Thu 16 Jul 2009
Shopping on the internet has become what would seem to be a national past-time, which is marvelous for the shopper – it’s made it painless to buy things. Moreover, a more competitive market incorporated with the cost-effectiveness with selling online has determined cheap prices for items.
However, as the shopping market has flourished, so too has the need to be aware of your consumer protection rights, and what to do if you are in receipt of faulty goods or goods that don’t even turn up. Data is available on the internet, such as the consumer protection act 1987.
You also need to be aware of what payment provider to use to pay for your items, as each payment provider has its own terms and conditions. . Doing your research can stop you getting cheated by internet scams.
Our word to the wise is to do your homework regarding the vendor : do they publish their phone number and postal address? What is the vendor’s privacy policy? Their returns policy? Their terms and conditions? All these enquiries need to be resolved before you consider buying from the seller.
Another issue to think about: how is payment taken? Nowadays, it’s inadequate to merely look for a Secure Socket Layer Certificate – this won’t tell you how they keep your data, only how it’s sent when you make your purchase. If in doubt, only purchase from vendors who use 3rd party payment gateways such as Google Checkout, PayPal, SagePay, NoChex and WorldPay.Also you can see what reputation the vendor has with his payment provider, e.g. check his PayPal account and how many transactions have taken place on this individual account.
