Online Shoppers BEWARE!
I love the convenience of shopping online and do most of my Christmas shopping without leaving the house. It is great that so many sites are now offering free shipping and when I find what I’m looking for I then do a Google search to make sure I’m getting the best possible price. Here is where you must exercise great caution. There is a growing trend on the Internet for bogus sites to be added right alongside all the other legitimate businesses in your search. So if the price is just a bit too low, you should be wondering whether or not it is real.
I was looking for wireless headphones called Beats by DRE for our teenage daughter. They are very pricey and one needs to be cautious that you aren’t buying a copy-cat version that pretends to be authentic. But the other day I did a search from a very reputable site that had a banner ad, “Get the best price on Beats Online”. When I clicked it listed 5 possible sites and 4 of them were very recognizable. The one that was priced $25.00 less than any of the others also looked very impressive with customer’s testimonies and everything. Except when I started reading the testimonies, they were for products other than Beats and the site only listed Beats as their product line. Hmmm, I then Googled this particular site adding the word “complaints” after the site name. I came up with lots of people who realized too late that this company was bogus.
Here’s a few tips on ensuring you are actually buying real products from real companies before you consider pulling out your credit card:
1. Check to see if their shopping cart is secure. A simple way to check is to add an item to their shopping cart and then click check out. Don’t worry you aren’t buying anything until you put in your credit card. Look at the URL now listed. Make sure that the address listed as the URL begins with “https”. This confirms that you are on a secure webpage. If the website URL starts with just “http” then you are on a non-secure webpage.
2. Look for the VeriSign label or logo. This should be clearly visible at the bottom of the website if it is a trusted site. However, beware that a site can simply paste the logo on the bottom but it is a dead link. So click on the link to verify that it is a valid link. Also, some sites don’t list it until you are checking out, so follow the instructions above to check.
3. McAfee, Norton and other antivirus or security software programs are a good way to determine if a site is valid or not. With the updated versions of these antivirus programs, you are protected against fraudulent and scam websites whose security certificates are not trusted.
4. Another layer of protection for consumers is shopping on sites that allow you to use PayPal to pay for your items. Paypal will give you a full refund if you don’t receive what you ordered online. And you are not releasing your credit card information directly to the company.
5. When you are not 100% certain the company is legitimate, gather information from other online users. You can do your own research on the website/company to check if people have gotten what they were looking for from that site. If some people warn about the validity of the site, it is best to just look for other online shops which are approved by other online shoppers as well.
The old saying, better safe than sorry holds true with your online shopping. Stick with companies you know and trust. Verify and confirm you are dealing with someone reputable before making a purchase. I hope you all have a wonderful and safe Christmas Shopping season!
Please pass this on to help keep everyone safe.
Healthy Blessings,
Sandy Scherschligt
