Young Wrexham

Online Shopping

Online shopping is very convenient - not having to leave the house, shopping at any time of the day and having a wide range of goods to choose from can make this type of shopping fun.

However there are a number of dangers in shopping online that can mean you end up losing your money or have your card used fraudulently unless you take care and take a follow a few precautions:

• Type the web address carefully - check out sites before buying to be absolutely sure
• There have been cases where duplicate sites have been set up that look exactly the same as the real site to steal your credit or debit card details
• Use sites that you know your friends or family have used so you know they can be trusted
• Don’t buy from sites that don’t display a phone number and full postal address, most will also have a security certificate to reassure you that they can be trusted
• Make sure you’re aware of all the costs such as postage and packing and VAT – in some cases these are only added on at the end when you are about to make a payment
• Most trusted websites these days have a green padlock that appears in the top left corner of the address bar when you’re asked to provide payment details – this is to reassure you that the site is a secure one
• A good way of ensuring that your bank details are secure is to set up a Paypal account – this is a secure and trusted website that handles payments for you for any online shopping if you set-up an account with them. The majority of websites accept Paypal which means you never have to provide them with your bank account details directly
• If you use Ebay or other websites for your shopping check the returns policy in case you change your mind or the goods are faulty. Also make sure you check the terms for payment, some sellers expect payment immediately whilst others accept payment up to five days after you have agreed to buy the item
• Goods from abroad may take longer to arrive so try to set a date for delivery which must be within 30 days
• Also if you buy from abroad your contract is with the person overseas and you may have difficulty getting your money back if there is a problem
• Print out or take a screen capture of the order and terms and conditions that appear on the web site in case there are problems
• You should receive email confirmation of your order within 24 hours