What should I teach my children about shopping online?
Today, children are shopping online more than ever before. This gives parents the opportunity to teach their kids to be savvy, and safe, when they shop online. Some guidelines to follow:
1- Show your children how to find out if an online retailer is legitimate. A great resource is ResellerRatings.com, where more than 495,000 consumers have reviewed more than 25,000 online stores.
2- Surf with them and show them how to find the online retailer’s return and shipping policies. It is best to shop with established retailers that have clearly defined policies.
3- Teach your children to be bargain hunters. Surfing from different established online stores and comparing prices is a great way to get the best deal. Your children can have fun with the research, but when it comes time to buy, you should handle the transaction yourself.
4- Let them create wish lists to take away the guesswork when buying gifts. Many retail sites have this capability. This lets your children enjoy shopping online and picking out products without actually making any transactions.
5- Lastly, use our other resources on online shopping and Internet safety to illustrate best practices to your kids:
- – If I have a secure connection to a website, does that mean I can trust the website?
- – Is the Internet secure?
- – What is the safest way to pay online?
- – How can I protect myself from fraudulent use of my payment card on the Internet?
- – How do I know if it is safe to enter my credit card information when I am shopping online?
