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How To Be A Smarter Online Shopper

Are you planning on shopping online for the holidays? Some people do it to save money on gas, avoid crowds, and others for the convenience of shopping at any time from home, work, during the day or even in our pajamas. There are predictions that online shoppers will spend more on the internet this holiday season more than before.

Before shopping online, do some ground work for your safety and protection. Here are some things you can do to be a smarter online shopper.

Phone Number:
Find out if the website has a number. If it does, call the phone number, that way you know you can reach the seller if need be. If the phone number does not work, you better think twice before shopping on that site. If they have an alternative number, better yet. This says that the website owners are ready and willing to help and do business.

Security:
Find out if the website is encrypted, thus, ensuring a safe environment in which you can submit your credit card number. A well secured website has the Internet standard of 128-bit SSL encryption. To be sure that a website is encrypted or secured, as soon as you visit the website, look at the browser status bar and see if there’s a closed padlock on it. At Checkout, make sure that the beginning of the site’s web address changes from http to https.

Inquiries on SEs:
Go to search engines like Yahoo, Google, MSN, Netscape, etc. Type the name of the website. Find out if there are negative comments about them. Learn as much as you can. Sometimes, some negative comments are not necessarily negative or true. If you can, learn more, maybe from others about those comments. Better yet, call the company and ask questions. You never know what you’ll learn.

Privacy Policy/other policies:
Does the company have a privacy policy? If yes, thoroughly read their Privacy policy. If they have other policies, read them too. You need to know how information on you will be used and how it will be shared. It is important that you learn this.
Does the website have a return policy? It is to your own interest that you find out how issues or disputes are resolved. If you have a damaged product, or want to return an item for other reasons, how will it be handled, and how much if they charge re-stocking fee. Different sellers have different time frame for items to be returned or exchanged. Some let you return the items, some let you exchange, and some others do not accept returns at all. For the shipping of returned or exchanged item, some sellers pay for it, and some ask their buyers to pay for it.

Bargains/Discounts/Offers:
Do your calculations before buying from a seller. There are so many deals, bargains, discounts out there, most especially now, with the holidays around the corner. Make sure you are getting the best deals. There are a lot of FREE shipping offers. Make sure you know the condition for the FREE shipping. In some cases, you have to spend a certain amount or buy some items to qualify. Some sellers give extra discounts or Gift cards/certificates when you register with them.

Payment:
Before shopping, think about how you are going to pay. Most online shops or malls, accept Pay-pal, Google Checkout, credit cards. All these are safe ways of paying online. With Credit cards you can easily file a dispute if there questionable charges, or if a paid item is not delivered. Pay-pal is very popular among buyers and sellers now online. With Pay-pal, sellers will not see your personal information. And you can use all forms of payment except cash. For more security, be sure the seller is Verified. This means that Pay-pal has all of the seller’s information, including bank account information. Look for the Pay-pal seal on the site’s homepage. Never send cash or wire money to anyone over any transaction or order done online.

Services:
More and more sellers are offering different shopping services to make shopping easier for all. Some sites have Reminder service. This allows shoppers to set up a reminder for a future gift-giving date, such as anniversaries or birthdays. In some sites, two weeks before the event, the website will automatically send an e-mail to the shopper with a link to the site, reminding them of their event. Some also have Gift Registry and Wish List. And some others have Gift Ideas. This is for shoppers who are either in a hurry to choose a gift, or those who have no idea of which gift to choose.

Complaints:
To file a complaint or to get free information on consumer issues, visit ftc.gov. The FTC enters consumer complaints into the Consumer Sentinel Network, a secure online database and investigative tool used by hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.

Ada Ogboso is an expert on online and offline shopping. Ada in addition to the studies and researches she has done on online shopping, has been doing a lot of it for over ten years. She has also done a lot of shopping in over eight countries in the world. Ada has over ten websites and blogs which include three online stores.

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http://stores.ebay.com/myhomegifts

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Things to know before shopping online.

Shopping at Online Malls is quickly becoming the way to shop for a lot of people all over the world. Today, you can shop from your home for any thing you want or need. Online Malls make it easy to purchase high quality products. Most Online Malls offer reliable shipping and exceptional customer service. But, always make sure you do your research before making purchases. There are some things you need to know before shopping online.

Before making a purchase from any Online Mall, make sure that the Store has a valid contact phone number. Call the number before making a purchase.



Be sure the company has a privacy policy.

That's it for today. See you ...