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Merchant Web Site CONSUMER PROTECTIONS

Merchant Web Site CONSUMER PROTECTIONS

There is an assumption by most consumers that web shopping sites have put in place the necessary consumer protection measures when they go online shopping. This has become a consumer expectation. The consumer is actually not thinking about protections when they sit down at a computer to shop. However there may be a price to pay if they are not careful in that not all merchant web stores innocent or not take the necessary steps to insure consumer protection.

Consumers should be aware of & review merchant web sites for the following four 4 online protections needed by consumers as we do when shopping online:

#1 Is Secure Socket Layer SSL Protection used to protect Credit Card information?
Purpose SSL Encryption is method of encoding information when transmitted over the internet that makes private information unreadable. This is the most important area of protection when buying online. If SSL Encryption is installed you will see ‘HTTPS’ in the address line of the browser. If not THIS IS NOT a Secure Site. If this protection is NOT found you are in danger of someone stealing your credit card information.

#2 Are they enrolled in Industry Oversight Programs i.e. Trust Mark or Trust Seal?
Purpose Merchant Web Sites are tested for security to see if they are Hacker Proof so that your private information cannot be stolen. This area of protection is called Oversight Protection. If NO Oversight Protection seal is found this site has a potential of being open to Hackers.

#3 Have they posted Acceptable Privacy Policy regarding use of your information?
Purpose Privacy Policies explain how a merchant will use your private information collected during a purchase. If there is no acceptable privacy policy your information is at risk of being improperly used.

#4 Have they posted Comprehensive Contact Information if a shopper has problems?
Purpose Never purchase from a merchant if you cannot contact them in some way if you have problems with the product. If you want to return a product where are they?

If a merchant store has implemented all four areas of consumer protection you will be well protected if buying on that site.

Overall you will find that MOST Merchants do take the necessary precautions to insure consumer protections however it just takes that one bad one to really make shopping online an unbearable mistake

These are the protections that we look for before including a merchant store in our online shopping mall. Most merchant web sites will not have all the protections but the really important ones should be in place to feel comfortable shopping at that site. This is just part of the services that most online shopping malls SHOULD try to provide to consumers.

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