Online shopping is a lot of fun. It’s something you can do from the comfort of your own home at your own convenience, especially as whatever you buy will be delivered directly to your home. 

 

However, as much fun as it is and as much as it offers plenty of convenience, online shopping isn’t always safe. In 2019, around $3.5 billion was lost to people who bought online and found they were scammed. 

 

So what can be done? Luckily, there are a number of useful tips that will help you stay safe when buying online and ensure that you get what you want and not something you didn’t intend, like the theft of your money or identity. Read on to discover just some of these valuable tips to help you know what to look out for. 

 

Shop With Reputable Retailers 

The best thing to do is to shop with a reputable retailer who you already know and trust. In this way, you know you won’t be scammed or lose money, and you’ll know that the quality of the items you’re buying will be just what you want too. 

 

The best thing to do is to bookmark the sites that you can trust so that you can go back to them at any time. Since some scammers will create sites that look like reputable stores and have similar names, it’s easy to get confused. With bookmarks in place, you won’t have to worry about this. 

 

Of course, even with reputable retailers, you will need to give your email address to place the order. If you’re not comfortable with this for any reason, even if it’s just because you don’t want to receive marketing emails, you can use temp mail instead. 

 

Vet Other Sites 

Only using sites you have used before is a good start, but what if you want to buy something they don’t provide and you have seen what you want elsewhere? The answer is to thoroughly vet the site you’re considering using if you’ve never used them before. 

 

To do this, you can search online for unbiased reviews and see what other people thought about the service, the delivery, and the products. As well as this, you can search the Better Business Bureau to see if anyone has complained about the company and if so, what the issue was. Once you have thoroughly vetted the website, you’ll know whether you’re happy to use them or not. 

 

Don’t Browse On Public Wifi

It’s not necessarily the sites you’re using that are the problem; it could be your internet connection. If you’re out in public and you’re using public wifi, anyone could be monitoring your activity, and when you buy something, they could see your identity, your address, and your payment details. At the very least, they might be able to steal your password (and this becomes even more of an issue when you use the same password for everything). 

 

If you want to buy something, it’s always best to ensure you are logged into a private wifi connection where it won’t be so likely that anyone will hack your details.