With the click of a mouse, you can buy goods and services from your home. No queues, no crowds, no traffic and no need to worry about the weather. Shopping online therefore offers both convenience and choice. Your shopping experience should be no more risky than buying by mail order or on the phone. Online shopping is regulated by the trust UK scheme launched by the Office of Fair Trading. This means that you can find out the online retailers that are safe to deal by visiting http://www.trustuk.org.uk and http://www.consumer.gov.uk While some tips and advice are universal, your consumer rights are likely to be different if you are dealing with a retailer resident outside the UK. To see more information visit http://www.oft.gov.uk/default.htm http://www.dti.gov.uk/cacp/ca/dsdbulletin.htm http://www.dti.gov.uk/CACP/ca/policy/distanceselling/newregs.htm You should take certain precautions to make shopping across the Internet safe. Here are some tips to help you make secure shopping. 1. Make sure the site is using a secure sockets layer (SSL). This is easy to determine, as you will see the "https" in the site address instead of "http". Your browser may also display a locked symbol. 2. Do not use your debit card. Some banks say you will not be liable for fraud, but that won't help in the short term with your checking account empty. Use a credit card so that liability is covered with the banks money, not yours. 3. Get a small, credit limit card for Internet purchases and pay it off each month. This way, your maximum exposure is limited. If someone uses it fraudulently you won't be liable anyway as long as you follow the reporting rules, but it's nice to limit even that small liability. 4. Always use a credit card for purchases on the Internet. If your number is stolen it will be protected. 5. Be sure you are on the site that you think you are on. Check the address (URL) and make sure you've spelled it correctly. 6. Don't give out more information than needed to complete the purchase. 7. Keep a notebook with a list of what was purchased and when. This would be valuable if the product did not arrive as expected. 8. Be sure to save receipts to your disk drive. 9. Check the retailer on the trust UK web site above. Be careful of scams. If it looks too good to be true, it's probably a lie. You need an email address and a visa card to buy online and here is how it works 1. Go to your favourite online store 2. Click on the item you want to buy. 3. Click on add to shopping cart (basket) 4 Click on enter the online checkout 5. You will now be in secure mode (the small lock on your browser is now closed) everything that transmits and receives between you and the browser is now encrypted. 6. Select to pay by visa 7. Type your visa card number and expiry date then click the submit button. 8. You are now in a special secure transaction 9. The online shop receives your order without looking at the credit info it passes it to a clearinghouse 10. The clearing house contacts the bank over high speed secure lines and confirms the transaction 11. The bank gives the okay 12. The clearinghouse gives the okay 13. The online shop gives the okay 14. 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