We get a lot of questions about using credit cards and ordering online. People want to know if its safe, and quite a few people call us saying they never put their credit card online.
As with most things related to privacy, there’s not a simple answer. But here’s one thing that would probably surprise you:
Placing an order online is almost always SAFER than placing an order over the phone. Why?
Its because placing an order online takes the human element out of 99.9% of the process. Online retailers that are credit card security compliant and have secure checkouts never actually see your credit card number. Its all handled behind the scenes and no human ever gets involved.
If you call your order in, there is of course the person on the other end of the line that could steal your info or anyone listening to the conversation could as well.
That’s why we encourage people to buy our books online as opposed to calling it in. We of course secure our phone lines and do thorough background checks on our employees, but online is just more secure in this day and age.
Just remember these tips when ordering online:
- Make sure you see the ‘secure’ symbol on the order page (there should be a padlock symbol next to the ‘https://domainname‘ at the top of the browser window)
- Look for security badges on the checkout pages from McAfee, Authorize.net, Trustguard, and others. This ensures that the merchant is scanning their servers for malware and complying with safe credit card practices.
- If you’re really not sure about an online retailer, try checking RipOffReport.com and Scambook.com for reviews to see if they have a good online reputation. Keep in mind some retailers will have a complaints logged, but if they responded to it promptly and offered the customer’s money back they still might be responsible business owners.
So tell me, have you had an issue while ordering online with a company? Tell me what happened an we’ll share your story anonymously with your fellow readers.
Your Privacy Guy
Chris Peterson
PS: Some of you probably noticed Gmail just changed their system to include a ‘Promotions’ tab. If you want to continue getting your Patriot Privacy Alerts without using this new tab, simply drag this email into your ‘Primary’ tab and you’ll get them right away without switching tabs. Please do this now before you forget 🙂
Freedom Writers Publishing
1815 Central Park Dr. #358
Steamboat Springs, CO 80487
Send this to a friend
Leave a Reply