The Consumer Bible: 1001 Ways to Shop Smart

Read an Excerpt

You can order almost anything on the Internet these day: airplane tickets, rental cars, computers, clothes, cigars, kayaks, champagne flutes...the list goes on. Countless big-name retailers have gone online to peddle their goods, like Barnes & Nobles, Ticketmaster, and JC Penny. Yet in 1997, Business Week magazine found that only 1% of consumers with online access frequently shopped via the Internet. The reason? Most people don't feel comfortable typing their credit card number into a system that works by bouncing information over a series of computer systems.

As you become familiar with the Net, you'll find that there are bargains (and convenience) to be had. Just as you wouldn't do business in a store you didn't trust - or buy a "genuine Rolex" from a vendor in Times Square - you shouldn't buy online except from reputable, recognizable companies. A flashy, high-tech site doesn't guarantee the business behind it is legitimate, but the Better Business Bureau does. The BBB (www.bbbonline.org) certifies Web retailers that meet its standards. These feature a special BBB seal on their sites that you can click on; if the seal is genuine, where you can investigate the company's profile. You can also check for any consumer alerts about the company at the Federal Trade Commission's site, www.ftc.gov, or check for news stories about the company by searching with one of the engines described above.

Shop only on "secure" sites that use some kind of encryption - the scrambling and descrambling of information. Anything you send to the site, like a credit card number and other personal information, is scrambled automatically before you send it, making it unreadable toany prying eyes. At the other end of the transaction, the details are descrambled by the retailer using special programs that only they have access to. Secure sites are marked by an "s" after the "http" in the Web address, like this: "https:www.amazon.com". (Amazon.com is an online bookseller that uses encryption technology.) On Netscape, the small key symbol in the bottom left corner of the window, usually broken, will be whole when you're using secure sites. A small, locked padlock appears in the bottom right corner of Internet Explorer's window.

If it still sounds risky, call the vendor. Any retail site worth its salt will also have a toll-free number that you can call to place orders. While Internet commerce has become safer in recent years, it's not so safe that hackers couldn't break into the online sites of ESPN Sportszone and Outside magazine in 1997 and find the credit card numbers of 2,400 customers who had purchased goods from those sites, Luckily, the intruders claimed they were trying to make a point about online security, and there were no reports of wrongful use of the card numbers.

There are also the thousands and thousands of "classical ad" - like advertisements found in news groups and unsolicited e-mail messages offering used computers, used cars, even used sporting equipment. It's easy to spot a sound deal from a major store, such as Barnes & Noble offering 20% off a hardcover book advertised on its Web site, but what about that news group post by a "company" offering a used $1,200 notebook computer for $500?

That's just what one Indiana man wondered after he replied to a similar posting, He jumped at the chance and overnight mailed a $70 check as a down payment to the vendor in Florida. The check cleared, but he received neither a computer nor further mail from the vendor. When the man threatened to report the vendor, he admitted to ripping him off and promised to return his money, but no check ever came. Eventually, the vendor stopped replying to the man's e-mail messages, and since he was unable to find a phone number for the vendor he was out of luck.

Privacy

Sitting alone in your living room in your bathrobe, browsing the Web, you may imagine your time online is private, but don't be fooled. As you click from site to site, download software, or e-mail friends, information can be gathered about you - which sites you frequent, what sort of advertising you respond to, even your name and phone number. A 1998 study by the Federal Trade commission found that more than 85% of 1,400 commercial Web sites it surveyed collect sensitive personal information from Web surfers, but only 14% explained how that information would be used. And only 2% had policies protecting consumer privacy.

There are many ways to inadvertently give out such personal information, but even information given in good faith will sometimes end up in places you wouldn't want it to. Like any other commercial service, online providers maintain subscription lists, and some will share your name, address, e-mail address, and phone number with telemarketing and other direct sales firms. The idea isn't popular with consumers: In 1997, American Online had to abandon plans to sell subscribers' phone numbers to telemarketers after a flurry of angry e-mail and news group postings alerted subscribers to the impending plan.

While much on the Net is free, some sites, like The New York Times, require you to register to access their Web pages. Usually they ask for your name, address, and e-mail address, but some will also ask "just a few short questions" about your interests and habits. Sound familiar? Telemarketing firms use the same technique to discover what kind of advertising will catch your attention. The banner ads that spread across commercial Web pages change according to who's seeing them. Answer a site's questionnaire that you enjoy mountain biking and traveling, and that banner will likely feature something like Outside magazine's Web site or an airline's online travel guide.

Most Internet providers and some registration-requiring Web sites have privacy policies that detail to whom, if anyone, your personal information will be given - ask about these before signing up. An ideal policy will allow you to "opt out" of having your personal information shared, If your Net access is through work or school, you'll probably be asked to sign an "agreement of use" or "code of conduct" policy that deals with privacy issues.

Any news group post you make - which may be read by thousands of people - will contain your e-mail address, allowing anyone who reads your post to send you a message, Online directories such as Who Where? (www.whowhere.com) and Four 11 Directory (www.four11.com), compiled from phone books and other sources, can be used by anyone to find your real name (and possibly other information) just by entering your e-mail address. (These services let you delete your name from their directories if you choose.)

Even if you guard against giving out your personal profile, information on you can be gathered without your consent. Small bits of software called "cookies" install themselves on your hard drive when you visit certain sites. Cookies track online habits as you browse within a site or even as you hop from site to site; they monitor, for example, which stories you read while at an online magazine or which products you're checking out in a Web store. They also record any other information they can about you - like where you work or what type of computer you're using.

Site producers use this digital footprint you leave to manage a site's ads, directing ads to people in a particular occupation or in specific companies. While cookies can recognize you as a particular individual, they can't collect personal information, unless you've already provided it somewhere else on the site, like on a registration form. (You can check if anyone's handed you a cookie by searching your hard drive for files containing the word "cookie.")

Excerpted from The Consumer Bible: 1001 Ways to Shop Smart. Copyright c 1998 by Mark Green. Reprinted by permission of Workman Publishing.