I have been reading a lot about online businesses and I would like to share to you an article written by Exequiel Mondejar in eZine magazine.I hope it will help you as well his few tips on how to do business online.
I have been in online business for quite long time. Though, there are already measures and accreditation made by some advocates to stop identity fraud in the internet, I would say that there are still clever people who use their ingenuity to gain and take advantage of the ignorance of some of our friends.
I want to share these basic things which I think could safeguard your transactions online. I also encourage people to share their thoughts so that we can help and protect people especially newbies by publishing other measures not mentioned herein.
1. Ask - Ask for their real name and their social networking membership like Facebook, Twitter, etc.
2. Research - If they cannot provide their social network membership, search their names by using search engine and counter validate it to the information they have provided to you.
3. Contact - If they have a website, try to contact the claimed website and submit an inquiry. If they responded to you, probably they are real people to transact with. But that is not enough yet!
4. Verify - You have to verify the reputation of the website by checking free tools showing the reputation and reviews e.g., alexa.com. There are also reviews available online in some instances.
5. Contract - In every big transactions where you can't afford to lose your invested time, effort and money, try to execute a contract. The venue and jurisdiction clause of the contract should provide the most convenient forum in your part. This will put you in the advantageous position to run after them in case court litigation may arise. Our states can help you run after them as almost all of the states adhere to the international covenant of contract. If your state lacks specific law in helping you to enforce your claim against a person located in another jurisdictions (which is a rare case), try to lobby the same before your legislatures.
However, the above mentioned content is not a hard and fast rule. There are of course a lot of measures depending on the nature of your online transaction. Nevertheless do not hold back from any opportunities that an online transaction can offer to you. You won't know, your missed transaction would have made a dramatic change to your life.