Shopping is fun, and online shopping is more interesting with its simplicity. Online shopping completely transformed the way of our shopping style. It is is easy to use, secure and you will get the product at your doorstep. However, there are several advantages and disadvantages of online shopping.
If you consider the pros over the con’s in online shopping apps, pro’s are a little bit tempting because they offer discounts, many selections for Men, Women, Kids, fast shipping, easy returns, credit card, and other payment gateways support, etc.
So what are the cons? How to handle them? These are the primary questions comes in mind when we think about the disadvantages of online shopping.
Recently I had a conversation with my friend who is from a town and had a bad experience from online shopping. He has given his debit card details on the online store and the company guys deducted more amount that his purchase. So, when it comes to online shopping, we have to be very careful while giving our personal account or debit card details.
Hold on!
You don’t need to worry about the disadvantages of online shopping apps, you can turn those into your favor by following the below tips. These tips will help you to enjoy online shopping without being a victim of fraud or scam.
So, follow these tips to make your online shopping experience more enjoyable.
1. Trust Only Popular Websites or Apps
Always start your online shopping with a trusted website or app. There are plenty of trustworthy websites are offering great online shopping experience by giving reliable service to shoppers. Amazon, Flipkart, Aliexpress are some of the most trusted e-commerce websites. If you found any new e-commerce website in Google when you searching for a particular product, test its authenticity by checking online reviews.
Check the website links, payment options, return and refund policy, about us page, etc. Also, make sure to check the spelling of the website when you search in Google or any other search engine. There are many fraud websites are running online with similar name type and design. These type of websites won’t ship any product and collect the amount from users if they use credit or debit cards. So beware of the websites you are chosen for online shopping and check their authenticity before using them
2. Don’t share your debit card details
Debit cards are sensitive, no matter how much they improve safety and implement various security measures. Debit card details are more prone to attack than credit cards. With the debit cards, the risk is higher because of your personal money involved. In some websites, the debit card details are enough to make a transaction. The merchant won’t ask the PIN or OTP details to deduct the money. If you use the debit card in unsecured or relatively new e-commerce sites with no authenticity can trouble you.
Also, don’t share the bank or any other financial details with any e-commerce representative if they ask. Many fraudsters using such a tele-caller representative technique to steal your banking information details. Note that no genuine website or bank employee asks your financial information details on any phone conversation or emails. Some businesses ask credit card details to book service in advance. However, it is isn’t safe to store such details on a website.
3. Avoid Public WiFi or Unsecured Wifi connections
Public WiFi is the most insecure thing to connect and it voids your privacy and threat to your personal details. We have already discussed the safety concerns while using a public Wifi network. These networks are literally a trap to collect user information. An unsecured public WiFi can track your online transactions, and they can even change the webpage you are visiting with the help of some hacking tools.
4. Use a VPN Service
A good VPN secures your online activity by masking your real IP address and location by routing your traffic through their servers. We already discussed the use of VPN’s in our previous articles and recommended the best VPN’s for personal and business use. VPN can be a lifesaver while you shopping on your smartphone or desktop by hiding your actual IP and other information from intruders. It is always advisable to use a VPN service when you online.
5. Use HTTPS-enabled sites only
Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is a system for transmitting and receiving information across the Internet. “s” is for secure. It’s all about keeping you secure. When you see http:// in the browser bar, it means the website is talking to your browser using the unsecured language. When you visit a website you will see a small padlock at the beginning of the URL which represents the SSL certificate.
Secure Socket Layer is the full form of SSL certificate which acts as an intermediate for creating a secure link between the visitor browser and website. SSL is a standard for a trusted website when you see a padlock symbol available for a website, it means it is secured to do a transaction. Always check the SSL certificate availability when you visit a new shopping website. If you found a shopping website with no SSL installed then simply pass the deal.
6. Don’t be fooled by scam emails
We have seen the rise in the number of scam emails we get in our email inboxes. The number will increase if you mistakenly enter your email in an untrusted service. Many companies collect and sell emails to third-party companies where they usually spam your inbox. Those scam emails look like real ones with the fake target address. When you click on a link in spam mail you will see it redirects to a new website which designed to scam you. So beware of scam emails and unsubscribe them every possible one.
7. Set different passwords for all of your accounts
Many of us use the same password for all accounts. Technically and logically maintaining different passwords for different accounts is advisable. To make it clear I will show you an example. Do you use only one key to access your car, home, office and safe? No na, this applies to your online accounts too.
If one of your accounts is gets hacked by a cybercriminal, there are more chances of using the hacked password to access your other online accounts. So make sure to use different passwords to all of your accounts.
If you are afraid of remembering different passwords to your accounts try using a password manager. Password managers are easy to use and it stores all your passwords. LastPass and Dashlane are popular password managers available for all platforms support.
8. Use Cash on delivery
Almost all online shopping sites allow users to pay the amount after receiving the product. This facility is called Cash on delivery or pay on delivery option. If you are ordering a product from a new website, COD is the best option to start with. While using COD option, you don’t need to submit your financial information like a credit card, wallet or Bank details. This is one of the safest methods by avoiding your financial information to the shopping site.
9. Read online shopping sites Privacy Policy carefully
Privacy Policy is an open secret to everyone. It is a legal agreement that details the information a website collects from visitors. For example, a shopping website collects information from visitors like personal information, billing details, email and location., then they clearly mention these points in their privacy policy.
If you are visited a new shopping website, read the privacy policy carefully before making a purchase. Privacy Policy is created for the protection of personal consumer information in safe hands. Every website collects user information and uses it for their services. They clearly mention what type of data they collect, store and use. So it clearly gives an idea of how your data is being utilized by a company. If the privacy policy of a particular website is unacceptable for you, then simply avoid the service.
Summing up
These are the best online shopping safety tips to stay secure while shopping. If you know any other tip which is not mentioned in the article, please suggest in the comment box below for our readers.