Avoiding Online Scams & Promotion Rip-Offs Article

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Avoiding Online Scams & Promotion Rip-Offs

A few tips to avoid being ripped off by unscrupulous merchants online and safe-guarding your bank account.

Author: Laura Mccracken

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As a consumer and an online marketer I have pinpointed a few ways to avoid being ripped off when making online purchase decisions.

The following are areas to be most concerned about: Is there a telephone contact number where you can speak to a live person? Is the payment method secure? What are the refund/exchange policies? Does the merchant offer a customer account interface to track transaction processing?

As an online shopper it is really important to be careful when you select a merchant to do business with. The rules we all use offline DO NOT apply to the online arena so we must adopt different strategies to safe-guard our financial information.

Live Telephone Contact
Before you commit your money to a merchant online it is still best to make an exploratory telephone call to see if anyone is actually there to answer customer questions and concerns. Do not misunderstand me, I believe in the promotion of the online entrepreneur but I just need to be sure that they are professionals even if they are not a gigantic corporation! And beware of the online help button that always shows the operator offline!

Secure Payment Processing
In the process of determining whether or not you can trust a merchant it is critical for you to find out how secure the payment process is. By this I mean, they should offer a variety of payment methods for you to select from that include one or more that you are familiar with and have used before. I would advise that you never choose to use a pay by check interface directly through a merchant site but only through a secure third party such as PayPal. The probability of getting your money back if you have authorized a direct debit for the merchant from your account is slim or next to none - even if the merchant completely rips you off.

Refund Exchange Policy
What exactly are the details of the merchant refund or exchange policy – read the small print before you buy, pay close attention the time frames, etc.

Customer Account Interface
As a customer, a legitimate merchant should offer you the ability to set up a simple account to track your transaction and order from payment to delivery. Take the time to set up an account even if they offer you the choice not to.

The above points are important for online shoppers and online marketers ... I know because I have been ripped off! If you would like to ask me questions directly, feel free to contact me via email.

About Author

Laura McCracken has been a successful MLM / Network Marketer for over 30 years with Internet Marketing as an emphasis for the last 10 years. She is a former Chief Operations Officer of an MLM company as well as a company trainer and motivational speaker.

Article Source: http://www.1888articles.com/author-laura-mccracken-17032.html