Buying products is a simple complexity that we have built for ourselves. At one point in history businesses were all brick and mortar businesses. A simple word of mouth or lack of competition made a business thrive or gave it enough foot traffic to allow its doors to stay open. In this age of information businesses doorsteps go far beyond the sidewalk and lay at the finger tips of millions in houses, coffee shops, and anywhere a WiFi signal is available. As a consumer, the option to choose from so many businesses works in their favor, but only with caution. Let us provide you with some simple tips to assist you with your online purchases. These three steps of caution can save you a lot in time and money.
Legitimacy- A few simple clicks around the website can do prevent a purchase that is too good to be true from happening. Make sure the company’s information is well written and gives a sense of identity. Many fake websites offering goods or services will have poorly written copy and broken links. These are clear signs of a faulty company, it just may be the company’s website is poorly made and you really want to score that deal of a life time. You may not be the first to stumble upon this deal.
Customer Feedback- A company usually will have a way for their customers to leave feedback. If it is a company ran out of eBay, customer feedback can be easily found at the bottom of their eBay home page by clicking on the “username” the store is maintained by. Most likely a fake company will not have any customer service fields, but that does not mean people have not left bad reviews of the company. Simply search the company in a search engine such ashttps://trytobuy.cc/ “Google”, “Bing”, or even “Yahoo” with the term “review” and your search will return with a list of websites that people have chosen to mention these false companies on. Many of the links will either be to forums, government sponsored sites, or review sites. If you have ordered from a suspicious site one of the easiest and quickest ways to find out about a company is simply to contact them.
Customer Service – Contact information should be on the company’s website somewhere. A phone number is preferred, but an email address will do as well. Customer service will aid customers in tracking an order and determining where the product or service exactly is. It will also allow for a quick warning sign if there is no customer service at all. Emails are great to get feedback and develop a relationship with the business. All professional companies online should have a valid email, but remember even an email can be faulty or maybe there are that many kings in foreign countries trying to give their fortunes away.
Next time you are about to click on that checkout button remember to do a little background research. Giving your personal information to the wrong company can lead to identity theft and credit card fraud. Following these steps is a simple way to following credit card fraud protection and securing your identity. Most businesses on the internet are not out to get you, but there are always a few bad apples in every batch and if those apples end up in a pie those can cause more problems than expected. Remember to take a few minutes to check and recheck your apples to keep yourself safe.
(c) 2011 Johnny Roque
Leave a Reply