For many of us, online shopping has become a regular part of our lives, mainly because it is so convenient. But while online shopping provides you with a high level of convenience, it also may provide cyber-criminals with access to your information through various online scams.

The good news is that with a little bit of awareness and education, you can easily enjoy the convenience of shopping online.

Tips for Safe Online Shopping

Online shopping can be a fun, convenient, and safe activity if you take a few a few steps to protect yourself. Follow these tips to help you have the best online shopping experience possible.

Before You Buy

• Comparison shop—Use a search engine to look for the best deals, but be wary of deals that sound too good to be true.

• Do a background check on the online retailer—Make sure that the e-tailer lists a physical address and phone number. Call the company’s phone number to see if there is a representative you can speak to.

• Read customer reviews—Another important step in investigating an online merchant is to do a search for
customer reviews. If there are multiple complaints about the company, proceed with caution.

• Know the shipping policies—Look into shipping and handling fees and make sure they seem reasonable to you. You want to make sure that you understand all your shipping options and how they will affect your total cost.

• Know your options when it comes to returns and exchanges—Since it is difficult to determine things like
quality and fit when shopping online, it is important to check out the merchant’s return and exchange policies.

• Find out when your purchase will be delivered— Since you may need your purchase by a specific date, you should investigate the time it will take for delivery.

• Review the company’s privacy policy—Look to see how the merchant uses your personal information and
check to make sure that it will not be shared with third parties.