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Black Friday Sale: buy 1 year and get 1 year FREE (Nov 13, 2019 – Dec 01, 2019).
Black Friday, a sales day that originates from America, has become widely used in recent decades. Every year, the American Christmas shopping season starts the day after Thanksgiving which is the fourth Thursday in November. As the popularity of Black Friday increases, more and more countries start to adopt the US Black Friday sale. Some even expand this to online shopping. But there are safety risks for both online and offline shopping. It is significant to save money as well as stay safe while shopping on Black Friday.
The rise of online shopping
In recent years, online shopping has become increasingly popular among consumers. Let’s figure out why more and more people choose to shop on the Internet rather than offline stores.
It is convenient to shop online
Online shopping allows you to receive your good after a few days through just a few clicks on your phone. Whenever and wherever you want to buy something, you can open your phone to order them from online retailers. Besides, it tired to shop from one store to another to find the items you like. And chances are good that your desired item may have no available stocks when shopping offline.
Save more money
Online stores often offer discounts to consumers. It is true that you can always find lower prices for the item you want to buy. In addition, you are able to buy products directly from the sellers or manufacturers online. Thus, you can spend less money on purchasing your desired products.
More choices
When you shop online, you can find more choices from different sellers, including the color, size and price. Products online are richer in the category than that of physical stores. Unlike offline shopping, it is quite easy to switch from one online retailer to another. You just need a few clicks.
Send gifts with ease
With online shopping, sending gifts to friends and families become easier. You can order a gift on the Internet from anywhere. Then, the gift recipient will receive the order. You don’t need to buy a gift and deliver it to the recipient by yourself.
No crowds
No crowds is another advantage of online shopping. Generally, there will be more crowds on big festivals or during sales days such as Black Friday. Although some consumers prefer to shop offline for the happiness of see and try on real products, the crowds would ruin their shopping experience. If you don’t like the crowds in physical stores, you can shop online comfortably at home in pajamas.
Compare products easily
Various reviews and shopping sharing allow you to compare products easily online. When you want to buy a hammock from online retailers, you can refer to reviews of other shoppers who bought this cup. What’s more, it is extremely easy to compare the price of this cup from one store to another. You can also use some tools to perform price comparison. Then, you will buy a cup that satisfies you at the lowest price.
Hide what you buy
Sometimes, you need to buy something but you don’t others to know what you buy. So, you can’t go to physical stores. Online shopping is the best way for you to hide what you buy, may it be sexy underwear, sexy toys or Viagra. To avoid the embarrassment of purchasing these things in offline stores, you need to buy them secretly online at your home.
8 tips for shopping safely online
1. Avoid phishing scams
It is the most common way for hackers to steal private data from consumers. They aim to fool you into sharing your confidential information by sending you phishing emails or text messages. With this information, they can further compromise your privacy and cause damage to your property. It is of great importance that you know how to spot a phishing scam.
When you receive text messages, emails or links from unknown sources, you shouldn’t click on them even if they are from family or friends. Social engineering attacks are far more frequent and easier to succeed than you think. Phishing emails, malicious advertising, and fraudulent emails are everywhere in your life.
2. Download the application from the official app store
Fake shopping apps created by fraudsters can trick users into entering personal credit card information. While malware will steal personal data or lock smartphones until the user pays the ransom. Black Friday is the peak time for online shopping. There will be more malicious and fake apps than usual.
3. Check websites for “HTTPS”
HTTPS websites will display a green padlock in the navigation bar. Websites that use HTTPS will add encryption to the communication between you and the websites. While websites that use HTTP don’t use encryption technology to protect your data. So, you are safer on HTTPS websites other than HTTP websites.
4. Choose websites with a return policy
Most reliable websites have a return policy. In case you find the product is not what you want when you receive it, you can get a refund by the return policy. You can also exchange the item if it is not the right size.
5. Be aware of public WiFi
Avoid using public WiFi, especially when you are entering confidential information, such as bank card details. When you connect to the public WiFi, you don’t know who is the WiFi owner. Not only the WiFi owner but also anyone using the same WiFi can get access to your device with ease. So, your private data on the device will be in danger.
6. Cash on delivery
In most cases, payment is made in advance. Cash on delivery (COD) means that you pay for the product at the time of delivery. This effectively prevents online retailers from tricking you into making a payment for the good but not delivering the goods to you.
7. Use a credit card dedicated to online shopping
We strongly recommend you do this because you will be able to track purchases and identify fraudulent activity with ease. If you use more than one card to pay for online orders, you are putting more property in the risk of cyber attacks.
8. Secure your online shopping with a VPN
A VPN is the abbreviation of a virtual private network. With a VPN, you can prevent others from knowing who you are, where you access the Internet from and what you do online. For example, when you visit a shopping website in UAE by connecting to a VPN server in India, the website server will think you are from India.
Only $2.7 per month for RitaVPN
Black Friday Sale: buy 1 year and get 1 year FREE (Nov 13, 2019 – Dec 01, 2019).
