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Too Good to Be True
In the case of Amazon vendors, if the price often seems too good to be true, it usually is. Vendors offering items, often technology, at staggeringly low prices should not be trusted. In such cases, the shipment will often be listed as traveling from overseas, with an expected delivery date of 6 weeks from order placement. Amazon pays vendors every two weeks, and scam sellers will go through at least three pay cycles before the original purchasers recognize that the purchase was inauthentic.

Product Reviews
Once a surefire way to ensure the quality of a product, the reviews section is now sometimes manipulated by sketchy sellers to boost the appearance of their product. However, smart shoppers can still use this section to determine the trustworthy vendors from the fake vendors. If all product reviews are from a few years ago, the account was likely hacked by a fake vendor. If all product reviews were posted recently within a short timespan or share similar language, they were likely paid for by a fake vendor. However, established and trustworthy third-party sellers will boast a range of reviews over a wider timeline.

Company Website
Another easy way to determine the legitimacy of a third-party Amazon vendor is to locate their company website. Scam sellers will rarely go to the length of building a fake website to accompany their listings and can be exposed through an easy Google search. Trustworthy vendors will offer an easily accessible website featuring the same or similar products offered through their Amazon listings.

Amazon
This app preserves the design of the website, which makes it easy to navigate. Like on the website, you can search for millions of products, use 1-Click ordering, create or access registries and wish lists, and receive all necessary information on current deals. There are many convenient features included as well, such as the ability to search for items or track orders with your voice, scan a competing product’s barcode to compare the price to available Amazon products, and receive app notifications on the status of your order.

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Overstock
This app has many of the same features as the website, and allows you to browse and purchase discounted products from the convenience of your smartphone. You can receive notifications on coupons and daily deals to make sure you get the items you want at the price you want. There’s also the option to purchase items with Android Pay — another perk.

eBay
If you’re a fan of eBay, then you need to download this app immediately. This app makes it even easier to buy, sell, shop, and make bids on the go. It also includes a barcode scanner to search for relevant items, compare prices, and make listing items for sale faster. App notifications are also included so you can keep better track of your items.

Etsy
Further discover unique, handcrafted goods on the go with the Etsy app. The app makes it easy to browse for a last-minute gift or an item you didn’t know you needed until now. This app includes recommendations according to your tastes, notifications on items you’ve purchased, and information about Etsy events near you.

Protect Your Device with PSafe
Many of the above-mentioned apps request a lot of permissions from your smartphone that are necessary for full use of the app. As a precaution, remember to read through the permission requests so you know what the app is accessing from you. Unfortunately, many malicious apps are designed to mimic popular apps in order to gain access to your phone through these permissions. Be aware of any suspicious-looking apps, and download PSafe Total for your Android to protect your device against malicious threats 24/7.

Why it Still Might Be a Dream
Currently, there are two major factors that suppliers take into account when deciding shipping costs: route density and drop size. When companies consider route density, they try to maximize the number of deliveries a truck can make on one route. Drop size means the quantity of product being dropped off during an entire delivery cycle. That’s why to maximize profit, suppliers either try to make lots of deliveries in one route, or go to the location where they would drop off the most.

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Right now a delivery truck can make a 120 stops a day to deliver thousands of packages. A drone wouldn’t make sense for this type of work because right now a drone can only deliver one package before it needs to go back to its’ homebase and recharge. We might need to wait for more technological advances before it becomes economically feasible to use drones for all deliveries.

The Reality
For small singular packages in a lot of different locations, using a car to go on many different routes is time consuming and expensive. Amazon has been testing out a drone that can fly up to fifteen miles. Because eighty-six percent of Amazon’s packages are under five pounds, drones would be perfect for delivering these small objects. In addition, for retail superstore Walmart, about seventy percent of their customers live within a five mile radius of their store location. This would make recharging fast and easy. In these type of situations, small packages close to warehouses/stores, drones could be making a more immediate impact into our shopping lives.

The Verdict? Improvements in shipping quality are on the horizon. With this new technology, that pair of sneakers you’ve been eyeing could be at your doorstep in time for your daily afternoon yoga class.  Happy Shopping!

Credit Card Vs. Debit Card
If you normally use a debit card for your online shopping sprees, you may want to rethink that decision. If your card info is stolen, and somebody makes purchases, the credit card holder often has less liability than the debit card holder.

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There are laws in place to protect credit and debit card users, but they both differ a bit in how they handle stolen information or fraudulent activity. Credit cards have the Fair Credit Billing Act, or FCBA, that puts the card holder at a maximum liability for fraudulent card use of $50. If your card is reported stolen (or lost) before these fraudulent shopping sprees occur, then your liability becomes zero.

There are many credit cards that offer this protection, but it is important to read the fine print before you commit to one company over another.

The Electronic Funds Transfer Act, or EFTA, is similar to the credit card laws. It also protects the original cardholder, yet with a significant difference. For debit cards, there is no maximum liability.

You have sixty days to report your lost or stolen card under EFTA laws. After that point, any money taken from your account is lost. That’s not the best of news for frequent online shoppers.

What You Can Do
If you must use a debit card for online purchases, make sure that it is a card without a large balance. If someone accesses your account, they won’t be able to run off with everything.

For better security, look into your overdraft protection. Overdraft protection is frequently used with a checking account, and, in case of a lack of funding in the checking account, it uses funding from the savings account to cover the remainder of the balance.

If a thief is using your card, they have access to both of your accounts–and can wipe out your checking and savings accounts in one blow. Contact your bank to see how your checking account is protected.

Of course, you can always use a prepaid debit card. This option offers more control. If you lose access to the account, you won’t be turning over your checking and savings account funds, but will only lose whatever you had put on the card.

Bottom Line
Consult with your bank to see your best options. Then, help keep your web browsing safe from malware and virus threats with PSafe TOTAL. It offers advanced protection to keep your web surfing secure.

No matter how secure or well-known an online store is, there is always the risk that your information as a customer could be exposed, recently exemplified this past month when Amazon suffered a security breach that leaked tens of thousands of login credentials. In order to avoid your information being among the next leaks, heed the online shopping tips below:

Password Complexity Is Important

Sure, it’s convenient to remember a simple password – like your name or hometown – but this is extremely easy for hackers to guess. In reality, any password that doesn’t include a variation of uppercase and lowercase letters, special characters like !, and several numbers is prone to being hacked.

Even if it means keeping a hard note somewhere of your complex password, the headache of glancing at the note each time is much less than someone obtaining all your information and attempting identity theft.

Look for the Lock

Trusted online stores like Amazon have a locked lock to the left of their URL (https://www.amazon.com/) in the address bar on the top of your browser. This means they have SSL (secure sockets layer) encryption installed, which means that the information you’re sending them – like credit card numbers and personal addresses – is secure. Never provide sensitive personal information to sites without the lock. It’s also especially important to never provide your credit card information over email, even if the sender claims to be from a trusted store. Trusted sites will always keep exchange of information to a section of their site that’s secured with SSL.

Use Familiar Sites

While it’s true that any online store, even Amazon, is prone to leaks and hacks, it happens much less there than on lesser-established sites. In addition to potential headaches involving slow shopping and lack of customer support, unfamiliar sites pose a security risk, as they’re less likely to have SSL encryption installed, consequently providing a more open network environment for hackers to obtain your information.

Use PSafe Digital Security

Even when taking the precautions above, you’ll still need an extra layer of security to shop securely online. PSafe accomplishes this on a variety of platforms, providing cloud-based software and free internet protection for Windows and Android users in Brazil and Latin America. PSafe Total, available for both platforms, provides software optimization features and operating system protection that will notify you of any potential intrusions while you online shop, which is an outstandingly useful feature considering how rampant hackers are.

Using complex passwords, paying attention to SSL encryption presence, prioritizing familiar sites and using PSafe Total are all ways to significantly improve the safety of your online shopping.