How to Buy Online

Shopping online has become one of the most currently ways to purchase products. But many people are still afraid that their credit card data land in the wrong hands and that their bank accounts become compromised and depleted.

Online purchases have certainly come to stay and online security continues to advance. There are arguments that online shopping can be safer than shopping by phone or even in person, because you never give your credit card details to someone else.

1. Make sure the site has full address, contact information and well-designed business. Look at the pages like "Contact Us", "About Us", "Privacy Policy", and so on. Make sure the company has a phone number (a good thing to do is try to call them to verify that the information is valid).
2. Check out third party sites that evaluate and comment online retailers and promotions. There are very sites that are free of disorder and trusted (the offerings are shared by members, evaluated and reviewed by other members and also moderated by the administrators). Buyers give them notes and leave comments confirming the reliability of the site.
3. Make sure the site uses encryption: a page that requires any personal information (like an e-mail, especially details on credit card) must have a secure address, meaning, the URL should begin with "https://".
4. Trust your own judgment. Evaluate the site and the overall look. Stay away from companies that have poor design (especially stuffed with ads) or grammar errors. Do not trust companies that seem to be very aggressive when trying to sell something.
5. Use one of the anti-virus and security monitoring tools that warns against suspicious sites. Note that many of these tools not only verify some tech problems (such as viruses and malware), but also aggregate user reviews and report on:

• Misleading offers;
• Attempts to spam;
• Reliability of the supplier;
• Issues of privacy.

To make a purchase on websites you must have an international credit card or a PayPal account (recommended).

This part is one of the most important of the whole process. After all, if you choose a seller without evaluating all the necessary items, you may never get the package to your home (or it can arrive in faulty conditions). The first step is to evaluate whether the seller (or store) delivers the products in your address.

If the seller performs the delivery of the product in your home, it is very important to check his reputation with other buyers who have already made purchases with him.

The best online stores that offer security for purchases are Deal Extreme (direct from China) and Amazon. Sites which bring together sellers, like eBay, are also widely used, but in this case it is necessary to evaluate very well the reputation of sellers to avoid headaches. You should always remember to consider whether the products can be shipped to your address.

Knowing this, good shopping!