Issue 48.10
Government studies indicate that over 70 percent of adults buy things online. There are great bargains there and access to items you may not find locally. There are also some precautions you should take to protect yourself and your identity.
The most dangerous and scary of the possible problems you may face is that of false shopping sites designed to steal your credit card information and identity. These usually offer fantastic prices on anything from big screen TVs to musical instruments to cars and everything in between. It is fairly inexpensive and easy to create a website and criminals are doing so in record numbers. The idea is not to actually sell you anything, but to get you to give them your information without any intention to send you a product. Some of them even copy the websites of known companies like Amazon or Ebay to give you a false sense of security.
The way to protect yourself from these is to never go to a site from a pop-up ad or email link. The old adage “If you didn’t ask for it, don’t go there!” is still the best rule. Type in the website or search through one of the major search engines and you can be fairly sure you are actually going where you meant to. If there is any doubt, carefully check the spelling in your address bar to be sure it is correct.
Another new twist that is very popular right now are the new penny auction sites. They advertise that you can buy an IPad for $23.97 and other seemingly ridiculous claims. They actually can point to people who have paid that much for items on their auctions, but they don’t tell you about the hidden costs. Most of them require that you buy bids, which means that you purchase the right to bid on an item. Each time the price goes up by a penny, someone has spent one of their bids which you typically pay from 40 cents to a dollar for. Since the price only rises one cent at a time, and whenever a bid is placed, the timer on the auction is reset so that others can continue to bid, the company actually receives hundreds (or thousands) of dollars for the item, even though one lucky winner (out of thousands) gets the merchandise for a great deal. It is highly unlikely that you will actually get the item you are trying to get and you will still pay for all the bids you make. Purchasing the right to bid is non-refundable so that money is gone even if you never win any auctions.
Look for independent merchant reviews. Check out http://searchenginewatch.com/3557731. Pricegrabber has merchant reviews right on their products page and shopzilla requires merchants to include a rating button where customers can comment on their shopping experience. These kinds of things can help you shop with confidence. As is also true of local merchants (which I like to support if possible), word of mouth is the very best indicator. If you know someone who has had a good experience with a merchant, it is a good indicator of what your experience will be. If you know a number of people who say good things, that is even better.
Please let others know when you have good experiences with online or local merchants and service providers. If you have a bad experience, always visit with the merchant and give them a chance to make it right. If they don’t, you are totally justified in letting others know so they can avoid problems. In the meantime, stay safe – and, as always, make sure you have a backup of anything important.
Shaun McCausland has been in the computer industry for 29 years (locally with Musicomp & Bits ‘N’ Bytes) and currently does in-home and on-site computer consultation, service, training and repair. If you have questions, you can reach him at 668-7118.