Many new owners are leery of purchasing items over the Internet. Alarmists would have us believe that credit card numbers are routinely plundered en route to online vendors. In truth, it’s much easier for someone to tap your phone line and listen as you place a call to catalog retailer than it is to intercept and decode credit card data that you send to an online retailer.
It’s far more important to ask “Can I trust this vendor to sell me a quality product and ship it as soon as possible?” Learning to evaluate an online retailer will help you avoid trouble. The first rule of online shopping is to look for vendor names you recognize and trust—vendors that advertise on television and in magazines, for example. You should also take into account the retailer’s web site. Larger, more reputable retailers often have well designed sites since they can afford a dedicated designer and web support staff. Smaller retailers are often identifiable by poor page design (including gaudy background patterns) and slow load times. You can’t always judge a book by its cover, however. Small Mom-and-Pop vendors may have poor design but offer impeccable service. If you’re apprehensive about the retailer, look for its customer service telephone number and give them a call. If there is no phone number listed, look for another vendor.
