Christmas Shopping Online Volume 3

Reposted from 2006 by popular request!

Welcome to Volume 3, our last installment of BellClocks Christmas Shopping Online. This volume will focus on "too good to be true" and online security.

Please review the first 2 Volumes, as they work hand in hand with the information we'll present today to help keep you safer while shopping online.

Every year the number of online shoppers increases, and the money spent increases exponentially. The vast majority of shoppers use credit or debit cards to make purchases, over 90%, and the majority of merchants don't accept checks or mailed payments. Most credit card companies offer some form of protection against fraudlent charges, so our suggestions will focus on common sense ways to protect yourself even more.

1. "Too good to be true" deals are usually just that. Chances are not likely that you will find a $1,000 item for $9.95 with free shipping - but you'll see "deals" like this advertised all over the web. Simply put, we recommend ignoring these "offers". These cons are normally designed to collect information via an order form or similar instrument, many times including credit card information, and the result is never good.

2. Phishing/fake websites: These are websites that are designed to collect personal information through a number of scams. Many are designed to appear like an online store. We suggest that you look for business information as described in Volume 1. Unless you are comfortable with the site, don't fill out any forms at the site.

3. You can take an additional step in verification by verifying business information with the State they are located in. Nearly every State requires retail merchants to complete a licensing procedure, and many States now provide that information via a State website. This is an invaluable resource to shoppers that is not utilized often enough.

4. Many online shoppers are beginning to use the new Internet Explorer 7 browser which features a "phishing" filter built in. There are several problems being reported with this filter, genuine sites are being identified as "phishing" sites - while phishing sites are not always being identified as a threat. The best way to know, is to verify information yourself - and with the tools we've mentioned, this can be done with little effort.

5. Looking for "secure" areas where you input your credit card information.

Most browsers has some indication of a secure connection. Most have a picture of some kind
(a padlock, safe, etc.) and/or the colors yellow or red (the address bar on your browser will feature a
color to indicate a secure connection). When you have done your shopping, and are checking out with the perfect Christmas present, you should see some indication of secure connection when you get to the credit card input area.

In simple terms, a secure connection encrypts (scrambles) any information you give - much like "codes"
used by the military. It's done electronically, is then "decoded" by software. Encryption makes collection of your information very difficult, as the "scrambling" effect would make information appear as random text until properly decoded.

We hope hope the information we've provided is helpful in giving ideas on ways to be more secure while shopping online. We invite you to check out our retail site, bellclocks.com, for examples of some of the items we've mentioned. Please contact us through the blog if you have any questions.

Please visit us online at: http://bellclocks.com
a Division of Windward Instruments