Online Shopping (Virus)

Sometimes when we are doing online shopping or transaction, we would like to avoid viruses.If we receievd an en email containing an unsolicited commercial message, you should not open any attached file whose name ends in ".exe." Clicking on such files could activate a computer virus that might affect the operation of your computer and/or damage the information stored on your computer.

You can also protect yourself against viruses carried by e-mail or by computer files that you’ve received on a floppy disk, by purchasing and installing on your computer or network a virus-protection program. A good antivirus could fix this problem

Online Shopping (Password)

It is important to use different password for your online transaction and email account or network password. Some website require you to change your online password after 3 months to ensure the security of your account.

When we are choosing our password, it is not recommended to use our address, birth date, phone number, or recognizable words. Choose a string of at least five letters, numbers, and punctuation marks.

If you are recording your password down pls do not write down any password near your computer where someone could see it. If you do record it somewhere, reverse the order of the characters or transpose some letters or numbers. In that hat way, someone finding it won’t have discovered your true password.

Online Shopping (Phone In)

Another way of making payment online is using the phone. That is of course if you are willing to give out your personal credit card info away online. Most web merchants/seller allow you to order online and give your credit card information over the phone to make the payment.

If you’re planning to use phone in option, do remember to jot down the phone number, seller company name, the date and time of your call, and the name of the person who recorded your credit card number.

It is never advise to give out your password and credit card number using ordinary email. If your email been hacked then, your personal info will fall into the hand of other especially identity theft.

Online Shopping (Internet connection security)

One of the important things to take not when your doing online shopping is our internet connection seciruty. How do we know that our internet connection are secure?

Most website use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology to encrypt the perssonal and credit card information that we send over the Internet. You can see that your address bar starts with https: instead of usual http:. Sometimes the website will also inform the users that they are using SSL security.

There are also other security technology, such as Secure Electronic Transaction, or SET, technology which use different principles. SET or SSL technology are designed to make your connection secure. The other ways to tell whether a website uses security software is that you will see a padlock icon at the bottom right of your browse (Internet Explorer).

Online Safety Part 2

Form of payment

Paypal

• Let say we are buying from someone online. Then the seller offers PayPal, first thing to do is to go to the PayPal site and try to send the seller a mock payment to see if the email address matches the one in the end of auction notice. If their past auctions show a PayPal logo, but PayPal does not show the email address you have as being a current PayPal account then maybe the account been used by someone else or hijacked. Of course unless the seller is using 2 different email account.

Credit Card

• Credit card is one of the safest way to make payment for the buyer. But of course there will be certain charge back protection for the transaction. U can check with your credit card bank issuer as they sometimes charge for insurance if in cases of fraud we can get back our money. American Express might not have extra charge (pls checked for latest T&C)

Cheque or Money Order

• Cheque or money order is generally will prove that the seller is legitimate, as the person needs a valid bank account and valid ID to cash it. Since the persons banks /organizations who cash out these items are at risk of losing their money if they don't validate the authenticity of the seller, the persons /banks/organizations who cash out these items them are likely to take thorough precautions. Combined with the steps in authenticating the seller, it will provide you with a trail to the seller that law enforcement can follow. Because of this, outright scammers will usually not accept payment via check or money order

Bank Wire Transfer or Cahiers Check

• Bank wire transfer is not a fairly secure way to pay and a cashier's check only slightly better. Recovering money is unlikely on either, though a seller with a legitimate bank account with all other information verified as suggested above should be an ok risk. Buyers should proceed with great caution though, and make sure they are completely satisfied with the legitimacy of the seller before using these methods of payment. Do not proceed if there are doubts and inconsistencies issues. If the seller requests you wire payment to a location other than the one in the auction/listing, do not proceed. For example if the according to the listing the seller is located in the US, don't wire payment to Brazil or India, no matter how legitimate the reason (read that excuse) the seller comes up with.

Online Safety Part 1

• As I meantioned earlier, when we are buying from someone online, it is highly recommended to check the seller's feedback. Please take note not just the percentages or numbers but the actual comments because certain info may be manipulated. See if they have been habitually selling what you are interested in buying. For example if they have been selling clothes and are suddenly selling Hifi at great prices, we should be caution. If they have never sold a single item before and first thing they are selling is a high priced item, proceed, but with caution. Better be safe then sorry.

• Retrieved the sellers contact information and call them. Get their full name address and phone number, no matter what method that you are using to pay them. If they have a company get the company info as well. Double check the business name with the Yellow Pages or ROC to see whether the company really exist. If you find any fishy with the info, then stop the deal. Especially the they request western union.

Beware of fake items online

It's very hard to differentiate counterfeit products or imitation sometimes. Especially when we are dealing online because we might not able to inspect the items. Once we received the item, it might be too late to realize it. So it's very important to read the item description clearly. If there is any doubt, you can always email or contact the seller.

Items such as fake, look alike, replica, AAA, fraud etc. can be found in the market easily. As a matter of fact, these fake products are sold in the black market for cheaper price than posted online sometimes. Educating online buyers can create awareness of this matter.

This scenario will tarnish local online shopping website and auction/selling site reputation. In Malaysia, it is not easy to stop and curb all these fake, look alike, replica, AAA, fraud etc.

Pay Pal can withdraw from local bank credit card

There had been increase numbers of paypal account user in Malaysia. The good news is that now paypal can transfer to your local bank credit card account. In this case you can withdraw money using ur credit card at atm machine or offset your credit balance of your credit card.

If you login to your Paypal account, click withdraw and you will see an option to withdraw your paypal fund to your credit card!USD5 fee per withdrawal, and the limit is USD500 a day

If you got credit card balance, amount transferred from PayPal will be knock-off with that credit balance. If the credit card balance is zero or less than the amount transferred from PayPal, you are not advise to withdraw at the ATM. It will be considered as cash advance withdrawal and subject to charges eventhough the credit card amount is already debit balance.

What you can do is to give an instruction to the credit card issuer to transfer that debit balance amount to your saving or current account (clear in 5 working days) with no charge.

Paypal policy on surcharge

No Surcharges. Under Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express regulations and the laws of several states, including California, merchants may not charge a fee to the buyer for accepting credit card payments (often called a "surcharge"). You agree that you will not impose a surcharge or any other fee for accepting PayPal as payment. This restriction does not prevent you from imposing a handling fee in connection with the sale of goods or services, as long as the handling fee does not operate as a surcharge (in other words, the handling fee for transactions paid through PayPal may not be higher than the handling fee for transactions paid through other payment methods). Nor does this restriction apply to Pound-denominated transactions by sellers residing in the United Kingdom listing items for sale on a UK-based website.

Pay Pal Contact Information

PAYPAL CONTACT INFORMATION

PayPal Inc Mountain View, CA 650 864-8000

PayPal, Inc. 1840 Embarcadero Rd Palo Alto CA 94303

PayPal, Inc. 11128 John Galt Blvd Omaha, NE 68137

(877) 672-9725 1-877-6-paypal
(888) 221-1161 help center
(402) 537-5740 (fax)
(402) 935-2258 Craig, complaints resolution manager

(866) 272-9725 (800) 836-1859 Premier Account Holders

(650) 251-1100
(402) 935-2000
(402) 935-2001
(402) 935-2062
(402) 935-7733

Buying Via Paypal from Malaysia in ebay

Sometimes we wanted to buy some item from overseas seller in ebay. We might ask how much does ebay insure for our transaction. If you read ebay policy, ebay has US200 refund for fraud. To be safe then never buy anything more than what they cover. If you are using local bank, then you can use TT to overseas account. Telegrahic transfer is not cover in eby auction fraud terms.Unless they trust you and you already have the item in hand. But of course if the seller is honest and trustworthy then should not be any problem.

Cheers!

What to take precaution when dealing online

When we are having an online transaction, it is very important that we take few precaution. Over the years I had heard many cases where people get cheated, fraud cases and personal information leaked out.

Here are some checklist to consider:

1. Always make sure your computer do not stored any important data. If u want to store then use some encryption software. This is especially if your computer is shared or easily accessible to others.
2. When your using others computer or at the cyber cafe, always clear your cache from the internet browser after usage. If can make the security option at the login page.
3. Never give away your credit card number or personal identity number to unknown site or party. They can use this info to hack into your credit card account. This include when your chatting online as well. Never trust people easily online.
   
4. Install spy ware software to avoid personal information in your computer to be send out to others.
5. Do not be greedy. Sometimes certain offer are too good to be true. But we want to believe its our luck but ends up we got cheated. Money don't fall from the sky! :P
6. Do some study or research if you want to do any transaction. Ask around or search for forums that discuss the issue. It will help you understand better.

Have a nice day!

What's hot in lelong website?

If your thinking what is hot selling item in lelong website.. well it is definitely electrical and gadgets such as handphones, ipods, computers and PDAs. Most of the item which people browse through are gadgets compared to clothings and cds. Probaly Malaysian prefer to buy clothes at the retail outlets and shop, while pirated cds/dvds are easily available.