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The number of people buying online is growing as people find that the internet can save them time and money in their everyday purchasing for home and business as well as personally.

Although the majority of ordering is done with known and respected suppliers and provide little problems, we are often presented with buying opportunities with smaller, unknown suppliers, perhaps internationally.

Here are a few traps we can fall into when straying from established and usually safe ordering paths.

• If the company we are ordering from is new to us, take a few minutes to check them out via their web site - who are they, where are they? - be cautious of companies who do not give a street address, telephone number or contact names or departments.
• Is the company registered, a charity or perhaps one person, the size of the firm and the amount of time it has been in business will rule how reliable it is.
• Send an email or use a contact form to make initial enquires and test the speed of reply and presentation of that reply. This gives an indication of the quality of the firms service.
• If you place an order make sure it is done under a secure web site especially when entering credit or debit card information. Check out who the card processor is and print relevant pages of the web site and payment process.

Special Risk Areas

• deals and offers which seem too good to be true (and usually are) chances are the offer is to get you to order and give them details on yourself such as email, payment information, address etc - even paying $5 puts you at risk by finding a charge of $500 made later by a fraudulent supplier.
• medicines and health products which may be expensive and useless as well as risky to your health - check out the product and the company. A common practice is a regular order which firm claims you ordered every month!
• motor vehicles and other expensive mechanical items which may not exist or have major expensive defects.
• holidays and vacations which may be misrepresented and offered at silly prices to attract a booking.
• work at home opportunities which involve some investment and promise big incomes which rarely transpire.

Best practices

• order from your own country, not only is delivery quicker but chasing a problem is easier and you have legal methods to use for serious issues.
• Avoid deals which ask for sensitive personal details which could allow them to
  • overcharge you
  • repeat charge you next month
  • be hard to trace or cancel
• order only from known and trusted sources or firms who have been recommended by a friend or reputable organisation.
• print pages of web sites relevant to order process.
• use a credit card to order/pay this offers better legal protection than bank transfers or debit cards.
• if in doubt DO NOT ORDER.

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