Archives - e-commerce


Be careful of online stores that ask for personal info

Watch out for e-commerce sites asking for personally identifying information. E-commerce sites only really need two main data points from you: 1) your payment information, like a credit card number and 2) your shipping address. If they ask for anything else, consider finding an alternative. You don’t need to supply your Social Security number just […]

Only do business with trustworthy online sellers

Before providing any personal or financial information, make sure that you are interacting with a reputable, established vendor. Some attackers may try to trick you by creating malicious websites that appear to be legitimate, so you should verify the legitimacy before supplying any information. Attackers may obtain a site certificate for a malicious website to […]

Enable notifications for credit or debit card purchases

It’s important to always look out for fraud on your credit or debit card purchases. Even if no one has stolen your physical card, there are ways they can use the number. If you don’t want to take the time to review your purchases frequently, you can instead opt for text or email notifications whenever […]

Shopping online — pay with credit card instead of debit

E-commerce sites are typically well-protected from attacks. However, you can further reduce your risk by paying with credit, or with a gift/prepaid card, instead of debit. That way, you have more protections from identity theft and no prospect of your bank account being cleaned out if your card number is stolen.

Exercise healthy skepticism while bargain shopping

If you see a deal while shopping online that seems like it’s too good to be true, there’s a decent chance that it is. Be sure to compare the price of the item to the prices of similar items on websites you know are legitimate. Also, check to make sure that the organization is real […]

Use Whois to look up vendors

If you decide to shop from an e-commerce website you’re unfamiliar with, it’s important to take precautions to ensure that it’s a legitimate business. One way you can do this is by looking up the domain name on Whois, which will tell you who owns the domain name or IP address as well as the […]