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 aily, more and more people are checking out the Internet to fullfil their information
needs for hobby, business, personal information and education. Travel
planning is a natural for the Net, as the information changes
frequently as can the websites which specialize in this fast-moving
field. Travel is also the largest and fastest growing industry on the
Net, showing the overall confidence users are displaying for this
market sector.
Even
though many of us use the various travel services on the Net to gather
travel information and resources during the initial planning stages,
many are still apprehensive to make actual purchases via the Net. The
Internet, and those who use it to set up small businesses, are a cross
section of the types of people who set up brick and mortar business,
albeit, possibly more computer savvy. Meaning, some are dishonest, but
most are honest.
Personally,
I have researched and purchased travel products and services via the
Net, not to mention various small antiques, computer software, hardware
and other electronic equipment with few problems. My experience with
online commerce has been no worse than my face-to-face dealings with
local merchants.
If
you wish to take full advantage of what the Net, and those conducting
business on the Net, have to offer, then you may wish to research AND
purchase your product or service from an online entrepreneur. Here are
some things you can do or look for to protect yourself when doing
business online.
Points to remember when buying on the Net:
- Spend some time scanning your site of interest. Click often and check everything you can find.
- Check out the company, if possible, with the Better Business Bureau (BBB). You can also check the site to see if it's displaying the BBB
Online graphic. If so, you'll be able to click straight through to
their file with BBB Online to see what status the linking company has.
- Check the site's Privacy Statement (Policy) and pay particularly close attention to what they do with your
personal data. If you don't want your email address distributed world
wide, then only deal with those who specifically state that they won't
loan, rent, trade or sell your address.
- Truste is a long-time verifier of website privacy statements. Look for their
icon on member sites, as these sites will have well developed privacy
policies.
- Check
for their physical address. Some companies like to hide behind the Net
and make contacting them difficult to impossible. If you need to
contact them for after-sales service... Can you?
- Something that many non-webmasters don't know about is Alexa. Alexa is a web information service where you can get the site's relative
overall web popularity (lower number ratings equal more site
popularity), user reviews with star ratings and most importantly,
oftentimes their business address and phone numbers.
- Cookies
are small snippets of code placed on your computer to help identify
you, your password or other bits of info to help personalize your web
viewing experience. Some sites do not use cookies, others do, and some
will not work without them. They're no big deal, but if you prefer to
not have cookies placed on your computer, set your browser's settings
to NOT accept cookies, which will bar you from doing business on some
sites.
- Look for online help files, like Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) to see what questions others have asked in the past and the answers to these questions.
- If
there is a need to actually write a pre-purchase question, do they get
back to you promptly—within 48 hrs—with a real answer, or just some pre
formatted gibberish with no relation to the question asked.
- Are
there far too many broken links on the site? If so, beware, as this
webmaster and possibly, those who hired her, just don't care about
customer service, which starts with a usable website.
- Is the site easy to navigate with links that take you to where you want to go?
- Never,
never send credit card information via email. Email is NOT secure even
with the correct email address and if you mistakenly make a small
mistake in the email address, your precious data could end up in the
wrong hands.
- Check for any testimonials from previous users. Miscommunication can happen, but how does the company handle them.
- If
you choose to make a purchase online, check your browser to insure the
order page connection is a secure one—look for a closed lock at the
bottom of your browser, or set the preferences to warn you of forms
that are not secure—otherwise, your valuable data could be open to
interception by some online lowlife.
- Also, it's important to
remember that if, for any reason, you don't feel comfortable with the
website or their business practices, privacy policy or whatever, don't
do business there. There are almost always other fish in the sea, so
don't feel forced into doing business with people or businesses you
don't feel right about. Respect your comfort level and if this means
placing an online order, but paying with your credit card via
telephone, then do it. Many online business allow this, but you will
most likely have to prearrange this prior to purchase.
Above
all, enjoy the learning experience and savor the satisfaction you will
get when saving money and having a great time on your first or next
Hawaii vacation you planned and booked all by yourself on the
Internet... Aloha!
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