E-commerce, the buying and selling of goods and services on the internet, specially the World Wilde Web (Ketel, Nelson, 2008, on-line), offers safety to its costumers and on-line merchants. Most costumers and businesses today worry about safety on their online shopping and selling, and E-commerce provides that trustworthy reputation, and privacy of information they wanted.
Many E-businesses want their costumers to feel secure while doing business with them. Amazon, for example, provide to its costumers a way to check the opinions and suggestions of other costumers who recently purchased some product. Costumers have access to those types of information and be assured of the quality and safety of their choice. Some people worry if it is safe to buy a product from a specific web-site or online merchant. eBay, which is a famous example of a E-commerce site, has a system on which costumers can check the reputation and history of registered sellers in the eBay web-site. That is a great tool to help costumers make a safe choice while purchasing products from E-bay web-site. In fact, the Vice President of Trust and Safety for eBay, Robert Chesnut, said that, “the Internet
makes it easy for shoppers to compare products within or between stores, to read product
reviews from other customers, to access vendor return policies and to find warranty
information.”
Regarding to payments and sharing of personal information in an online marketplace, Chesnut also said, “ In fact, online transactions can be as secure, if not more secure than payments mad by mail or in a store; and fraud can be avoided if costumers understand a few simple steps they should take when they enter the online marketplace.” Five steps are suggested by Chesnut to ensure costumers of a safe experience in the online marketplace. They are:
Learn as much as possible about the product and seller;
Understand the retailers' refund policies;
Choose a secure password to protect account information;
Use a secure checkout and payment process;
If an offer sounds highly suspicious or too good to be true, it probably is.
As consumers pay attention on those steps, they can be assure of safe transactions.
Also, online businesses many times use companies, such as McAfee, to secure their Websites and create a trust mark. “To allay consumer fears and boost confidence, many online businesses use trust marks—seals, logos and icons displayed on a Web site that provide information about what steps an online merchant is taking to protect its customers" (Yankee Group, online). Online businesses build a trust marks such as Reputation, Privacy and Secure Sockets Layer.
My Personal Finance class required me to research the advantages and disadvantages of some Banks. As I researched some of Banks in Utah, I found out that many of them offers online baking, which is a kind of E-commerce. After I learned about the different options each Bank provided, I came to know that online banking is very safe and help me to optimize time as well. I am confident that this kind of E-commerce is secure and brings many advantages and benefits as well.
E-commerce can be considered safe and it offers the security consumers need. As we pay attention and learn about product and seller, policies, protect our information with secure passwords and use a safe check out and payment process we all can enjoy and good and safe experience in the online marketplace. Give a try.
Sources:
Ketel, Mark van; Nelson, Tim D., 2008, SearchCIO.com, http://searchcio.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid182_gci212029,00.html
Chesnut, Robert; E-commerce Safety Guide, (https://www.paypal.com/en_US/pdf/PayPal_Safety.pdf)
Yankee Group,online (http://www.mcafeesecure.com/content/mfes/trustmarkcampaign.jsp?gclid=CIL26__lwJ0CFRgbawod1hMDrQ