Tips and Advice on How to Avoid Being Ripped Off When Shopping Online

As someone who has marketed online for a number of years I wanted to provide some tips based on my accumulated knowledge of what are some of the characteristics of a reputable online merchant or website.

However, these characteristics are certainly no guarantee that a merchant will be in business next month, virtually no business stays in business forever.

Based on my experience both marketing online and shopping online I’ve learned what website characteristics to look for to have confidence in purchasing from any internet merchant or website.

So exactly what do I look for on a webpage when making a purchase online.

First I recommend you look at the quality and number of pages of quality content the website has. A person looking to ripoff or take advantage of people is typically not going to invest a lot of time and resources in a website. It’s not financially expedient as a disreputable merchant or website will get a bad reputation and word travels fast online.

Second online merchants that accept American Express (AMEX) are typically in your top tier of merchants. While the other prominent credit cards (MasterCard, Visa, Discover) are certainly very good American Express in my humble opinion excels in customer service, which should be expected. Those other cards are free, while AMEX charges a yearly fee.

Personally because of previous experiences I’ve had when using American Express customer service for refunds, I prefer to use them when shopping online.

Third look on the website for the BBBOnline (Better Business Bureau) logo to see if the online merchant is a member of that network.

Now just suppose you don’t see this BBBOnline logo. This certainly doesn’t mean the merchant is not reputable. However, seeing it should give you confidence they are.

Other things to look for.

Do they display a telephone number on their website?

Are you able to call someone if you have a problem?

On any secure order forms set up to process orders and take credit card information the url address of the page should start with https instead of http. The address is contained in the white address bar at the top of the internet browser.

It’s highly recommended paying for your purchases with a credit card online. Using a credit card is your safeguard to get your money back in the unfortunate event the merchant doesn’t deliver. Use a credit card instead of a debit card as you have more protection with a credit card.

Most online merchants are very reputable and typically keep their eyes open for ripoff websites that give online buying an undeserved bad name.