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Shopping on-line is wonderful in most
respects. We can search for what we need, look for the provider of the
best price, pay with a credit card, have the product shipped to our door -
all without leaving the comfort of our home or office! Furthermore, we can
shop on-line and avoid all the terrible traffic jams, burning costly
gasoline, and time involved in running to the mall, store, etc.
Often we finally get to the store - only to find out when we get there,
that the store doesn't have what we want in stock! It's a
great opportunity, and the popularity of on-line shopping (via the
e-commerce shopping cart) continues to expand. On-line shopping cart
transactions are
also great for looking for specialty items or other products/services,
that may be very difficult to find, or unavailable for purchase at stores
or providers within the local area in which we live. For these and other
reasons, on-line shopping has grown dramatically, increasing over 50% in
2001.
So what's the catch? Some people are (justifiably) concerned that
entering credit card information into a computer transaction can be risky.
Will they receive the products purchased? Can they be assured that
their credit card information will not be stolen somehow by a "cyber
thief?" Statistically one in fifty on-line purchases has a problem.
So what should you do to protect yourself from the "e-cons" ?
First of all, make sure when you order on-line that the e-commerce
shopping cart is secure (provides secure transaction processing).
With secure transaction processing, you enter your credit card
information, and the credit card info is "encrypted" or scrambled as it is
sent over the internet. On the "other end" of the transaction, the
encrypted information is un-coded so that it can be read and processed by
the vendor's e-commerce shopping cart. If the shopping cart is not
"secure," then the information is not encrypted or scrambled, and your
credit card transaction info can be "hacked into" by a cyber thief. Cybercrime is growing by leaps and bounds, so it's foolish to take the
risk of buying on a shopping cart that is not secure. It's
surprising how many e-commerce shopping carts are taking your credit card
info and are not "secure."
To confirm that an e-commerce shopping cart is secure, you will frequently
see a pop up box on your screen when you "Add to Cart" that says: "
Security Alert! You are about to view pages over a secure
connection. Any information you exchange with the site cannot be
viewed by anyone else on the web." Beyond this point, you will
always see either a gold lock or gold key on the lower right hand side of
your computer screen, if the shopping cart has secure transaction
processing. If you don't see the lock or key in the lower right when
you are on the page to enter your credit card information, then don't
order! You can be assured that the shopping cart does not provide
secure transaction processing if the lock or key are missing. NO MATTER
WHAT ANYONE TELLS YOU! It's not worth the risk of doing
business with a company that doesn't provide for an ethical credit card
transaction.
One other noteworthy point - If you pay by check for anything purchased
on-line (whether it's on EBay or any on-line shopping service whatsoever),
you are leaving yourself open for a problem if you don't receive your
order, or don't receive what you ordered. You really can't dispute
the purchase, unless you take the seller to court. Obviously, when
you purchase with a credit card, you have 60 days after receiving your
credit card bill to dispute any invalid purchases or unshipped orders, so
there is a measure of protection to you as the consumer in this respect.
Do you need a web design with secure on-line e-commerce shopping cart
features? Contact us at the phone or email below for some
assistance!
Click below for printed version of this
newsletter article (Adobe pdf)
E-Commerce Shopping Carts |
