Watches and Jewelry Guide

Some individuals believe that the anonymity of the Internet and delivering through the mail gives them the free rein to victimize their “customers”

Some basic precautions

• There’s virtually no circumstance that justifies paying by Western Union.  If you dealing with a trusted business you have a history ou might be able to swing a 2% discount.  There are “replica” dealers who’s activities make it difficult for them to maintain credit card processing capabilities, I have seen such stores dealing in shady products offer a 15% discount for paying by Western Union.
• Never email credit card numbers, SS#s or other personal information, emails are not very secure and may be retained on internet computers for years.
• When making an eStore payment be sure the address in your web browser starts with https: (not http:) this indicates a secure page using data encryption that inhibits 3rd parties, like your neighbor at the web cafe from intercepting your information.  Likewise look for a padlock image on the checkout page, the lock should be closed. These safety measures are a good sign but not a guarantee that the store is above board.

Some fly by night operations have sophisticated looking web sites, but these may completely copied from a legitimate store. If you care to investigate the online store a bit further, here are some steps you can take.

• Go to Better Business Bureau Online, it’s where you can double check that the BBB seal a site displays is earned, there are more than 56,000 web site businesses registered at the BBB.
• You can also just enter the store name, or even their phone number into the google search engine, if there are many dissatisfied former customers, you will find some of thir complaints on forums, etc.
  
• Check their contact us area for an address and phone number, if your spending a significant amount of money, it’s worth calling them and see if someone answers and you get the sense they are what they say.
• Many small internet businesses use PO Box that may be labeled as a suit or building number. This may not be a problem but is does suggest their small time working from home, or have reason to be untouchable.
• Larger established businesses tend make their contact info available in the web site registry, to look up a site, go to a WHOIS lookup service, Ideally you will find an address and phone number that coincide with store’s contact page.  Some operators have legitimate reason to employ a “private registration” which conceals their information, they may simply not want their home address available for millions to scrutinize.
• You can enter the store’s given address into google and get a reasonable close look at the neighborhood from a satellite, start wondering if you see a vacant lot where a “Massive warehouse” is supposed to be.

Millions of of people shop on the internet without any complication, just remain aware of what some remote, faceless, anonymous players are capable of.