There are many benefits and opportunities to shopping online. However, it is imperative that you have some online shopping education as you may be exposed. Having a credit or a debit card with you when surfing can easily make you a compulsive online buyer and probably expose you to unscrupolous elements. Always know what you want to buy, know the company and understand their terms of sale. Buy from secure sites that have shown you sufficient evidence that your privacy will not be compromised from doing business with them.

There are numerous free online resources whose aims are to educate and guide you to shopping safely. Below are some of the links to resources which may help make you an informed online buyer of goods and services.

 

1. Federal Trade Commission: http://www.ftc.gov/
2. National Fraud Information Center at http://www.fraud.org/ or 1-800-876-7060 1-800-876-7060
3. Better Business Bureau online at http://www.bbbonline.com/
4. Econsumer.gov at http://www.econsumer.gov/ A joint project of consumer protection agencies from 21 nations