Online transactions have made the world shrink. People can reach out and buy the services anytime, anywhere and from any place globally. May it be munchies or the shopping from various global websites, anything can be done in just a few clicks from the comfort of your own home or wherever you are.
However, it is very important to know the significance of safe online transactions. There are various vulnerable places that can endanger the payments, data and card details. It is tough to believe that all the online places are safe. But not all of them are doubtful. It is just essential to follow a few safe online transactions tips. This article will discuss these in detail further.
It is essential to understand that not only the buyers need safe online transactions tips. The sellers and service providers are also at risk of being defrauded by the customers and buyers. The estimated revenue loss of $6.7 billion occurred in the E-commerce industry because of chargebacks in 2016 and 71% ($4.8b) of this was because of friendly/chargeback fraud.
Thus it is essential to discuss the safe online transaction tips for both the seller and buyer so that they can follow precautionary measures and can save themselves from any potential fraudulent selling or purchasing.
Safe Transaction Tips for Buyers
There are various tips for safe online transactions provided online. Below are the major ones for the customers to take care of not getting scammed.
- Beware of online Fraudsters
Many times, there are various fraudulent parties who are involved in the activities of collecting sensitive or personal information from innocent people in the name of selling or payments. People should take care and should never share such sensitive information like CVV, passwords, PINs, etc. Whatever kind of emergency is created in the name of anything like sale or expiry, you need to always remember that any reputable organization would always have the rules of never asking for personal details, so if the seller or service provider is asking you should simply deny.
You may try to search such a party like the government or private institute, bank, charity, etc, and if they seem to be available online then first contact them and ask them if they have been collecting such information or sending such emails. They will give you your answer.
- Best Online option is Credit Cards
Yes, credit cards are the best way to pay because as per the credit card terms and conditions, the cardholder will not be liable for any frauds. Card-present or card-not-present frauds can file a chargeback and get their refund.
- Saved Passwords and other details
You should always see to it that if you have the habit of saving the user details and passwords in the pre-filled form then they are not accessible by anyone. Especially when you are using a public place computer. It might be accessed by someone and you would be scammed.
If in case the website saves such sensitive details, then make sure that it is trustworthy and your data would be safe. You may check for the PCI DSS compliance or any other security compliances if they are following them or not. Check the website security protocols and compliances before you enter your personal information like the letters at the beginning of the address bar at the top of the screen should change from “http” to “https”.
- Check the Reviews Online
You may search for the reviews from other people on the online search engine. GO and see the website, seller, or service provider especially when they are new to you. A lot of times you will find something which is helpful, positive, or negative. There may be complaints or grievances available from the customers who were scammed or even positive things. In case if the business is new, you may not get all speculative but beware before buying.
- Attractive Offerings
Lucrative discounts, price drops, attractive offers, etc should be carefully judged and mostly they are a trap. Also, the easy money or unusual offers such as work from home are mostly the frauds, they would ask for money to give you the job. Always, be careful when you deal with such situations.
- Firewalls and Antivirus Programs
One important thing is to keep the firewalls and anti-virus programs to save yourself from the hacking and from the dangerous online places. Also, install and update them regularly. Run the anti-virus in a regular manner without fail. Also, install and update the ad-blocking software program and a spyware detection program and run the scans regularly with them..
Safe Transaction Tips for Sellers
The online frauds have resulted in a lot of trust issues so the genuine buyer also seems to be a fraud. It negatively impacts monetarily as well as non-monetarily. The chargebacks, refunds, and returns would be a money loss to the business. The bad reputation in front of partners, investors, and new clients/customers because of the security breach would be an example of non-monetary loss. Thus, here are a few safe online transaction tips from the seller’s point of view.
- There should be strict compliance around the company with the help of the IT department to secure the personal information of the customers.
- Secure the online payments with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliance which is the highest level compliance to provide a secure environment for online credit/debit card payments.
- Get Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certified which will encrypt the link between the server and the browser, to make sure the data pass privately and cannot be hacked.
- It is important that your systems i.e. computer and systems are secured. Run the antivirus and install the firewalls. Also, use anti-spam software to avoid spam or junk emails as a safeguard against phishing.
- Use Address Verification and verify using the Pin Code of the buyer address. Also, have the delivery norms like buyers’ signature at the time of delivery and returns. Also, train the delivery man to check the returned items properly.
- Keep the track of the buyer behavior and also keep an eye on the abnormal purchases. There can be security requirements to demand the ID card when the purchase is large.
- Keep the requirement for the buyer to keep strong passwords.
All in all…
These are some of the safe online transaction tips on the buyer and seller side. It is required that among many these are followed and implemented in life or business.
