Australia’s largest retailer – Woolworths Limited – has announced it is phasing out the Safeway brand. So if you’re looking for Safeway the fresh-food people (as per the image above) please go to www.woolworths.com.au. In the meantime here are ten pointers you can use to decide whether it is safe to buy from a particular online-shop.
- See whether a postal or street address or phone number is easy to find on the home page.
A contact address will give you some idea of where the business operates from. A phone number should also be readily visible on the home page. - Check out the About Us, Contact Us, Delivery and Payment pages.
These pages should give you a fair idea of who you’re dealing with and how they do business. Many companies will display their official business name and registration number on the About Us page or in the page footer. - Check the registered Australian Business Number (ABN) or Australian Company Number (ACN) information online
- Look up whois information for the domain name
A free Internet service known as WHOIS provides details on who has licensed the domain name. For Australian (i.e. dot.com.au) domain names you can find a WHOIS service at most accredited registrars or at Ausregistry . For US and international (i.e dot.com) domain names you can find WHOIS via Network Solutions. - Privacy Statement
Make sure the store has a Privacy Policy or Statement. That’ll give you some idea of what will happen to any personal or customer details the store may collect from you. - Security
Many online businesses secure their order or payment page with an encryption certificate. This ensures that the data in your online order or payment is encrypted as it travels across the Internet. Some online shops may also display a security seal or symbol. This shows that the site has passed or completed an audit or assessment from a specialist security group or company. It gives online shoppers added assurance that the site is a secure place to shop and do business. - Payment
Online businesses should tell you how they are going to process your payment and, particularly in the case of credit-card backed transactions, tell you what business name will appear on your statement. Where credit-card details are collected by the business, they should be protected by up-to-date security, storage and handling processes such as those outlined in the Payment Card Industry – Data Security Standard (PCIDSS) standard. For more information on the standard go to www.pcisecuritystandards.org - Refunds
For physical goods, i.e. those that are going to be delivered by a freight or courier company, there should be a clear statement of the circumstances under which you are entitled to return goods, and who will pay for the return freight. - Help
Whether its just to complain, or whether you need some help in getting your purchase right, there should be a help page, often known as an FAQ page (Frequently Asked Questions) - Contact us
If you’re unable to contact an online merchant to sort out a problem, then contacting Australia’s specialist online business newsletter – the eCommerce Report – is an alternative you might consider. We may be able to either provide you wth another contact address or be able to help if its a technical question.