10 Useful Tips For Safe Online Shopping

Online shopping simplifies things for shopaholics in many ways. It enables them to find the best prices, shop, and have items delivered at their doorstep- without having to leave the house.

And because online stores offer warranty and seamless return policies in case their products turn out to be faulty, this form of shopping has grown tremendously in popularity over the past decade.

Online customer support teams are also proving to be more efficient than those in physical stores.

But online shopping isn’t immune to challenges. Most of the challenges are precipitated by technology, precisely cyber insecurity.

Cybercriminals are strategically positioned to spy on and steal your credit card information, which they can easily use to steal your money. With that in mind, there clearly is an urgent need for you to be cautious when making online purchases.

Here are 10 tips that you can rely on to improve the security of your precious data when shopping online.

1. Avoid shopping with debit cards
   
   

Your debit card and your bank account have similar information.

The two are actually connected directly.

If a data thief successfully mines data from your debit card, therefore, he can effortlessly wipe your bank accounts dry.

Instead of using a debit card to shop online, it is better to use a credit card.

These cards are connected to your card insurer and not directly to the bank.

In a way, the insurer shields your bank account information from spies.

2. Always ensure that your connection is secure
   

Never make any financial transaction online when your computer’s firewall is down or compromised.

When using a wireless network, be sure to check if it is properly encrypted.

Also, as much as possible, never shop online using public Wi-Fi. You cannot be sure who is watching.

3. Have an email dedicated to shopping only
   
   

Your regular email has a lot of confidential personal information that a data thief could greatly benefit from.

Don’t put that information at risk by using it to shop online. It is wise to open a new email and dedicate it to online shopping only.

4. Buy VPN
   
   

A VPN guarantees you secure online payments by hiding your physical IP address from cybercriminals.

If you are in the US but are using an Australia-based VPN server, for example, a spy will be misguided to think that you are in Australia.

That makes it hard for him to steal your information and even if he does, most of it is distorted, misleading, and obsolete.

5. Only shop from trusted sites
   
   

You can easily end up in a rip-off e-commerce site if you aren’t careful.

The best thing to do is to only shop from the online shopping sites you trust.

If you are a fashionista, for example, you will find great websites that offer fashion deals on famous brands.

All you need to do is trust a few reputable ones for all your future fashion needs.

6. Ensure that your passwords are foolproof

Of course, no one likes the hustle of creating and memorizing new passwords for every account they own.

That is why most people use the same password for nearly every platform.

Others use their names or birthdays as passwords because, after all, such details are easier to remember.

What they probably don’t know is that the easier it is to remember a password, the easier it will be for a hacker to guess it.

Always try to create complex, unique passwords and to mix them up once in a while. You know; just to confuse potential spies.

7. Never allow a shopping site to save your login details

It is convenient to let shopping sites save your passwords, but it can be equally risky.

You would rather re-enter your login details every time you want to shop in a given site than risk losing important data by saving it in unsecure sites.

8. Only download store mobile apps from the authorized app store
   
   

If you shop from your smartphone, avoid shopping from unverified e-commerce apps.

Always ensure that you download your apps from Google or Play Store.

9. Always check the padlock

If you are a keen person, you must have noticed an icon of a locked padlock that sometimes appears at the top left-hand side of your browser’s address bar.

That shows that the site you are in has SSL (secure sockets layer) encryption.

If the padlock is missing, that site could be unsecure. Run away from there.

10. Make sure that your browser is updated

Hackers easily infiltrate old browsers and operating systems.

Always ensure that your computer’s OS is up-to-date and that your browsing device has strong anti-virus software.

By Edita Rhodes

Read Also: Here are some of the advantages of doing your shopping online