4 Essential Tips for Safe Online Shopping
Online shopping has been around for awhile now. In fact, over 1.5 billion people worldwide are now ordering online! Despite this growing trend, online retail sales in the Middle East and North Africa region lag behind the rest of the world. One barrier is customers hesitation before they entrust their credit card details to online merchants.
It is undeniable that the convenience of ordering online makes our lives easier and saves us a lot of precious time. Take for example apps like Careem or Zomato. Online shopping has become as much a part of our reality, and will only continue to grow in importance.
To help overcome doubts, we spoke to some mums in Dubai. After hearing their concerns, we came up with some pointers that can ease your mind when shopping online in the UAE:
- Know your rights — Before you start, review your credit cards terms. Many credit card companies offer strong protections against fraud. They will often refund fraudulent charges, and many, like HSBC, offer their own insurance or warranty on the items purchased.
- Check their ‘About Us’ page — are there real people behind the company? Where are they based? Is there a phone number or email and a live person with whom you can talk?
- Check for the padlock symbol — to ensure site security and that the address has a ‘s’ on the ‘http’. This ensures that your information transmits over an encrypted connection. Most online companies use reputable, third-party processors like Stripe, PayPal, or Telr. These companies use sophisticated technology to secure your information, so merchants don’t even see your details. Processors’ entire business relies on keeping you safe, and none of these companies have had a significant breach.
- Check on the company — on social media, news, and review sites to see and what others have to say about it. It is tough to fake a large number of detailed reviews. This is particularly the case on platforms where you can see that the person posting is a real person with a reviewable history.
Online fraud often the result of credit card theft, or tricking users into completing dodgy forms, not shopping. As with everything, if you are careful and do your research, there is no reason not to enjoy the perks.
