How to know if a site is secure for purchasing
Online transaction is a crucial thing today. About two billion people in the world are purchasing goods online. Many people lose their money while online transaction because of less security. This article might help you to check a website is secure or not for making online money transaction.
Most of the online transactions occur using banks cards and online banking.
Websites where people do online transactions
There are thousands of websites where people are making the online transaction. Which includes the following type of websites.
e-Commerce Websites
Most of the online transactions are happening at e-commerce websites. At least twenty percentage of the people buys goods from eCommerce websites each month. There many eCommerce websites which provide local and international service. The most popular eCommerce websites are Amazon.com, Walmart.com, and eBay.com.
Online Banking Websites
Online banking is popular now because it provides the faster and mobile banking services. Online banking websites need more security than eCommerce websites.
You should make sure that you have entered the correct URL of the website. Use virtual keyboards instead of computer keyboards to enter username and passwords. Virtual keyboards protect your password and username from third party access. Bank websites will never ask you to enter username and password on popup windows. So do not provide username and passwords in a popup window.
Casino Websites
The majority of the online casino websites are safe to make online transactions. But some people loses their money from casino websites. The main reason to lose their money is the less knowledge in the policy of the website. The money transaction policy of one website can be different from another, so read their policy whenever you choose a new website.
Casino websites pay you money either directly or indirectly. If gambling websites are not banned in your country, then the direct payment is recommended for safety.
Online Recharge & Bill Payment Websites
Nowadays the online recharge and bill payment is popular among the people. In most cases, your transaction for a bill payment may be of fewer amounts. Even so, there are chances to misuse your bank details by third parties. To avoid this security issue, use the popular websites only to do the online payments.
Now you just have learned the type websites where people are doing the online payments. Among these websites, some are fake sites which misuse your bank details.
Any internet fraud can cheat you by creating a website. So it is a mandatory to ensure the security of a website before entering your bank details. Here we are discussing some parameters to measure the safety of a website for purchasing.
How to know if a website is secure for purchasing?
There are some factors to estimate the security of websites for making online transactions. Here are I’m sharing the most important parameters to check the website security.
1. Website URL
The website URL is the most important and first parameter to check to ensure the security of the websites. Before any purchases, you should make sure that you are not on a wrong site. If you are shopping from a branded website like Amazon.com, make sure that your website address entered is Amazon.com and not Amason.com.
There are some fake websites to take the advantage of misspelled website URLs. So double check the URL of the website before any purchase even the web design is same.
2. Popup / Popunder
Popup advertisements are the sign of low quality or spamming sites. A branded or professional website will never use popup ads on their site.
So if you find any popup or pop-under advertisements on a website then do not make a financial transaction with them. And do not enter your bank details on any pop-up or pop-under windows.
3. Phone number and physical address
The third parameter to check is the identity of the website. A long-term or professional website should show their phone number and physical address on their contact page or in the footer of the website.
Fake websites usually do not provide their contact info on their site. And if you found an address or a phone number, make sure that they are not fake identities.
4. Website Design
If you are visiting a branded website, then you may be familiar with the design of that site. So if you found any changes in the design, check the URL entered.
5. Policy and Terms Pages
Every long term websites will have a privacy policy and terms & conditions page. You should read the privacy and terms & conditions page of the site before proceeding to a purchasing.
In any case, if you couldn’t find privacy and term pages on a website; I recommend you not to purchase from that site.
6. SSL certificate (https)
It is very important to have an SSL certificate or https for the transaction and login pages. If your website has https URL on transaction pages, it makes sure that the transaction is secured.
In https, the s stands for secure. So if your website doesn’t have an SSL certificate, it means your transactions are not secured.
7. Unbelievable Prices
Most people loses their money because of wondering at too low prices. There are no one to provide you products or services for unbelievable prices.
So if your website offers too low prices for goods, just stop there and look for some other websites which provide products for reasonable prices.
8. Website Traffic Ranks
Checking the traffic rank of a website allow you to determine the amount of users of that site. The easiest tool to check website traffic status is Alexa traffic ranking.
Alexa is an Amazon company which measures the traffic of websites and rank them. If you are purchasing from a website that you are not familiar with, then you should consider checking their Alexa rank. If their rank is above 300000, then you should look for another website. Low Alexa rank means the low-quality traffic of that site.
9. Credit Card is accepted
It is crucial to check whether a website supports the credit card or not. If credit cards are not accepted on a website, then do not continue the transaction with alternative methods. Because it is easy to access your money through your debit cards whereas credit cards need the approval from the card issuing companies.
10. Search for Reviews or Experiences
Still, do you fear about the security of the website for purchasing? Here is my last and most useful parameter to ensure the website security for purchasing. You may search online about the website that you are using. So you can read the comments and reviews by users who have already tasted it. If the comments are positive you can proceed without any fear.
#Additional Tip: Use Antivirus
If you are not using an antivirus on your PC, I recommend you to install one before your online purchase. Because, even if you have well cared about the transaction security, some viruses can access your bank details when you enter it on your browsers.
So consider using an antivirus software to increase the online transaction security.
The parameters to check the safety of online purchases are not ending here. If you have some awesome tips, please share with our readers.