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Credit cards
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Buying & Shipping Index
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Using your credit card to shop over the Internet is similar to using it to shop in
regular stores, restaurants, or from mail-order catalogues. In any of these
situations, a reasonable degree of caution will protect you from fraud, loss, or
the invasion of your privacy. You would never give your credit card number over
the telephone to a person or a company you didn't trust. Use the same judgement
in your online shopping.
Many people contemplating shopping online are concerned that the private information
they send to an online vendor, such as credit card numbers and other personal
information, can be intercepted by a third party "listening" to the
online transaction. So far, credit card number theft over the Internet has been
extremely rare; in our research of major law-enforcement and consumer agencies,
there was not one reported instance of this kind of credit card fraud. As online
commerce picks up, however, it is possible that this type of theft will increase.
You can protect yourself from such interceptions by making sure you only send
personal information over a secure link provided by
the vendor. A secure link will ensure only the vendor with whom you are communicating
can read the information you send.
Keep an eye out for fraudulent sites which may look like the real thing but
aren't. If you're connected to a site run by somebody dishonest, a secure link won't
protect you. Many vendors using secure links also prove their identities using
a digital certificate issued by
a certificate authority (CA) to prevent
impersonation online is increasingly common.
If you're uneasy about shopping online, you may want to begin by buying something
right off the Sympatico service. Sympatico members are eligible for discounts on products sold through the
Sympatico Buyers' Club.
Here is an example
of a secure page. If you're using Netscape, you'll see a solid blue key
 at the bottom left
of your screen. If you click on the key, Netscape will show you the site's
digital certificate, which lets you know who runs the
website. Microsoft Explorer users can tell if they are securely connected by looking
for the padlock  at
the bottom right of the screen.
Go to: How can I tell if I have a secure link?
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