The Federal Trade Commission has launched what I deem to be some pretty good advice for anyone that is looking to do the bulk of their shopping online this holiday season.  I read through the article and found quite a few tips they posted to be great, a few I didn’t think were all that helpful but needed to be included nonetheless.  Here’s a brief once-over of the article…

1. Check out the Seller:  Either call the phone number on the site or communicate a few times via email to make sure they are accessible.  I would find it kind of hard to do business with someone who doesn’t answer their phones.  Also keep in mind that a complicated answering system at an online retailer could spell hours of time on the phone should you have to return or make changes to your online order.  (we advise our clients to always have their phone number on their website, in this day and age most people will purchase online but there are a few holdouts who prefer to speak to a live person, so by simply not posting your phone number in an obvious place on your website can translate into lost sales).

2. Read Return Policies:  This is pretty much a no brainer.

3. Don’t fall for False Emails or Pop-Ups: 99% of the time Legitimate Businesses will not resort to viral email campaigns, some out there might, but for the most part all legitimate retailers will only send opted-in email campaigns.  Pop-Up’s are a no-no in my opinion.  I know that there are a few retailers that do quite well for them but I view them as obnoxious and choose to boycot those retailers with my personal shopping.  At Pleth, we discourage pop-up advertisements placed by ad networks to our clients.

4. Look to make sure a site is Secure:  This can open up a whole can of worms with Internet Security that I don’t want to get into at this time, but let’s just say you should look for the word “secure” on a website before you place an order.  In most cases your credit card information is transferred to a clearing house for processing when you place your order but in some cases there are retailers that have different methods to approving and charging your card, it’s wise to inquire about this before making your purchases.

5. Secure Your Computer:  This is one that I think should be at the top of the list.  It doesn’t matter how secure the website is that you are shopping online is if your computer has keyloggers and spyware installed on it you could be potentially transmitting your credit card information to a third party.  There are multiple spyware and malware protection suites on the market these days and I am not going to endorse one or the other but will state for the record that I use Webroot SpySweeper on all 5 of my personal PC’s. 

6. Keep a Paper Trail: This is another great Tip for doing business with anyone online, in most cases once you have made a transaction a receipt is emailed to your email address with important information, sometimes a tracking number is even included, this can be helpful especially if you are doing last minute shopping and cutting it close in terms of having the gifts in time for the holidays.

This is a well written article and I recommend anyone who is new to online shopping take a good look at it. Here’s a link: 10 Tips for Smart Holiday Shopping Online