Why Not Use a Credit Card?
There’s a replica watch dealer offerering a 15% discount for payments made through western union, rather than credit card. A scary idea.
Almost universally the first advice given online shoppers is to use a credit card, because the card companies, in accordance with federal law provide fraud protection, bear in mind this protection is primarily against unauthorized charges (as with a stolen card number). Contesting the quality of a delivered product is no so cut and dry, if after the card company’s investigation, you are lucky enough to be found in the right, it can still be months before actually receiving a refund.
Some basic precautions the credit card buyer should take:
- Never email credit card nmbers, SS#s or other personal information, emails are not very secure and may be retained on internet computers for years.
- When making an eStore purchase be sure the address in your web browser starts with HTTPS not HTTP this indicates a secure page using data encryption this inhibits 3rd parties, like your neighbor at the web cafe from intercepting your information, it’s not a guarantee that the store is above board. Likewise look for a padlock image on the checkout page, the lock should be closed.
Of course the biggest concern is over one’s card number being stolen, bear in mind it’ s more likely to be stolen by the waitress serving your dinner as a reputable internet company. The unknown fly by night scammer sights are a greater concern, if you have any doubts about the legitamacy of the web site, a single use credit card number, or PayPal, which also provides some fraud protection, may be used. Some web businesses are complete fakes, setup soly to steal funds ad personal information. One indicator of the extent of this underground card number business, the term Credit Card Numbers is searched for on Google some 70,000 a month. most like by evil doers.