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Shopping Safely Online
eChamber's Role
 eChamber.com role regarding Safe Shopping
is clear. While we do not endorse any member product or
service, we do however expect members to conduct
business according to the eChamber's Code of Online
Business Ethics. Our members have raised the bar
when it comes to making safely shopping online.
Consider this. It is a known fact that online
transactions can be as secure, if not more secure than
payments made by mail or in a store. Many times, it is
riskier to give a waiter or waitress your credit card at
a restaurant than it is to make an online purchases.
While the Safe Shopping Seal does not guarantee that you will be
satisfied with a members product or service, the seal
indicates that the business takes e-commerce seriously. With that
said,
eChamber.com
has
provided a means for consumers to file
complaints directly with business members. Please click
here to learn how eChamber.com handles Consumer
Complaints.
Internet fraud can be avoided if consumers just applied
simple precautions. By understanding a few simple
guidelines, conducting safe online shopping can be a
reality. In addition to looking
for our Safe Shopping Seal, we have compiled a set of
guidelines that will increase your safe online shopping
experience:
- Learn about
the Product and Seller:
Potential customers
feel more secure and confident if they are familiar
with who they are doing business with. The
important thing is that buyers are empowered to do
their own research about the products and companies.
Buyers might also learn about online retailer from
its reputation, from previous purchases, from
referrals or from reviews and comments by other
shoppers. All which can be found online.
Echamber.com Safe Shopping Seal
links directly to a Reliability Rating
page. This page provides pertinent information about
organizations that you are considering to do
business with. This is just one tool that you can
use to find out about a company.
- Understand the
Online Retailers’ Refund Policies:
Make sure you
understand the merchants refund policy. Most of the
time, it is clearly posted. Not all refund policies
are the same. Questions that should be asked include:
-
What is the
required timeframe a buyer must contact the
retailer to return an item?
-
Is a
full refund
offered and/or do you get a merchandise
credit?
-
If an item that
has been opened, can be returned?
-
For retailers
without refund policies, consumers can
investigate buyer protection programs from
either independent websites or through the
payment method.
Most purchases
made with a major credit card are protected
against non-receipt of merchandise.
- Use a Secure Checkout and Payment
Process:
Many
Web sites use a technology called Secure Sockets
Layer (SSL) to encrypt the personal and financial
information sent over the Internet
Over
93% of the Fortune 500 companies use VeriSign SSL
Certificates to protect e-commerce or other private
information with 128-bit encryption, the strongest
SSL protection available anywhere. Widely recognized
as a symbol of trust on the Internet, VeriSign SSL
is your solution to offer every site visitor the
strongest available encryption, without exception.
To
know if the retailer is offering a safe checkout
process, look for the icon of a locked
padlock at the bottom
of the screen to indicate encryption. Check
eChamber.com member's Reliability Rating
to see if there site
is secure.
- Too good to Be True, it Probably
is:
As with any purchase, shoppers should
read the fine print (or, in some instances, click
the links describing the purchase agreement). While
Internet shops frequently offer lower prices than
brick-and-mortar stores, shoppers should be wary of
unreasonably low bargain prices or unusually
attractive promises.
Click
here
to search for
business that are member's of
eChamber.com.
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