If you hate the hustle and bustle of the stores, you should try out the stress-free comfort of online shopping. With the click of a button, you can compare prices from several vendors to look for ways to save money. Online shopping is attractive for a number of reasons. One, you don’t have to leave your home to go shopping. Two, you can often find lower prices and greater bargains. Three, you can save time as you don’t need to drive to a store and spend minutes or hours walking up and down aisles. Fourth, you can compare prices of specific products to multiple vendors to find the lowest price instead of driving from store to store to look for it.
When you start the online shopping adventure, make sure you are choosing web sites that are secure. There are a number of unsecured web sites out there and when you offer over your credit card and billing information, you are opening the door to trafficking cookies that can steal your identity. Make sure the credit card you use has fraud protection so that you don’t have unauthorized charges on your account.
You need to have anti-virus software that includes extra things like protection against malware and spyware. This will help keep your identity safe and it will protect you against harmful tracking cookies.
Always check the offers. Sure the ad you clicked on may say that you can purchase something for 75% off but when you get to their web site, you may find that their shipping costs are outrageous or they only have a limited quantity of a certain item. Get as much information as possible before you start buying because you can often find a better deal with a little research.
When you participate in online shopping, make sure you only use one credit card and do not use your ATM or Debit card. Use a card that has a low limit, say $500 or so and only use it for online shopping. It will be easier to track your purchases and it will be much easier to deal with identity theft or fraud if you only have one creditor to work with. The other benefit is that you are protected by the Federal Fair Credit Billing Act in case something does happen with your credit card. That way you are not responsible for fraudulent charges on your account.
As you are online shopping, narrow down the things you are shopping for to specific items. Typing in a search for “toddler shoes†will pull up a bunch of random sites, many of which are not secured. Typing in something like “toddler boys shoes, size 5†will narrow down your list significantly and it will be much easier for you to successfully find the item you are searching for.
Never give out extra information. Of course you will need to input your credit card information along with your name, address, and phone number but click away from a site that wants more information like your social security number. To protect customers, some sites have set up a system to verify their credit card. Try to look for sites that offer this extra step, it is one more way to stay protected.
As you are online shopping, don’t just buy the first item you see, instead, bookmark this page and keep searching for lower prices. Be sure to include the shipping cost in your total price so you end up paying the lowest amount possible. Look at some of the big sites like Ebay.com and Amazon.com, they tend to have vendors that will offer free shipping if you order above a certain amount.
Parenting viewpoints from parents in the trenches, because parenting doesn’t come with a manual. In addition to