Secure payment providers for online shopping

Online shopping is most popular these days and people choose this method of purchasing because they get the best possible prices. It is easy to shop online as there is no running from one shop to the other, the shipping is pretty fast, and return policies are fair enough. All these account in favour of online shopping, but there is the dark side as well. There are devils that wait for the buyer to make the payment. Online thieves wait in their attempt to swindle you out of your credit card information simply by pretending to be the real web site. Most of us hesitate to buy online just because making the online payment makes us vulnerable to the online bandits.

Does this mean people should stop using their credit cards to make online payments? Absolutely not! Just follow the basic rules and you can kill these bandits and secure your payment for the online purchases.

1. Do not go for the unknown web sites. The unfamiliar web sites are most likely to be fake who operate just to get the credit card information. The safest thing is to purchase from a reputed web site. The reputed ones care to secure your information for their own sake and help you to make safe transactions.
2. Do not purchase with your credit card from a site that does not have Secure Sockets Layer. It is easy to find out the site with the SSL as he URL of such sites will start with HTTPS.
3. There are web sites that may ask for your date of birth or social security number. It is absolutely unnecessary to provide the information as no transaction actually needs them. If this information reaches a crook along with the credit card number, your financial security may be at stake. So, never provide this info while you are making online purchases.
4. Most of us wait for the credit card bills to check on the transaction amounts and if there is anything wrong, we can only find out long after the money flew out from the account. Do not wait for the bill and check the account status regularly so that you get to know at the very first attempt when your account is being misused.
5. Never use public computer to make online purchases. If you are compelled to do so, do not forget to log out before you leave the machine.
6. Use very strong passwords to make sure that they cannot be cracked by the swindlers. Avoid using your own birth dates or social security numbers for password as they can be easily cracked.
7. Do not get lured by offers that are too good to be true!

If the offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Keep that in mind and stick with the trusted brands online and you should be fine.