How do you know safe sites?

[smokey]

I'm starting to shop more online- I love being able to find things that I want at my fingertips. How do I know that the website is a safe website to shop at? I don't want to put my credit card number in an unsafe website.

[Experimental]

Ultimately, I really don't think you can be sure that you are at a safe site. Yes, you can see if it's a secure site by the "https" instead of "http" but those can be woven into fake web sites as well.

[Arudo]

Originally Posted by Experimental

Ultimately, I really don't think you can be sure that you are at a safe site. Yes, you can see if it's a secure site by the "https" instead of "http" but those can be woven into fake web sites as well.

Yep this is true.
And also notice on the right part of your address bar should be a lock symbol to show that the page is encrypted

To be more sure, check out the certificate from that lock symbol. Just to know whether the certificate is valid or not.

[rosebud]

Yes, Experimental is right. The site should have a "https://" at the beginning of the URL because it means that there's a proper security encryption locks for clients to use Credit and Debit cards on purchasing items online.

[crammer]

Trial and error is the only way I know, and the few places I do shop at online are all well known places. I also only use my Visa when shopping online as it comes with some protection.

[Charlie]

The big thing that I do is search for online complaints of the site being a scam before I am willing to buy from them. Also, I look for the design of the site-an unprofessionally put together site says a lot for the expected level of service.

[Micah]

Originally Posted by Charlie

The big thing that I do is search for online complaints of the site being a scam before I am willing to buy from them.

The problem with this one is that there are many people who are not contented with the services of legitimate businesses and they are fast in concluding that the company is a scam. Take for example PayPal. This company is legitimate but there is a website dedicated in telling people that this company is a scam.

I would suggest that we only buy products from reputable websites. You can test new websites but be sure that you have done a research about that website first before inputting your credit card information.

[21Cfox]

Originally Posted by crammer

Trial and error is the only way I know, and the few places I do shop at online are all well known places. I also only use my Visa when shopping online as it comes with some protection.

Interesting. I also use VISA to shop online but I never knew before that the company provides some protection for the card users. What sort of protection does the company offer?

[crammer]

I am sure its possible to scan from others who report bad sites and only visit the sites you know from friends and family to be good, but sometimes it happens to us all. The curiosity killed the cat you know, sometimes it gets us too.