Is Shopping Online Safe?

The most common question people ask when they begin online shopping is whether or not it’s safe.

Online shopping has taken off in the past decade beyond what many people ever thought possible.  The graph shows online spending as calculated by the BBC. So can you really trust your most personal information with private vendors? Overwhelmingly yes.

Shopping on Websites
Many websites are trustworthy to submit your credit card information of the simple fact that they never actually see your personal info.  Authorize.net is a company that is many sites use as a payment gateway.   So for example, if you’re buying a CD from CDWorld.com,  Even though you’re on CDWorld.com/checkout, all of your information is sent securely to  Authorize.net. 

Private Vendors
Buying from sites that facilitate private selling like eBay or Craigslist is a trickier matter.  That will have to be explored in many more posts.  First, lets deal with eBay.  I personally try and avoid eBay when at all possible.  That said, there are literally millions of people that use it every day without any problems.  The key to using eBay without any problems is to always pay through paypal.  Paypal has buyer protection, so you can open a dispute if someone tries to rip you off. 
On Craigslist, there is only one thing you ever need to know.  All deals should be in person and cash only.  Anyone that tries to send payment through Western Union is a scam.  Anyone that wants you to ship the item is trying to scam you.  Plan and simple. 

So to sum up everything that has been said, YES, shopping online is safe.  There are many safeguards in place to prevent scammers from stealing your hard earned money.  Even if all the best efforts to avoid being scammed fail, you can always call your credit card company and cancel the card or dispute the charges.