Insights

How to trust a website when buying online.

The internet has revolutionised the way we shop. We have access to so much more variety when it comes to products and the retailers to buy them from.

Of course, though, with any leap forward in innovation comes a leap forward in crime, and the means of criminal method advance as quickly as technology. Most of us, then, tend to stick to what we know and play it safe with trusted brands.

How to trust a website you don't know

However, what about those of you who are brave enough to enter your credit or debit card details to an unknown website? How can you distinguish a good website from a low quality one, or even one that may potentially steal your card details? Well, here's our helpful guide. It will show you all the key factors you need to be aware of before you take the step of entering card digits.

The main things to look out for

Web address

One of the most important factors these days to look out for is https before the web address. This must be present when you click to go through the checkout process. It should look something like this https://www.example.co.uk/.

Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) is the secure version of HTTP, the protocol over which data is sent between your browser and the website that you are connected to. The 'S' at the end of HTTPS stands for 'Secure'. It means all communications between your browser and the website are encrypted.

Website appearance

The most obvious thing to assess is the website’s appearance. Now this may seem like it should go without saying that if a website looks like it was built fifteen years ago then it’s unlikely to have much of an established company behind it. There are as well other more subtle things to look out for, such as poor spelling and grammar.

Using Google

You can also use Google to assess the quality of a website before a potential purchase. Type the brand name of the website into Google and without clicking see what auto phrase complete suggestions it offers. If it comes up with words like 'scam', steer well clear.

The Who.is.net website is also a great way to check the registration details of a website and who owns it. Have a look at the guide so you know what to look out for and make sure you stay safer online.

Additional resources

A couple of useful additional links: Get Safe Online and Sainsbury's bank.

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