Shop with merchants you trust
It is always easier and safer to shop with merchants that you or a friend has already purchased from or else by shopping at popular shopping sites.

Check the merchant’s delivery policy and shipping costs
Before you start shopping, check the merchant’s delivery policy to make sure they can ship orders to you and also check how much it will cost. If you are having difficulties finding this information, send the merchant an email.

Read the merchant’s return policy and privacy statement
Checking the return policy will define the procedures of returning a purchase and whether the merchant will give you a refund. The privacy statement will describe how the merchant will treat the personal information that you provide to them.

Look for online shopping rewards
Merchants wish for you to use their convenient method of shopping and normally offer shoppers rewards. Some merchants will deliver your order to your doorstep for free or will offer shoppers lower prices then if you had purchased it from a store.

Look for security sign
One way to confirm that a merchants website has secure payment services is to look for a security sign. Some merchants place a security sign on the frontpage of their website, while others place it on the payment form. It is not a requirement for merchants to place the secure sign on their website, but many do so to further verify to customers that their website is secure. The security sign recognizes that the merchant is a registered customer of that secure gateway provider, which insures that payments made at the merchant's website are done through their secure gateway provider. The two popular secure gateway providers that I know of are Verisign and Thawte. Additional secure gateway providers can be found by clicking here. Verisign and Thawte provides their customers with a clickable image which opens up a page that details whether the customer's website is currently using its secure gateway service. A Verisign and Thawte security signs are shown below.

Payment security
This is the most vital part of your online shopping experience as this is where you will be entering in your personal and credit card information. Before you start entering your details into a form, check that the address in your browser starts with https://. The 's' after 'http' means that the communication between your browser and the merchant is secure and that no one can see the details that you are entering. Your browser will also show a closed lock icon when a page is secure. Click on the images below to see how and where the lock will appear in three popular browsers.

Some merchants also ask you to create a personal account to make orders and you will obtain a username and password. Remember to create a password that would be hard for other people to figure out (avoid using your birth date and phone number). You should never send your payment information by email because it is not secure. Many reliable merchants will also allow you to pay by phone, fax, regular mail and COD (Cash On Delivery).

Keep a record of your transaction
It is a good idea to keep a record of your online transactions by printing out a copy of the online confirmation of your order.