Online purchases

[Philthy]

Asking this on behalf of my brother:

Is there a way to find out how legit an online business is?
My brother wants to buy a shirt for his girlfriend but is hesitant about buying things online using a credit card. We can't find this shirt on a site that accepts paypal or anything except credit card

What are his options?

[hakhawk]

have a search on google, see if you can find anyone who has used the site and what experience theyve had.

[Philthy]

cafepress.com is the site if anyone on here has dealt with them before, but there were a couple others with the same shirt but also no paypal

[danja]

Cafepress is a reputable site, they've been around for years. You'll be fine using them.

A lot of people don't like Paypal because of the fees.

[Stressball]

Store Ratings and Reviews by Real People - Trusted Online Shopping Read their customer reviews.

[Philthy]

Thanks for that.
Hmm, one bloke says they are quite dodgy.
I'll give this info to my brother tomorrow and he can decide what to do tomorrow

[ClairBear]

Doesn't matter where you buy from, be that the net or a shop, there is always a bloke that will tell you they are dodgy.

[jatsvl]

use a prepaid gift credit card. you can get them from banks and newsagents.

[doms3]

Use pay pal if they accept it

[Ozzie]

If their in Australia they should have an ABN displayed.
Use their ABN number and do a lookup through the ATO.

They should also display contact infomation on their website.
If its a .com.au domain then theres a 90% chance they can be trusted as you need to have an ABN to register a .com.au domain.

[danja]

Use pay pal if they accept it

Firstly, let me say that I like Paypal, especially for eBay purchases where it's very seemless, but there isn't anything wrong with using credit cards on the internet, provided 1) your computer is free of keylogging viruses or anything else that could capture your info; and 2) they website you're purchasing from is reputable and uses the proper technology to ensure your details are transmitted to them securely (SSL).

[Philthy]

Firstly, let me say that I like Paypal, especially for eBay purchases where it's very seemless, but there isn't anything wrong with using credit cards on the internet, provided 1) your computer is free of keylogging viruses or anything else that could capture your info; and 2) they website you're purchasing from is reputable and uses the proper technology to ensure your details are transmitted to them securely (SSL).

Yeah, thats why I wanted to see if there is a way to check up on certain websites.

Thanks for everyones help, I think he is going to go ahead with it. Hopefully all will be fine