Is shopping online becoming popular and safe enough for you and I to do the vast majority of our shopping on the Internet?

As I contemplated, when I initially set up my website: www.dealoftheweek.ca, the first thought that came to mind was will they come and will they spend money? Sure people are always curious and some will visit but will they stay long enough to spend some money?

Safety was the first concern of those I had spoken to, they were somewhat skeptical and therefore reluctant to make any online purchases. It is our responsibility as online marketers to convince them to about the safety of online shopping.

We all know about the convenience of getting on the computer and viewing the sales that retailers are using to entice the shoppers into making a commitment. But are not always as eager to go ahead and complete the purchase online.

The internet today is as safe or safer than making a purchase in person.Most of the buying we do today is payed for by either a credit card or a debit card. Most retailers that do business online have very good security to protect the buyers. Credit card companies have become very strict in the matter of how a retailer sets up his shopping cart so customers can complete their purchases with the highest degree of security.

A retailer must set up a merchant account and purchase what is called an SSL certificate. This certificate actually assures authentication on both ends. It not only encrypts the data but determines whether or not each party (server and client or in other words the retailer and client) has the expected authentication. Getting a secure certificate from a validated certificate authority (CA) helps to ensure the parties are trusted. The CA will investigate the retailer to ensure they are who they say they are and then will vouch their authenticity so you can be sure your purchase on their site and your information is protected and safe.

Online shopping is much more profitable for the stores and safer. Besides no shoplifting takes place on the internet saving expenses from theft, so the retailers want to protect this revenue source by making it safe as well as convenient. Often they will pass on those savings to you, the customer.

Another willing partner are the credit card companies themselves they want you and I to continue using plastic, and are doing all they can to protect the credit card user.

On our website we have a page titled credit card fraud protection, with direct links to the major credit card companies website and anti fraud page, so that shoppers can read what the credit card companies are doing to protect them from fraud and identity theft.

As more and more people become aware of the security measures being undertaken to protect them, they will avail themselves of the convenience of doing their shopping online and use the time they save for pleasure and family activities.

People today are always in a hurry and don’t usually have time to wait in long lines for cashier to ring up their purchases, when they can accomplish the same thing without leaving home.

This is more attractive to younger active people who would rather play a round of golf or a couple of sets of tennis than fight the crowds.

I hope this article helps you when you are trying to decide whether you want to shop on-line or not. More and more people are chosing this method of shopping every day and in the not too distant future I believe it will be the norm instead of shopping at the brick and mortar store located in a mall or downtown building.

Happy shopping!

Regards,

Claude Belanger

If you are like most people the world over you spend a good deal of money shopping online. Indeed, not only can you find great bargains when it comes to shopping on the Internet, but shopping online also is very convenient. Despite the many benefits that are associated with shopping online, you need to understand that a good number of identity thieves use the Internet as their tool of choice when it comes to stealing identities. Through this article you are provided with an overview of Internet identity theft protection and shopping online.

At the outset, when it comes to shopping online and identity theft protection it is important that you only ever shop at reputable business in operation on the Net. Because this is a fundamental step for you to take you very well may have to do a spot of homework before you elect to shop at a particular site on the Net. You need to make very certain that any site that you elect to do business with is a bona fide merchant or service provider. (You must never forget that there is a multitude of sham and scam operations up and running on the Net today. You definitely do not want to fall victim to any of these bad apples.)

When it comes to paying for any purchase that you make online, in order to ensure that you are engaging in identity theft protection, you should only transmit payment information – credit card number and so forth – through a secured transmission system. You must never provide your credit or debit card information or anything else of a sensitive nature through a non-secure channel in cyberspace.

You also need to make sure that you have appropriate and effective anti-spyware software installed on your computer. The reality is that try as you may to avoid a disreputable site, you can end up at such a venue unintentionally. Even though you may not purchase anything at such a site, simply by clicking through to such a venue can open up your computer to insidious spyware. However, you can prevent this from happening through the presence and operation of appropriate anti-spyware software.

In the end, by being proactive and systematic, you really can engage in identity theft protection when you are shopping online. You can shop online in a safe and secure fashion today and into the future as well.

Identity theft continues to be one of the fastest growing crimes of this century, and is thought to also be the largest and fastest growing white collar crime in the US. It becomes increasingly easy for identity thieves to get enough of your personal information to steal your identity especially during busy shopping times of the year.

The easiest way for a thief to steal your identity used to be via dumpster diving, an activity where the thieves would sift through people’s trash to get their personal information. Just think about how often you get a pre approved credit card offer in the mail. If you have decent credit, you probably get multiple such offers each and every week. Or what about those bank statements from 5 years ago, or perhaps your credit card statements after you have paid the bill? Most people simply throw them in the trash without even ripping them up, which makes them prime property for these dumpster divers. It does not take a rocket scientist to piece even a ripped up statement back together so they have enough information to steal your identity.

For virtually ANYTHING that you discard into the trash that has your personal information on it, invest in a paper shredder. These are readily available at just about any office supply store for about $35, and the amount of potential grief this could save you is far more than the purchase price of the paper shredder.

Many people think of identity theft as being financially related, where the thieves use your identity to get money or buy products using your good credit reputation. While this is certainly the most common benefit for identity thieves, there are also others. For example, using your identity to get health care coverage or social security benefits is something gaining more visibility as time goes on. This puts an additional strain on the already skyrocketing costs of health insurance, and could also affect your health records at your doctor’s office since those records are no longer accurate if they are actually treating someone else for an ailment that you do not have.

Identity theft can cause extreme situations, so do not think for a minute that while it might be an inconvenience, it is not the end of the world. Consider a case a few years ago where a teacher whose identity had been compromised was charged with prostitution. Although it took months to resolve and the teacher was eventually cleared of the bogus charge, the school district finally just let the teacher go because it was far more trouble than it was worth to continue fighting against the charge, which is something people will remember and really wonder about as time goes on.

The cost to the victim can be enormous. On average, an identity theft case costs the victim more than $92,000 in financial loss, the thief has written more than 70 checks in the victim’s name, and has opened about 8 credit card accounts in the victim’s name. Be aware that if you do not discover the theft within 60 days of the transaction date, some credit card companies will still hold you responsible for the charges.

Be careful with your personal information, since becoming a victim of identity theft can take months and even years to straighten out.