Credit cards Online

2006-12-12T07:02:00.001-08:00

You may have been scared into avoiding using credit card for fear of having your credit card number stolen. The media has enjoyed hyping the problem, but as with so many topics, most of the news reports are poorly researched by reporters who have no expertise in the topic. Myself, I have never heard of a credit card number being stolen during an online transaction. that doesn't mean it hasn't happened, but it does mean that such theft hasn't occurred frequently or else reports would have filtered onto the Internet. The Internet is communication medium-it's very hard to keep secrets on the Internet.

Credit Card number theft is a common problem, but that's in the real world. Have you ever given your credit card to a waiter in a restaurant? Do you know that the waiter didn't take it away, copy the number for later use, and then charge your meal to it? When you call to order something from a catalog, how do you know that the operator isn't keeping a list of credit card numbers on the side? You don't. You trust that the catalog company only hires honest people, but plenty of people aren't honest, and if they aren't, they can certainly lie about their honesty to get a job.

Here's another fact that should alleviate any fears you may still have. Even if your credit card number is stolen and used to charge $5,000 worth of stereo equipment, you are liable for no more than $50 if you report the problem to your credit card company as soon as you become aware of it (so check those statement!). In all of the instances I've heard of credit card theft in the real world, the cardholder hasn't been held responsible for anything, If you were wondering, the merchant who accepted the stolen number or stolen card loses out, because they're out the merchandise, and the credit card company won't pay them the money.

Finally, most web site order forms now encrypt all traffic to and form them. so, even though your credit card number is travelling over the Internet, it's doing so in a form that would take a supercomputer a long time to decode, if it were possible at all. I realize that's a bit hard to believe, but if you agree that online vendors understand that they much convince potential customers of the safety of online ordering, you'll see that they have a tremendous vested interest in making your online shopping experience safe and pleasurable.

Now that I've said my piece, if you're still not comfortable entering your credit card number into an online order form, don't do it!! It's not the end of the world if you refuse to take advantage of the ease of online shopping-you probably won't even notice what you're missing, and that's fine. I know people who refuse to use credit card, and there are still plenty of people who refuse to put their money in banks, preferring gold coins under the mattress. To each his or her own.

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Credit cards Online