The pandemic of 2020 brought us a rise in online shopping. Even those who had never tried it before simply had to because there was no other way to get certain goods in lockdown.
One of the things that online shopping cannot exist without is online payment. We have become comfortable with online forms of payment that require our bank cards in brick-and-mortar shops, but there are so many other ways to make online purchases. For example, credit card payments work online as well as offline, and cash is definitely not king anymore.
E-commerce store owners know (or at least they should know) that the crucial thing for a customer to actually complete the purchase is that they see their favorite method as one of the options.
But how will you, the customer, choose your favorite if you do not know much about them? There are many criteria based on which you can decide, such as the availability and popularity of a method in your part of the world, but your main concern should be its safety. Read on for some useful advice that can help you choose the most suitable one.
Your old friends – the credit and the debit card
For those who are completely new to the online shopping world, credit and debit cards are a great solution because they are something they have already gotten used to using offline. Also, the online payment process with these cards is fairly similar, if not exactly the same on most of the websites, so once you have done it the first time, you will know what to expect.
Credit cards are also very secure. They have payment authentication methods, like Card Verification Value (CVV), that will help you trust the process and know that your money and your identity are safe. Of course, these methods might slow down the payment process, but think of it as a time well invested in your security.
When paying with credit cards, it is highly recommended that you check a couple of things on the website of the online store, just to be on the safe side; make sure there is the https: at the beginning of the URL as well as a small padlock image in front of the websites name in your browser. That means the website has an SSL certificate.
E-wallets – often preferred, even for online casino bonuses
E-wallets are something many people discover only when they make their first online payment steps. These are online money storages and you can use them by making an account and sharing your personal and banking details. The most famous is for sure PayPal, but there are many others with equally increasing popularity like Apple Pay, Amazon Pay, Payoneer, etc.
Credit and debit cards are still more popular, but statistics show that e-wallets will soon take over. Reasons for this are very simple: when you pay this way, you are entering much less information than when you use a card, and that information is encrypted, which means there is a high level of security.
E-wallets are a favorite amongst online casino users as well, especially a service called Neteller. But be careful if you are an online casino patron. When considering an online casino payment method, do not forget to check how to claim a casino bonus. In some instances, bonuses can only be acquired using a particular payment method.
Transfer the money safely with a Wire transfer
Wire transfers concept seems pretty simple: money is transferred to an account of the online store. This can be done through a bank. After the transfer has been done, a unique transfer ID can be shared among the interested parties as proof that it was successful.
Wire transfers are considered rather safe exactly because there are banks involved. When both parties have to have bank accounts, the customers are highly unlikely to suffer fraud because of all the data needed for an account to be open.
This payment method, however, has one considerable disadvantage: it can be very expensive, especially in the United States. Another difficulty with it is that it takes time for funds to be transferred; it could be days, sometimes even weeks.
In a nutshell
If you are a newbie to the world of online payments, the best is to start with what is most familiar to you, but you should always put the security of your personal information as well as your money above all. The Internet can be a very safe place if you know how to use it correctly.
