The most important thing to remember when shopping online and paying with a credit card on the store’s site is to make sure you see the “lock” at the bottom of your browser. It looks like a Master Lock- and if it is broken, so is the security. Only put your credit card number into a site that has that lock in tact. Even if there is wording on the site that says it is secure, you cannot count on that.

Another good practice to follow when shopping online is to try to buy mostly from well-known stores. Everyone has a web site now, and most of the time you can find competitive pricing online at a brand name store. If you cannot, or the items you are purchasing are unique and must be purchased from a small internet-based company, at least make sure there are instructions to contact them on the web site. It should be a red flag to you if a company does not have a phone number or a mailing address anywhere on their web site. Why would you give your money to a company you have no way of contacting, other than email via their web site?

It makes you wonder if there is a reason they are hiding this information from consumers. It is also a good idea to see if they have a cancellation or return policy stated on their site. If they don’t have these things, you may want to pay the few extra dollars to get the item from a more known entity.