Six Savvy Moves To Protect Your Privacy When Shopping Online

E-commerce can be sweet! You can shop online twenty-four hours a day; seven days a week for practically anything you want.  Can’t get to the grocery store? No problem! Order your groceries online and have them delivered right on your doorstep.  Do you have to travel? You can purchase your airline ticket and even book hotels and rental cars too. Navigating the information superhighway is convenient and easy.  However, there is a bit of a dark side to all this too.  How do you protect your privacy when shopping online?

Some of the top concerns you may have when shopping online are probably the same ones millions of others have too.  Privacy and stolen identities often top the list. Other concerns include: receiving the wrong item or not receiving anything at all; phishing scams delivered right to your email doorstep; and even selling personal information like email addresses to third parties. For the most part though, online merchants want your repeat business, so they will do everything they can to ensure that the payment process is easy and secure.

Some of the same principles apply when you protect yourself when shopping at a physical store location. You guard your wallets and purses and never give out your pin numbers.  These safeguards translate in slightly different ways on the Internet, but the outcome is still the same: a safe, enjoyable online shopping experience.  Read on for six savvy moves to protect your privacy when shopping online:

1.  Be sure you shop at reputable online stores.  Heck, your ten-year-old neighbor could create an online store and you wouldn’t be the wiser.  Of course, the online version of any brick and mortar stores are likely to be legitimate.  If you are unsure of a website, take the time to research them through the online Better Business Bureau. Check that the contact information is easily accessible and look into their return policies if you decide to ship back any items.

2.  Before plugging in your credit card information on that online retailer website, make sure that your internet browser has all the latest security updates.  It is important to keep up with those updates because methods of scammers change daily and those updates keep you one step ahead of them.  In addition, make sure that the website you are visiting is on a secure server.  Secure servers are encrypted to protect any personal and financial information that you enter.  You can tell if the site is secure by looking for several things: first, the web address should start with https://; second, there should be a closed lock shown at the bottom of your computer screen; and third, you may see a symbol of a key that is not broken. These are all indicators that the shopping website is secure.

3.  Use a credit card, not a debit card when shopping online.  Only credit cards are protected by the Fair Credit Billing Act, which states that you are only liable for $50 in case someone steals your card and racks up the charges.

4.  Keep any personal information you share to a bare minimum.  Of course, when using a credit card to purchase something online, you will have to provide a billing address as well as a shipping address.  You do not have to provide a social security number.  If an e-commerce website asks for it or for any other information that you feel they do not need, exit that website and find another online retailer to shop.

5.  To protect your privacy and keep your credit card number secure from hackers and scammers, consider getting a virtual credit card number when you need to purchase something online.  These are typically used just one time and can only be used for internet purchases, mail and even phone purchases.  Check with your credit card company to see if they offer this service.

Protect your password. For most online retailers, you have to create a user account in order to purchase.  Do not share your password with anyone and try to not use the same password that you use elsewhere.  That makes it easier for scammers to figure it out.  Also, disable the “remember password” feature on your computer.  That way, no one can log in as you to shop.