shopping is quick and convinient, and I have been fortunate to have never had any security problems when online shopping. Online shopping can be dangerous though, as a bank employee I have seen the terrible effects when someone gets their idenity stolen and it effects their bank accounts. There are steps you can take to protect yourself when online shopping. First, only shop at established merchants, you can check businesses reputation and the Better Business Bureau website. You can also check to see if a page is secure by seeing a padlock on the site, this lets you know the site is secured. Make sure the site has contact information to contact the seller, and you may want to contact the seller before making your purchase. Use a third party paying system, such as PayPal, which only makes you put your credit card number in once, rather than everytime you buy something online. Also at my bank, we tell customers not to use their debit card when shopping online, because if fraud does occur it can mess up your entire checking account, if you used a credit card you could dispute the charge and not have to pay it, rather than waiting for the bank to refund your money. The final step is to slow down and read everthing twice. This is important because you first have to protect yourself and make responsible decisions when online shopping. If the purchase feels fishy it probably is make you're following all the online safe shopping steps before your make your purchase!