Online shopping is now commonplace. Because there are many offers and a large selection on the Internet that can be conveniently browsed from home. To make shopping on the Internet a success, we have collected clever tips for safe online shopping.

The advantages and disadvantages of online shopping

The invention of the Internet not only made communication easier for us, but it also took shopping to a whole new level. But what’s better? Strolling around town or looking for inexpensive offers from the comfort of your own home? Of course, it’s a matter of taste! Because some love to stroll from shop to shop in the city and get advice. Others, however, prefer to shop online.

Tips for safe online shopping

Shopping online can be fun, not least because of the long opening hours, but there are a few precautions to take to ensure the online shopping experience is uninterrupted. Therefore, we have the most important tips for shopping on the Internet and show you how you can shop online safely.

1) Safe online shopping in the right internet shops

If you want to shop safely online, you should take a good look at the shop where you want to order something. Because there can also be fake shops that only want your money. Therefore check the identity of the shop operator, i.e. whether the name and address (imprint) are available. In addition, check whether the shop has a tax number and whether there is a telephone number in addition to the e-mail address so that you can contact us in the event of problems or complaints. If this information is not available, caution is advised.

2) Product choice when shopping on the Internet

When selecting the desired product, also pay attention to a detailed description that you can refer to in the event of later complaints. You should be careful with extremely reduced products because such supposed special offers often make you careless. Therefore, fraudsters in particular use attractive offers to get their money. Instead, use other clever tips to save money on the Internet.

3) Keep order documents well

In order to have documents that can be used as evidence in the event of any difficulties, you should print out the order and the order confirmation that is to be expected, or at least save it on your PC. Then keep them for emergencies. The order confirmation should also contain a precise description and the scope of delivery of the ordered goods. After ordering, you will usually receive a link for tracking the shipment. Also, note useful savings tips for shopping.

4) Secure online payment

Here, too, you have to decide between the options offered by the site, security, speed, and your own convenience. Reputable shops on the Internet offer their customers various payment methods. Then you can decide between modern online payment methods, paying by credit card or by invoice.

5) Withdrawing from the order from the Internet

In principle, you, the customer, have the right to withdraw from an order within 2 weeks and without giving a reason. The so-called right of withdrawal for internet orders. However, it is advisable to look at the general terms and conditions of the internet shop for this reason as well. Here you can also find out everything about the possible exchange procedure. Furthermore, it makes sense to clarify the question of paying the return costs in advance, as the seller may refuse to pay them.

6) Safe online shopping

Unfortunately, there is no general security guarantee for online shops. While you can normally assume that the purchase process and shipping are relatively secure with the well-known online shops and online shops of the large retail chains, you, unfortunately, have to take a risk with unknown shops.

When it comes to larger sums of money when shopping online, researching the selected shop on the Internet is helpful – for example, search combinations of the shop name or the shop’s homepage address together with keywords such as “test report”, “experience”, “field report” or “scam” result usually very quickly informative results and often links to test pages (please make sure that the result pages are not subpages of the shop!!!). How these research results are to be evaluated is another question. Because testimonials can have been bought or posted by the operator of the shop, or the shop used to be “clean” but not anymore… or the shop no longer exists and someone is running a pseudo shop. Consequently, use well-known sites or our list of providers for bargain hunting on the Internet.

7) Beware of phishing and typos

Caution is advised, especially with supposed offer emails that end up in your own mailbox without being asked. Because these often refer to no real shop, but to so-called phishing sites to swindle bank details, etc. These internet pages are often confusingly similar to a real existing and usually very well-known page and can only be recognized by examining the Internet address and its path (URL) in the address line of the browser. Typographical errors in Internet addresses are often used here, which you may have entered incorrectly in your browser yourself. Also, note how you can avoid annoying advertising.

8) Safe online shopping with a good password

Basically, use secure passwords! As ALWAYS when it comes to passwords, you should choose a unique password when creating a customer account. It should have the following properties so that you can shop online safely:

• Do not use one-word passwords or names.
• Not “password”, “secret” or something like “mum”, there are enough word lists that use password cracking programs in which these “passwords” are listed – and several thousand more – and which are automatically tried out one after the other (the brute force -Method).
• A good mix of upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters of sufficient length is best – at least eight characters.
• Not a one-size-fits-all password, because if someone gets hold of that password, all secured locations are compromised (compromised) on other sites as well.