Internet Shopping

Bruno Mori
02 September 2003

Internet Shopping
Have you ever bought something on the internet? Did you receive the product as expected? Today anyone can find any product on the Web. Most people have already bought something on the Internet, or signed up for some kind of magazine, service. However, people wonder if their identity or credit card is secure on an Online Store. I personally buy products on the Internet, but I know that there are always risks to take when buying something Online. My credit card had been cloned three times, and I think that it happened because of the Internet. However, the products that I bought never came with problems. After all, I feel lucky because I could find it out before thousands of dollars were spent. Some Online Stores are not registered by the government, so the transactions don’t have an everyday check by the authorities. According to CyberSource Corp 50% of the credit cards frauds are done over the Internet (Alexander). The Internet is a very good tool for everybody today; however improvements have to be made to make Internet Shopping perfect.
The biggest Internet stores invest lots of money on security due to the large number of hackers and frauds. Security systems can save lots of customers. One of them is the eFalcon, “which currently protects more than 260 million credit cards worldwide and collectively saved credit card issuers more than $250 million in 1998” (HNC Launches). These stores are the safest ones on a customer’s view, “Consumers appreciate the extra protection” (HNC Launches). However, the eFalcon as other security systems cost lots of money; therefore, investing in technology makes an increase in prices. If prices increase too much the demand for that store may decrease.
The problem with the Internet Shopping is the lack of identity. As a 15-year-old can enter on a porn site anybody can use someone else’s credit card. Every time one pays a restaurant or a regular store with a credit card the waiter or clerk will know one’s credit card number. Even though it is hard to happen; the possibility of having one’s credit card number stolen is still open. With the lack of identity this waiter/clerk can go to an Internet site and signup to a games site for instance. The bill will come to one’s mail box, and there is almost nothing one can do to refund the money. Money is not the most important part of the issue. Child pornography sites are increasing on the Internet. If someone uses your credit card number on these pederasts’ sites you can be accused of being a child molester without knowing it. Any customer can be a target for those frauds.
Frauds can happen anywhere in the world. We call the world’s computer network Internet. The word world on the sentence is another problem of Internet Shopping because someone can easily make a fraud in a different country using an American store and credit card. It is a fact that some stores don’t accept international credit cards, but in some cases the IP addresses of the customers were identified from Ukraine, Indonesia and Yugoslavia using an American credit card for example (Alexander). Even though these Internet thieves can be detected, the security of the site is almost impossible to be a “rock”. Therefore, some of these transactions can be completed.
Auctions are not on the old style anymore, today Online Auctions provides us the benefits of biting in a product without standing up. Many entrepreneurs came with this idea, making online auctions a common way of buying items. This is the most dangerous way of online shopping provided. The customer doesn’t have a total contact with the actual site. In only one auction site, 300 bidders were defrauded of $857,776 in computer equipment only in one month (Kirshner). The site only helps the customers to bid and the sellers to open an auction of a product, opening a bridge for this two people. The rules of an online auction are clear, if one wins the auction one have to buy the product. Looking this way frauds are very easy to happen because the customer can’t actually see the product they are buying. The sellers only put two or three pictures of the product on the site creating a virtual idea of the product. In this circumstance, fake products like expensive brand clothing or equipment can’t be detected by the customer. According to Federal Trade Commission, the numbers of unsatisfied customers is increasing “In 2002, the agency received 51,000 online auction complaints, up from roughly 20,000 the previous year” (Kirshner). On some auction sites the customer can check if the seller have “honor” on the site. The site provides the quantity of customers that bought something from this seller and the percentage of happy customers. However, there is not total guarantee of the product anyway.
Internet shopping is not safe; it will take lots of development in technology and business strategies to make the Internet shopping not only easy but secure. This “mall” is too big to be controlled by the police or the store owners. The “mall” is not totally explored by the people yet. New stores are being open everyday and some of them the authorities don’t know. And the biggest problem is that nobody can ask for an ID online.



Works Cited
Alexander, Marie. “Location, location, geolocation: mapping new e-commerce strategies.
with web geography.” Retail Merchandiser. Nov. 2002. Info Trac Web: Expanded
ASAP. Lansing Community Coll. Lib. 01 Sep. 2003.

“HNC Launches eFalcon Fraud Protection Service for E-Commerce; Complete Solution
Detects, Manages the risk of Internet Credit Card Fraud.” Business Wire. 10 May
1999. Info Trac Web: Expanded ASAP. Lansing Community Coll. Lib. 01 Sep.
2003.
Kirshner, Jodie. “Bitten bidders.” U.S. News & World Report 16 Jun. 2003. Info Trac Web:
Expanded ASAP. Lansing Community Coll. Lib. 01 Sep. 2003.