The risks in online shopping

I believe that about half of all Malaysians do at least some shopping online. Online shopping is just a way of life these days. Most people don't even think twice about using their credit cards to make a transaction in online. Shopping online carries the risk of identity theft and fraud so I think it will be useful to provide some guidelines when shopping in online.

First, you need to be aware of the websites because the sites might be a phishing site (fake site). A phishing site is a phony site designed to look like a legitimate site. Phishing sites can easily direct the users to give their personal information, such as passwords and credit card, and bank account numbers. To solve this problem, you need to check and be aware of the web address every time when the websites required you to fill in some personal information. 

Second, be aware and alert when it comes to checking statements. If you do any online shopping it's very important to go over your financial statements every month. Don't just assume that everything is fine because you don't notice a lot of money missing. Many times the identity thieves will simply do a test charge of one ringgit or two to see if the card works. If the card works, they will start to take a lot of money that you don’t ever aware of. So next time if you see any unusual charge, it's best to report it immediately before more damage can be done.

Third, always keep your computer in secure mode. This includes running anti-virus software, keeping your operating system and browsers updated, and securing your internet connection. Besides that, remember install Firewall in your computer too. By installed Firewall in your pc, you are able to block hacker  to hack in your account and stole your personal information.

Shopping online can certainly be convenient and fast, but you do have to be careful. With some of my guidelines above, you should have nothing to worry about when making that next transaction. 

Happy shopping!

Poll analysis 7

   

There are 16 readers who participant in this week poll question. The result shows that there are 10 people get to know online group buying by internet because online group buying sites rely heavily on social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter to drive sales. Some websites also give credits to shoppers to encourage them to spread the word to their friends and encourage purchases. Besides that, there are 3 people know online group buying by word of mouth. I should say word of mouth is really effective because when consumers purchase good deals in online buying sites, they will tend to share with their family or friends and this will easily makes they be interest to purchase things in online group sites too. There are 2 people know online group buying through newspaper and 1 person choose magazine. Online group buying sites love to advertise their coupon as a redemption in newspaper and magazine. Majority of people will unless read newspaper or magazine once a day so online group buying sites can easily reach to mass audience. Moreover, none of the readers choose billboardd radio t and radio because online group buying sites did not advertise their sites in billboard and radio because the advertise fees is really expensive. By using billboard and radio to reach out the mass media, I should said that internet is more easily and effectively to reach the audience. 

Contest Video

This video is basically talks about some information about the contest and the prizes. Besides that, it also provided some steps of joining the contest.

Live blogging session

On the 24 of March 2012, all the us were having a live blogging session. The purpose of having this is to interact with our readers instantly. We have been writing  all the post and promote our blog all this while. So we think that it will be good if we interact with them once in a while because they can always ask us any question about our blog or even about our contest.

Our live blogging session starts at 1pm to 3pm on that day. Surprisingly there are quite a number of people has ask us different question in our chatbox. Three of us answer their question immediately once they posted in our chatbox. Most of them are unclear about our contest so we are trying to make them clear about how can they join the contest.

We were happy to answer their questions one by one. This can gain the trust and support from them because they are clear about everything that we do in our blog. Lastly, we would like to have another round of live blogging session with our readers if we got the chance to do so.

Poll Analysis 6

For this week, the poll question of the blog is "What is your payment method for Online Group Buying?" This poll question is basically to find out usually consumer would rather to pay credit card, debit card or make payment through online banking. There are 15 readers to participate in this poll question. According to the pie chart above, there are 6 readers which is 40% readers out of 100% are using online banking method to make payment such as Maybank2U.com, Public Bank Southern Bank, RHB Bank and many more. This is a method that making payment through internet with your bank. Then, there are 5 readers which is 33% out of 100% using credit card to make payment while online shopping. To make payment via credit card, you just have to fill in the credit card numbers into the specific blank in web site, then in the end of month, the consumer will receive a statement to pay for the total of spending. Lastly, there are 4 readers which are 27% out of 100% readers make their payment via debit card. Debit card is similar to credit card and it works exactly same with credit card while making payment. Debit card is to fill in the card number into a specific blank in a web site but it has a limited amount which the card holder have. Conclusion, there are more people using online banking as a method of payment but least people using debit card as a method of payment.