Back to Articles

Article by Sam Martin, PE, CVS, President of OfficeOnWeb, Technologies. 9/30/1999

Some people are very concerned about purchasing through the Internet. Some are leery of sending credit card numbers over phone lines, some don't fully understand the technology. To add to our concern, most browsers will display a very scary message about how someone could intercept your message and read it. Relax. When that message appears, you are looking a programmer's paranoia. If you feel safe using the phone to order, you should feel safe using a computer that is plugged into a phone.

Shopping on the Internet is similar to any other shopping event, you go into a store, you hand your card to a clerk, they take it and process your order. The only difference is that you give the same information over a phone line connected to the Internet.. In either shopping situation, a dishonest clerk or business can run up additional purchases and pocket the money. You won't realize it for up to 45-days, and then only if you check your statements for errors.

The Internet does have credit card fraud, however, most fraud on the Internet begins with someone stealing a credit card first. Criminals then purchase lots of merchandise on-line. Once delivered, they sell it and move on to another delivery location.

Protecting yourself on the web is easy. First, buy from a company you feel comfortable with. Do they have a professional site? A real physical business location? This usually indicates a stable business. Are they a member of the ...and its Online program? Only 3,500 companies nationwide have met their stringent standards (OfficeOnWeb is one of these), so a business with this logo on the home page is reputable. Professional memberships and members of the local Chamber of Commerce are usually good choices too.

Second, never enter credit card information unless you are in a "secure"setting. Any reputable business should provide this on their credit card entry page. The gray bar at the bottom left of most browsers will show a small lock image, open for un-secure, closed for secure.

Third, do not use conveniences such as the Microsoft "wallet" or other tools. The "convenience" of storing your credit and billing information is a thief's delight. Imagine posting your credit cards in the window of a local store Using the Microsoft "wallet," is not much different that doing this.

Fourth, do not use e-mail services like Hotmail, Yahoo and USA.net to transmit sensitive information. Although useful for personal use these free services are not that secure. Due to their anonymous nature, criminals often use them, so many businesses will refuse to process orders that include these addresses. I recommend using the e-mail address given by your ISP for purchases on the web.

Businesses- did you know that you can increase the effectiveness of your Yellow Page ad by up to 30% by putting a domain name in it? The local book closes this month.

Please contact me if you have questions regarding this article. A word of warning though. I( get thousands of e-mails a day and may not be able to respond in the time frame you would like. Next month, "Business & The Web"

Back to Articles

Did you know that in 1998 more than 95% of OfficeOnWeb's new customers made a profit from their web site within their first year of operation? Sad, but it is true. This compares to less than 20% industry wide ever even breaking even. Why? Professional and directed expertise. This industry average for people leaving their current web service provider is 4% per month! That's nearly 50% over a year! Ours is less than 1% per year. That is because we endeavor to make our clients money and don't just offer a "pat solution" that we know has a low probability of ever making our client a profit. Some of the features that make up the level of success that our clients enjoy are:

 Five redundant backbone connections

 99.999% up time on UNIX servers

 Redundant OC-3 connect to all five backbones

 Full data center services

RAID 5 system with weekly backup of critical systems

 True Web Developer Services

 Large support site for clients and visitors

 Four level or higherencryption on all e-commerce solutions designed by Office On Web (this is the government standard required if Government people are to use a site)

 We NEVER host a commercial site on an access server (that is really bad, but common in dial up providers)

Back to Articles