Making web purchases TIPS 
| Fraudulent websites are a common problem and cost the public and genuine small business billions of £ every year. Here are some simple tips to help you have more confidence buying online. |
- Use a credit card: I might sound counter intuitive but the majority of credit card companies will refund the value of your goods should they fail to be delivered (please check exact details with your credit card company as they do vary)
- Check the company: Look for an address and contact details on the website. Websites that don't make this information available do not inspire trust as you may have no way of locating them in the event of fraud.
- Check who owns the website: To check who the owner is and what country they are based in simple visit who.is and type the web site address in there search facility. From here you can see how long the site has been active and who owns the domain name.
- Common Sense: If an offer is to good to be true it usually is. Trust your gut instinct and avoid deals that deify belief.
- Company Credentials: The Companies House website will allow you to look for free at a companies basic information so you can estimate their legitimacy from their filed financial reports.
- Use websites that have been recommended by other people on the web. If the sites they have used are genuine then you can feel confident that you will have the same experience. That is the Web Consumers Union overall purpose to supply a resource of website from different on-line industries so you can feel confident making online puchases.
- Never purchase from a bulk unsolicited email 99% of these are total scams. In fact don't even click to reveal all details, when you click to reveal blocked images etc. the email system will usually call the images from a web site. This will then record your ip address and make you more vulnerable.
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