Online Shopping is easy and safe when following this helpful tips

Here at EDURA, your safety is our utmost priority and concern. For that reason, we have put together a guide on how to safely shop online.

Research the company on Google

Reputable businesses have a Google my Business page that should pop up as soon as you Google the business. Here you will find the business address, contact details, trading hours, a link to their website, images of the business and most importantly Google reviews.

Google reviews

Read the reviews! Customers, happy and unhappy, take the time to leave reviews and share their experiences they had with the business. Does the business take the time to respond to reviews? How are they addressing negative reviews? You can tell a lot about a business from their customer relations.

 

Google street view

Search the business on Google street view to view the physical location of the business. 

 

Visit their social media pages

The correct social media pages! Beware! Scammers are using social media to create fake business accounts and are then conning people by getting them to pay money into their personal bank accounts. How can you avoid this?

 

Look at how many followers the page has. 

The higher the following, the greater the chance that the page is a legitimate business page. 

 

Read the comments on their posts

See what people are saying about the business. Are they happy/ unhappy? How is the business handling the comments?

 

Check out the companies website

Make sure the url has https at the beginning. It should look like this: https://eduraonline.co.za/ This means that the website is a secure website.

 

Identify trust badges

Look out for badges on the website that say fully secured SSL checkout or secure payments.

 

Only process payments directly on the company website

Avoid making manual EFT payments and cash send payments. Scammers love manual EFT payments and cash send payments. The reason for this is that they can use their own bank details and just change the account holders name to the business name. The bank does not verify if the account holders name matches the account number. For this reason try to avoid making manual EFT payments and never ever make a payment to a cellphone number. Remember these payments are also not traceable.

 

The safest way to make payments

There are two ways to make payments that are safe and secure:

 

EFT payments

Use a safe and secure EFT payment gateway such as Paygate, Ozow or Payfast to process your EFT payment. This will be done on the companies website and you will not require the company details to make the payment. These payments are encrypted, easy to use, safe and secure.

Card payments

Look out for reputable payment gateways such as DPO/Paygate (Paygate Payweb) or Payfast to process card payments.

 

Make a note of your payment details

Make a note of which payment gateway you chose, the date and time payment was made and the amount paid. If for any reason you suspect that the company you are dealing with may not be legitimate (after you have made a payment) Google the payment gateways phone number and contact them. They will be able to tell you if the company has been operational for a long time and may also be able to assist you as they have all the companies details on file.

 

Avoid shopping telephonically/ on messaging services and via email

If your gut feeling says don’t do it, don’t do it. Remember, individuals/ businesses selling on these platforms make use of manual EFT payments which are not traceable. 

 

Dealing with small businesses

If you are dealing with a small business that does not have a website and their only means of payment is manual EFT payments then make sure you do your homework and know who you are dealing with. Always make a small purchase first to test out the waters before committing to bigger purchases.

 

Never click on random links

We have all been warned about this one before. Never ever click on any link that looks suspicious be it on sms, email or social media. Hackers can gain access to personal information this way.

 

If you are not sure email/ call the business

Google the business telephone number. Most businesses have landline numbers not cellphone numbers. Their email address will also be personalised to their business name eg. info@edura.co.za. Be weary of gmail/ hotmail/ yahoo business addresses. Call and email the business to make sure that you are dealing with a legitimate business before purchasing.

 

Read the return policy and the FAQ page

Always look out for the return policy and Frequently asked questions that should appear on the business website so that you know what their business terms and conditions are before purchasing.

 

Online shopping makes life so much easier. You can sit in the comfort of your home, in your pyjamas with a hot cup of coffee and purchase goods from the opposite end of the country with delivery to your door. What more could we ask for! Just make sure you go about is safely and securely!

 

Happy, SAFE shopping!