How to Shop Online Safely: 10 Tips You Should Follow

Online shopping makes lots of things easy for you such as price, selection, delivery and etc. Online shopping makes your selection more broad and easy to choose, you can compare the best prices and order them by sitting at home and get delivery at your doorstep. But, is this all really easy and safe? No, it’s not actually. 

Shopping online is really not easy and safe. It may not involve what you always want when you shop. There are several downsides of online shopping that shift users from online to offline, however, the count is too low. When you shop online, you may have to think about a lot of things to confirm such as, your product should arrive on time, that quality is what you expected, the warranty of the product, and the process to return the order. Adding on, there is always security issue when you shop online, while entering the debit or credit card details for payment, or visiting any malicious websites for shopping, all these questions and security issues make your shopping experience best and worse. 

It all depends on how you take your shopping experience and your awareness about your product and those emerging online threats that see you everywhere. Safe and secure online shopping is all you need.  

How to Shop Online Safely - 10 Tips for You

Here are 10 tips for safe online shopping from all over the world. 

1. Shop on trusted sites
2. Review the seller, brand, and feedbacks
3. Deal in COD
4. Don't share too much
5. Check your bill regularly
6. Shop on private network
7. Mobile shopping
8. Check before you buy the card
9. Create a strong password
10. Let others know about your online shopping experience

Shop on trusted sites

Want to shop online safely? Start with a trusted website. Search results can be rigged to lead you astray, especially when you’re not looking for the specific one. If you know the website, chances are it’s less likely to be a rip-off. For example, Amazon. Com-we all know very well about Amazon and you can easily know that recognize Amazon.com. But, make sure you know the exact address of the website you want to visit. Beware of misspellings or sites using a different top-level domain (.net instead of .com, for example)-those are the oldest tricks in the book. Yes, sales on those sites might look enticing, but that’s how they trick you into giving up your info.

Review the seller, brand, and feedbacks

When you visit any shop online; before ordering any product make sure you check the brand of the product, about the seller and feedback as well. Feedbacks can tell you that everything about the seller and its brand authenticity. Today, feedback can also lead you astray. Most big online shopping platforms, drop fake reviews and ratings on platforms to increase their sale rate and profit. But, if you’re well efficient, you can make difference between real and fake reviews.

Deal in COD

Most of the buyers deal in COD (Cash on Delivery) at the time of purchase, as it is more secure than online payment. You can pay once you get your product at your doorstep and even Amazon offers its buyers to check the product at the time of delivery before paying money so that, in case of any problem with the product, the customer can return the product. Dealing in COD prevents the user from sharing their credit or debit card details, and it also prioritizes COD.

Don't share too much

For safe and secure online shopping, it’s important that you do not share too much of your details. Remember, no online shopping e-tailer needs you’re Social Security Number or your birthday to do business. However, if scammers get them and your credit card number, they can do a lot of damage. Try to provide the information that is required, don’t overshare your information.

Check your bill regularly

You can check your bill regularly online; you don’t need to wait for your bill to come at the end of the month. Go online within a week regularly especially during the holiday season, to view electronic statements for your credit card, debit card, and checking accounts. If you notice any fraudulent charges, even originate from popular payment sites like PayPal and Venmo.

Shop on private network

Try to shop online via your private mobile network or home Wi-Fi. If you’re shopping via a public hotspot, then stick to known networks, even if they’re free. Any of the providers in your roundup of the Fastest Free Nationwide Wi-Fi can generally be trusted, but we recommend you to use VPN (virtual private network) to be safe.

Mobile shopping

Actually, it’s pretty good if you’re thing about shopping on a mobile device rather than online. Most big online shopping platform like Amazon offers simple mobile shopping app. You can easily use the apps to get what you want without going to any store or website. The best part is there is less chance of phishing pop-ups in shopping apps that direct you to a phishing website and can harm your data or steal your money.

Check before you buy the card

Using cards for buying products is also the best tip for safe online shopping. Remember, whenever you buy the gift card make sure you stick to the one source; scammers like to auction off gift cards on sites like eBay with little or no funds on them. Scammers try to trap you by offering you great exchanges that you don’t want but you do because the offers are great, but in this, you might get a card and find it’s already been used. This is like scammers try to get your gift card in exchange for a fraud card. 

Create a strong password

Make sure you’ve already created a password for your banks and online shopping. These passwords must be uncrack able and must not be easy to guess. If you’re not good enough at making passwords, we recommend you use a password manager to create a strong password. This will help you to shop online safely.

Let others know about your online shopping experience

Experience created a better version of yourself. Your online shopping experience also helps others in safe online shopping. If you do share your bad and good shopping experience about the seller, product, quality, and service via reviews or comments, it would really help lots of other customers to make the decision to choose the best brand for the shopping. So, do comment, give a review, and increase awareness, because it’s you always who makes better.

Reliable online shopping sites in India

Below are the popular and reliable online shopping sites in India. Remember; when you shop online there is no guaranty of security. We do not intend any of the websites below for the best security, because scammers playing more efficiently now.

1. Amazon
2. Flipkart
3. Myntra
4. Snapdeal
5. TATA CLiQ
6. Jabong.com
7. Paytm Mall
8. ShopClues
9. LIMEROAD

Final Touch

Hey guys! This was the guide about “how to shop online safely.” Online shopping has its own standards for quality, price, and service but it doesn’t mean if you’re paying less you will be less efficiently treated. However, it happens. Although, the buyer has their safety in their own hands, and judging is the first step to take for safe online shopping, if you’re good and you can judge the real shine of gold, then no one can fool you. To better your security, we recommend you follow our above tips to shop online safely and share your feedback in the comment section always.