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NEW! Read about Progressive Insurance Home Proposal New Packages |
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News: Festive season, online shopping, bargains and safety of transactions During the festive season, online shoppers may think they're getting a bargain when they click on promotional discount boxes or sign up for free trials for such things as Christmas cards, exercise tips or even e-dating. Read more |
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Negative option billing is still a lucrative scheme that catches millions of people every year. |
December 2011
Dear
friends,
The number of online consumers is increasing. Shopping online using a credit card is part of modern life and offers many advantages.
However there are a number of considerations and risks that the consumers should be aware of. There are many issues involved such as purchasing behavior, online privacy information, safety of transactions, theft and inadvertent, unexpected or unknown charges that can occur once or sometimes may be recurrent.
Protective policies constantly evolve in order to offer maximum security for online transactions. Nevertheless, online shoppers very often overlook the recommended necessary precautions.
Additionally many online consumers rarely check the fine print on screens before they agree to proceed with their payments. It is true that this task is difficult because, even for small financial transactions, usually there is an enormous amount of information, difficult to understand that is presented to the online shopper.
Researchers continuously study and analyze online behavior of consumers and credit card use. Among others, the negative option billing is an interesting business practice which unfortunately sometimes may lead to problems and in particular create surprises to the unaware consumers.
The negative option billing is a business practice in which among other characteristics, goods or services are provided automatically, and the customer must either pay for the service or specifically decline it in advance of billing. Negative option billing can lead to problems if buyers do not fully understand the terms, or sellers do not accept a consumer's decision to decline a product.
Read more about online shopping, credit card use and negative option billing in the article Festive season, online shopping, bargains and safety of transactions that you will find attached with our 107th Progressive Insurance Newsletter.
Consumers should be educated about how to use correctly and cleverly their credit card online. They should be vigilant and must carefully check their monthly statements to avoid loosing money.
The electronic marketplace is constantly evolving and it certainly adds many advantages to our lives. The regulatory bodies should follow this evolution and regulate practices and marketing standards in order to protect online shoppers. However, it is as well necessary that we learn how to correctly use the electronic marketplace and avoid traps.
Best Wishes for Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year.
Takis A. Haggiandreou
Director
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People rarely read the fine print when clicking through screens and that's where they will fall prey to unanticipated credit card withdrawals. |
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