Shopping online now is a tremendous industry. We buy, we sell, we settle bills... the list is nearly endless of what we can do online. Hundreds of billions of dollars are spent worldwide online shopping every year. Unfortunately, with all the pluses of ease and speed of shopping on-line and transactions, come a couple of negatives. Here are a few tips to making online shopping more secure.

When using sites, always attempt to use well known and secure sites, to ensure that your chance of being taken benefit of is significantly lessened, or eliminated. You can check with the department of consumer reviews (from this source) affairs to view if a particular site is not recommended.

When using a safe and secure site, many steps have been taken to be certain your security.

Advanced encryption and validation processes, are used to protect your credit-card number. This stops others from identity theft and fraud. If your browser shows a locked icon near the web address, then this can show that you will be on a safe and secure site.

Secure sites may also have https:// in place of http://, the 's' means 'secure server'.
Other items that you can look for may include pop up windows that confirm your security. If none of these are in place, then it really is probable that the site is not as secure as you need it to be.

Paying by credit card is really quite safe in comparison to traditional beliefs. Encryption and credit-card technologies have made most transactions very secure. For most countries, the credit card is restricted to a particular amount (for example $50) to minimise the possibility of unauthorised use. Credit cards may be safer to use than money orders and checks.

You may also use an alternative - the single use bank card, one that is just utilized for online purchases. You can find this service from some card companies. These cards will expire right after their use so a potential hacker can not retrieve any funds from you. Ask your bank about this service.

Keep all transaction records. They are proof as well as a trail that can be used as evidence that you made only certain purchasers. They will show order dates, delivery dates, and every other details that could be needed in an investigation.