Safe Holiday Online Shopping

by: Brotha Tech (http://brothatech.com)

image courtesy of flickr.com/Penny Sense If you're like me, then you don't shop for the holidays. If you're better than me (I hope so) then you will probably buy something for somebody for the holidays. Most of us have been able to get over our "scared to death to buy something online" and will do a great deal of their holiday shopping online. So let Brotha Tech give you some tips on how to make those online purchases as non scary as possible. The Lowdown: - Get a Paypal or Google Checkout account. They are accepted just about everywhere online. You create an account, enter all of your personal information in one spot (with one login), and use that to make all of your purchases. If you do run into a snafu, you have one source to cuss at deal with versus dealing with whatever merchant (and there are many) that half-assed your transaction. If you really don't wanna go through the painful 5-minute registration process then: - Designate ONE credit card/bank account as the online purchasing account. It will be easier for you to track a charge/purchase if you KNOW what card/account you used. Then, I would contact the company that issued the card/account and see if they have purchase alerts that will notify you by email of recent charges you made. So if something fishy pops up, you will see it almost immediately, and have the opportunity to react faster. Most companies give the you the ability to customize the alerts so you only get notified if there are a string of quick purchases or large purchases of x amount or higher. I like the "BBD" (Bigger Better Deal) just like the next person, but if finding that deal means buying from a shady-looking site where you need a secret handshake just to see the merchandise, it's better that you just: - Trust your gut. If it's too good to be true… If it walks like a duck, quacks like duck… (I've got more if you don't catch my drift). If you have even the slightest reservation about the site – LEAVE. You will be able to find that exact item listed on a bunch of other sites, I promise! Bottom line, online shopping is supposed to give the shopper the freedom to shop at home in your drawls pj's. You shouldn't have to be stressed out about whether or not your every keystroke on a site is being recorded by some loser who spent a whole lot of time, effort, and money into taking your hard-earned holiday cash. I know I may have missed some online shopping techniques, so tell me, how do you ensure your safety while making purchases online? Tagged: holidays, online, shopping