None of us are strangers to the madness and mayhem that is holiday shopping. If like a growing number of shoppers, you prefer to do your holiday shopping online, here are a few tips to keep you safe (at least keep you informed).
Shop from trusted stores.
Stores like Amazon offer terrific return polices, fraud protection, free shipping and many other advantages.
Always use a credit card – Never use a debit card
Unlike credit cards, most debit cards don’t carry the ‘dispute charge’ feature that helps secure your cred card purchases.
Your credit card most likely has strong fraud features associated with it.
You’ll get points for purchases. These points are awesome and most credit cards let you convert them into cash or redeem them for swag.
Pay with PayPal
PayPal is convenient and offers a charge dispute feature. PayPal also offers a MasterCard with 2% pay-back on all purchases.
When it all goes wrong
There are a bunch of things that can go wrong with online purchases including wrong items delivered, items not up to expectations, etc…
- Check return policies before you buy
- Keep digital receipts and email notifications
- Keep original packaging
What if you get the ‘Fraud Notification’ from your bank?
This can be a nightmare unless you are prepared. It’s definitely a question of ‘when’ not ‘if’.
Maintain a comprehensive list of all online services that you pay for by credit card.
Consider migrating as many online service payment to PayPal – this way you only have to change the credit card associated with PayPal instead of multiple accounts.
Want more? Here’s a Google search link with some useful articles: https://www.google.com/search?q=online+shopping+safety
