With many online shopping websites coming up every now and then, it is possible to experience a hard...

1. Identifying Genuine Online Shopping Websites - National
shopping
With many online shopping websites
coming up every now and then, it is
possible to experience a hard time
differentiating which online shopping
website is genuine and which one is
not. This confusion can always lead to
fraudulent actions on the websites by
merchants. Therefore, it is important
to consider the factors below before
entering into an online shopping store:
1. Conduct a thorough research about
the website: Find out about the
website on the internet, and try
viewing randomly merchant's
feedbacks and ratings from various
consumers. If the website is familiar to
you but still have doubts, then start
shopping for items with low price
range for a certain period to test the
waters. That way when getting into
bigger deals it will be much safer for
you.
2. Understand the website's security
policies and privacy: In a section
named "privacy policy" on every shopping website, find out how your order will be processed.
Ensure that the merchant you deal with on the online store you are shopping in will not share your
information to affiliate companies or any third parties.
3. Beware of cookies: Cookies are pieces of codes attached by an online tracking system on internet
browsers. These cookies may track some of your shopping habits on online shopping websites. The
biggest problem about this is, it may lead to information piling up about your profile with all your
details. I think that is the worst thing that can happen to any shoppers, whereby cookies can be used
by other parties to access your profile without your consent. This is dangerous! And therefore,
always remember to clear all cookies when accessing these shopping websites.
4. Identify the security of the website: Is the online shopping website you are using utilizing
encryption technology? Well, the only way to identify this is by checking out if there is an "S" after
http in the URL. This way, you will ensure that your private information is scrapped off keeping you
at bay of being a victim of hacking.

2. 5. Are retailers in that shopping website using dynamic pricing: Dynamic pricing is price
discrimination through charging different prices for similar products to different consumers. This is
through merchants tracking your shopping habits using cookies, and with this they predict what
price you may be willing to pay for a particular product or service. The worst thing about it is that,
you can be exploited by some merchants for a product which is otherwise much cheaper. So as to
avoid all this, never log in into a shopping website before obtaining a price quote. Also always
remember to clear browser cookies before visiting the shopping website.
There is so much more beyond what I have discussed above, from internet resources on identifying
secure online shopping websites. Online shopping can be fun if only you the consumer know who you
are dealing with and since it is not easy to know, apply the factors above and find out more and
online shopping will be much fun.
http://www.examiner.com/article/identifying-genuine-online-shopping-websites