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Paying_Online_ _Pros_and_Cons
| Paying Online - Pros and Cons
Paying Online – Pros and Cons
I’ve been seduced by the convenience of online shopping! I’ve
bought movies, clothes, stamps, groceries, prescriptions, books
and jewelry online. During the Christmas Holidays, I wait with
peppermint breath for Saint UPS Driver Guy and his bag of
goodies. While others fight mobs of angry shoppers, I browse
through product descriptions at my leisure. I feel relatively
safe providing my credit card information despite the horror
stories of fraud and theft. I only buy from reputable merchants,
those that are well known and publicized. That’s not to say I
couldn’t be fooled. It’s nearly impossible to tell whose who on
the Internet. Sure, a professional site may be one indicator,
but anyone can hire a web designer. Recent research estimates
that the number of households shopping online grew to over 18
million in 2001. Here are some tips to help you decide if you’re
dealing with a trustworthy merchant:
Use a secure browser - software that encrypts or scrambles the
purchase information you send over the Internet - to help guard
the security of your information as it is transmitted to a
website. Secure websites will have URL address HTTPS (Hyper Text
Transfer Protocol Secure) rather than HTTP.
Check the site's privacy policy, before you provide any personal
financial information to a website. While these statements
contain lots of small print, it’s important you understand if
and when your information will be used or shared with others.
Also check the site's statements about their security policies.
There are several payment options available, however, the Fair
Credit Billing Act (FCBA) limits your liability if your credit
card is used. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
”…your liability for lost or stolen credit cards is limited to
$50. If the loss involves only your credit card number (not the
card itself), you have no liability for unauthorized use.” (FTC,
2004)
Keep records of your online transactions and review for monthly
credit card and bank statements. Verify that the charges made
were accurate and report errors immediately. “The FCBA's
settlement procedures apply to disputes about "billing errors"
for open-end accounts, including unauthorized charges (you
cannot be liable for more than $50 for unauthorized credit
charges); charges for goods or services you didn't accept or
weren't delivered as agreed; charges that are incorrectly
identified or show the wrong amount or date; math errors; a
failure to properly reflect payments or credits; not mailing or
delivering credit billing statements to your current address, if
the address was received by the creditor in writing at least 20
days before the billing period ended; and charges for which you
request an explanation or documentation, because of a possible
error. ” (FTC, 2004)
Resources Author Unknown. (2004). A Consumer's Guide to
E-Payments. Retrieved March 12, 2004 from www.FTC.gov
About the author:
Lisa Hood is the author of "Shades of Betrayal" and “Shades of
Revenge”. She has been writing for over 10 years and is
presently working on her third suspense novel, “Shades of
Jealousy.” She is also the Talent Liaison @ BOOKJOBBER.com.
Other articles by Lisa Hood can be downloaded from
http://www.bookjobber.com/articles.asp or
mailto:lisa_j@bookjobber.com
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