When is time to pay, what icon,they should have? (padlock?); Some websites that look extremely professional can be a scammer. We have had a very great looking well done website advertise their site on my website, and apparently they use their customer's credit card information to pay for the advertising they buy. So it is definitely beyond the looks:
Here are some things to watch for:
1. Has security and authentication seals, including that of BBB, Thawte or Verisign, Hacker Safe and other seals (and those seals are working)
2. They use SSL secured socket layer -- when you go to pages where you give your credit card information you see https:// and not just http: -- if the site does not show https:// on pages where you are supposed to give your information, hit the back button and leave the site immediately
3. Check the payment modalities accepted, as well as the refund and return policies. If they only accept Western Union or bank to bank transfer, be wary.
4. Check the whois information of the site (if the site allows their whois information to be seen. Go to any domain registrar website such as Godaddy.com http://www.godaddy.com and see how long the site has been up and running.
If their whois information is not visible, go to the Internet Way Back Machine http://www.archive.org/index.php to see when the site has been up and running
5. Do your diligence check on the web by searching for comparison shopping sites, doing a search on the company name and looking at comments and feedbacks of web users of the site. If they have negative comments on sites such as RipOffReport.com, I would be wary.
6. Check BBB Online for reports on the company. The icon just means it's theoretically a secure site and the financial information you're transmitting goes through them without going through hacked or hackable sites -- which doesn't always work because unsafe, unsecure links have been known to sneak into "secure" sites. If you're really worried, shoot them an email about what you want to buy. That will also give you an idea of their customer service.
Well, you can always Google the name of the site or company and the word: complain. You'll get blogs and other reviews of sites. If the site is good, people will review it well; if it's bad, someone will have complained about it and screamed "THEY TAKE YOUR MONEY! DON'T USE THEM! FAKE FAKE FAKE!" and other all-caps angry reviews.
Personally, I would try first to go through Amazon and check the ratings that aren't cut-and-paste ratings. Angry ratings help a lot, too, and if the vendor replies to the angry ratings with nasty replies (that got me from shopping with one Amazon buddy company), then go to another one.
My only real advice is: Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware). Knowledge is the only thing we, as consumers, can arm ourselves with. The knowledge that they want your money more than you want to give it to them should remind you that *you* are the one in the power position of this financial relationship.
Happy Shopping! you can check the better business bureau |
