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PR - Online Shopping Security
Simple Checks Can Ensure Security Of On-line Transactions...
As on-line sales and e-commerce continue to skyrocket, leading website developer and e-commerce company Solutions Management has warned shoppers to be wary of businesses that don’t provide the highest levels of security for their transactions.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has reported transaction turnover in Australia during 2002-03 of more than $24 billion. This is more than double the previous year’s figure.
Solutions Management founder and Marketing Resultant Lea-Anne Brighton said that what was happening with e-commerce in Australia was part of a global trend.
“In the US, a survey of on-line retail sales during the recent holiday season showed a rise of 28 per cent on the same period last year,” Ms Brighton said. “The eSpending report by Goldman, Sachs, Harris Interactive and Nielsen NetRatings showed Internet sales of $US16.7 billion ($A21.9 billion) in the first six weeks of the 2004 Christmas season.
“And according to Andrew Colley, from AustralianIT, research in Australia indicated that on-line sales forecasted for the 2004 Christmas season nudged the billion-dollar mark. It showed that with almost 500,000 Internet users visiting shopping websites for the first time last year, optimism was high among Internet retailers.”
Ms Brighton it was important for small businesses to be able to identify how they could take advantage of this trend in e-commerce: where it was safe to shop and where shoppers should avoid providing their credit card details.
“There are three forms of e-commerce transactions on the Internet,” she said. “Real time secure e-commerce, not real time ‘semi-safe’ e-commerce and no security at all e-commerce. Shoppers need to understand what the methods are so that they can make informed decisions as to which websites they will do business with.
“I only shop at websites that offer ‘real time, secure e-commerce’. I don’t feel the others have taken adequate steps to protect me from Internet fraud or credit card detail theft.”
When a business owner set up a website to sell on-line they had to make a decision about which type of e-commerce they would use and offer their customers.
Ms Brighton said that with “real time secure e-commerce” she knew her credit card details would be encrypted and entirely safe. The page they were listed on was secure; with a small gold padlock on the lower right side indicating it was encrypted.
In this system, information was transferred from the page directly to the banks through a “Secure Gateway”. The bank was then able to process the transaction immediately and send a report to the shopper to show that everything had happened successfully. A tax invoice, with delivery details, was issued.
“All this has happened without the website/business owner’s involvement,” Ms Brighton said. “In fact, they have not even seen all of the credit card details - only the bank did.
“Banks thoroughly check businesses before giving the owners permission to use the system and connect to them. If the business owner breaks the rules, the banks will withdraw the facility immediately. I can feel much more confident dealing with a business that is being watched by the banks in Australia, as I know that they are very strict as to who is allowed to link directly to them.”
Sites offering no protection are easy to spot. There is no gold padlock on the bottom right of the page and there is no protection for credit card details as they are typed into the website. One system masks what is happening in the transaction. It offers safe e-commerce but will not process the transaction straight away. Instead, shoppers put their information in a secure area, (the gold padlock will be showing on the page), but the process stops there.
These sites are not connected to the banks and the transaction is not processed. The information is stored in a computer until the operators go into that computer with a password and download the information ready to phone through the transactions.
Most businesses using this method download and print the information, possibly discarding the credit card details in the rubbish or filing them without adequate protection. Where in the first instance the full credit card details were not even shown to the website/business owner, in the latter case the vendor actually downloads the details to their computer or prints them off.
Some websites conduct their business this way for a number of reasons, despite there being a safer method available. Banks may have rejected their business due to the poor website development, a lack of perceived security or they simply do not see them as being suitable to do business with.
Ms Brighton said that as the ABS and AustralianIT figures revealed, there is increasing interest in e-commerce, presenting both shoppers and small businesses an enormous opportunity. However, shoppers needed to take the time to look at on-line trading methods and check for:
· A statement on the site that it offers “real time” secure e-commerce
· Gold padlock
· Good customer service policies that you can see and read on the site
· Contact details
For small businesses, ensuring your website contains these elements will not only provide comfort for shoppers that their credit card details are secure, but it will provide your business with a marketing edge.
Contact Us to find out how your business can grow using the internet on (03) 9018 5117
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