Online shopping FAQs
2. Before you buy
Q6. What information should be provided by the web-trader before I purchase online?
The web-trader must provide you with information including:
- Their name and address
- A description of the goods/services
- The price of the goods (including taxes)
- The delivery costs
- The arrangements for payment
- The conditions for delivery
- The existence of a right to cancel - the “cooling-off” period and how to go about cancelling
- The general terms and conditions of the contract
- Any other important information
Q7. Is it safe to use my credit card online?
Only purchase from websites that are secure. Secure sites will show an ‘s’ in the website address bar, i.e. “https://..” instead of “http://..”, or a padlock symbol on the bottom right-hand corner of the screen when you are asked for personal or credit card details.
If in doubt, shop only on well-known websites or ones that have been personally recommended to you.
Additional security can be found in various programmes run by credit card companies, such as “Verified by Visa” and “Mastercard Securicode”.
Q8. Can my personal details (name, address etc) be given to a third party?
All EU-based web traders must have information on how your personal details may be used. Generally, you will find this information in the Privacy Statement on the site.
EU-based sites must also detail your right to refuse further communication from the web-trader and/or prevent the web-trader from passing your information on to any third party.
Data Protection Laws vary from country-to-country and, while EU member states currently have robust Data Protection Laws, other countries may have much weaker protection for consumer data, notably the United States.
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