Business research

Why is it important to do additional research before buying on a website?

It is important to do additional research before buying on any website. As you probably already noticed, most companies are moving part of their activities online. Hence, it is easy for any third party to use a company you know to scam you. Usually, some companies will face security breaches due to negligence or some parameter out of their control. Therefore, we will see why you need to do additional research before buying. Moreover, we will discuss what you need to research.

Why should you do additional research before buying?

There are many reasons why you should not blindly trust any website online. Below are some reasons.

Evaluate if the business exists or has a record

Anyone can create a website and add a couple of photos. However, a website with pretended products does not mean that the products exist. Some will charge you some money or get your card details for further transactions. And in the end, you will not receive any products. Such practices are widespread today. Many reports are talking about how fraudsters were able to trick people into adding their credit card information into an online form online. You may use this exciting post from prositeweb about how some websites scam.

How do you evaluate if the business exists?

There is no definite answer to whether a website is trustworthy, as some websites may have all the criteria of a legit website and still be a scam. However, here are a few things that you need to check:

  • First, check the URL of their website. Sometimes, if you don’t pay attention, you may buy on a fake website, believing it is your provider’s website.
  • Secondly, take a look at the SSL certificate. You may be actually on your provider’s website, but the website does not have an SSL. An SSL certificate encrypts the communication between you and the webserver. In order words, without an SSL, it is easy for a third party to decrypt all the information that you provide.
  • Then, check some important pages. In e-commerce, most online payment processors will require pages like terms and conditions or privacy policies. Those pages are critical to understanding how the company uses your data. Furthermore, you may have an idea about how to reach out in case of any problem,
  • Furthermore, check for the reviews and online records on a trustworthy website. A little research on Google can be enough to know more about a website. You will quickly have someone talking bad or good about a company. Hence, you can use that to do some validations. Some trustworthy review websites may also help.

See what people are saying about them.

If you browse online comments about a business, you may see one of two words that may help. Reading about a company may help avoid falling into other people’s mistakes. There are many ways to achieve your goal:

  • Google My Business. The website Google My Business is somehow trustworthy regarding reviews. Even though family and friends can still add reviews, you may see some reviews that you can use.
  • Better Business Bureau. You may find some reports about business on BBB, especially if you are in Canada and the USA.

more insights

Dangerous hacker hiding his identity wearing a white mask

How to Check if Someone is Using Your Identity

A good time to check if someone is using your identity is before it even happens.  One of identity theft’s several downsides is how people discover they’ve…
The post How to Check if Someone is Using Your Identity appeared first on McAfee Blog.

Read more >