Black Friday is behind us now; is it time to hit the online malls? Tomorrow is considered the beginning of the holiday shopping season for online retailers or Cyber Monday. Approximately two thirds of online retailers will offer special sales tomorrow. If you will be looking for bargains remember to keep your online shopping experience safe.
Here are a few quick tips to ensure that:

• Always use a credit card when purchasing items online. It protects you from identity theft and fraud and also facilitates returns or any disputes you might have. Speaking of returns make sure you are familiar with the company’s return policy and that you have contact information for customer service.
• Keep a record of your transaction. Most online retailers will give you a purchase number after your transaction is completed. I am guilty of not printing this page many times, but at such a busy time as right now, things are bound to fall through the cracks. So keep a printed copy of this page for your records. This will also be useful at the time you receive your monthly bill and it will help you reconcile your purchases with what hit your credit card.
• At the time of ordering make sure the site is secure. You will see a yellow closed padlock symbol on the right lower corner of your Internet browser. Also, the web address instead of starting with “http”, should start as “https.”

We do a fair amount of shopping online and have yet to have a bad experience (knock on wood). It just takes a little bit of self-diligence to make sure you are protected when shopping online. Happy Shopping!

This post was originally published in November 07.