Riverbender's Guide to Safe Online Shopping

Shopping online can be a fun and convenient experience. For one, the stores never close. For another, online shopping makes it easy to find items that might be difficult to find in your area, or specialty items.

Despite all of this convenience, online shopping can be a problem if you don't follow some basic safety rules. If you don't use your head, you could run into many problems: having your credit card number stolen, being ripped off by a disreputable merchant, or having your private information sold to advertisers (hello, telemarketers). So, just in time for your holiday shopping, Riverbender.com has provided its members with the Online Rules for Safe Shopping.

Shop with stores that you trust

When in doubt, make sure you're buying from a business that you know. If you don't know the business, search opinion sites online to see if others have had a positive shopping experience with that company. A few minutes of research can save you a lot of trouble.

Make sure the site is secure

In order to prevent sensitive information from being freely read by anyone with the inclination, online retailers make use of a technology called "encryption" when you log in, or go to check out. Encryption is used to scramble the information that you enter on a web site (such as your credit card number), so that it is only readable by computers at the merchant that you are using. If the website is legitimate, it should be using encryption anyplace where you enter sensitive information; conversely, an unencrypted website is a good sign that the website isn't the store that it seems to be. So how can you tell if the site you're shopping at is safe? One clue is to look for the lock in the lower right corner of your browser. An open lock means that the site isn't secure, while a closed one means that the site IS secure.

Another sign is to look at the address bar of your internet browser. Normally it should read something like http://www.riverbender.com. When shopping at a secure website, it should read "https.riverbender.com"… Note the addition of the "s" after the http part - it signals that you're at a secure site. It's also a good practice to look at the rest of the site in the address bar, just to make sure that you're at the right website. If it reads something like "http://105.662.45/riverbender.com, or has a typo in the title (such as http://roverbender.com) then that is another sign that you are shopping at an imposter website. It is a common practice among scammers to set up a legitimate looking website and then try to spoof the web address of one that is better known.

Watch what information you give out online

Much of the information that stores ask for are those necessary to complete the online transaction, such as your name, address, phone number and credit card number. A number of stores will also ask for information as a matter of convenience - shoe sizes, alternate shipping addresses, favorite type of movie - in order to more closely tailor your next shopping experience to the items that they have on hand. This can also save you the trouble of retyping the information and, in turn, make you more likely to complete a transaction - a win-win situation for all parties involved. Other stores ask questions that are more invasive. Your social security number, your driver's license number, your bank account number, your mother's maiden name… If a store won't let you shop without providing this information, then there is an EXTREMELY good chance that they are trying to rip you off. Drop this merchant like a hot potato, and find somewhere else to take your business.

Guard your email

Many stores will also try to opt you in to newsletters and "special offers" from other retailers. This is where things get tricky. You might feel comfortable with the store that you're shopping at, but do you know who they're going to sell your information to? If given the choice, always opt out of these special deals. It's also a good idea to have two email addresses - one that you use for personal correspondence and one that you use for shopping. This way if you do get opted in, at least one of your email accounts will be safe from that scourge of online correspondence - spam.

1, 2, 3… Charge!

The safest way to pay for your online purchases is to use a credit card. With debit cards, the money is taken from your account immediately, leaving you little opportunity for reparation if the store takes your money and runs. With a credit card, the creditor's money is used to pay for initial purchase, so if there is a problem the credit company will help back your claim. As an added bonus, most credit cards offer online fraud protection.

Don't just close that window

When finished shopping, please make sure that you log out of your account before you close the browser window. This prevents people from coming in after you and charging things to your account. It is also a good idea to not shop online using public computers such as a computer lab or library, in case you forget to log out.

It seems like a lot, but these are all small steps that you can check in a matter of seconds and will save you a lot of trouble down the road. As an added bonus, you usually only have to check these things once with each online store that you use, to establish their credibility. After that, it should be smooth sailing.