Being a parent, you always want to ensure that you’re getting the best value for money possible when it comes to buying baby products for your little one.

It doesn’t matter if it’s for a few pounds or several hundreds of pounds, you want to make sure that you aren’t paying over the odds for any products.

However, there is also a second consideration when it comes to buying products that has come about in recent years and that’s ensuring that your details, if you’re buying online, are kept safe and secure.

If you’re a bit of a techy, it’s likely that you’ll know how to check that your details are being stored and processed securely, but if you haven’t had the opportunity or taken the time to familiarise yourself with these principles, the following information should help you determine whether the website you’re using is a safe one or not.

1. Does its URL start with “https…”? – all websites start with the same prefix of http, but websites that have taken steps to securely process your data are likely to have a ‘s’ after this standard prefix. What this means is that the website is utilizing an encrypted ‘tunnel’ for information to pass between the user and the company, known technically as a secure sockets layer.

2. Is there a padlock visible on the browser itself? – the position of the padlock changes depending on the browser (Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, etc) that you are using, but you can start to be at ease if you can see a padlock icon on the browser itself.

Please note, this isn’t going to be on the website, but on the actual browser – if you can see one on the website, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the website is secure.

3. Does the website look secure? – OK, there are people out there who clone professional looking websites and when people put their credit card details in, thinking they’re going to the company, they actually go to the criminal, but generally speaking, if the website doesn’t look secure, chances are it’s not going to be.

Websites have developed a lot in the last 5 to 7 years and so it’s easy to see if a website looks old, out-dated and generally poorly built, which can lead many people to think twice about buying from them, whether they’re secure or not.

Likewise, it’s becoming easy to make a website secure and so if an organization wants your business and generally wants to succeed online, they need to be taking what are now relatively simple steps to secure their online business.

Buying baby products online should be an enjoyable experience and one that doesn’t involve any risk. Rather than take the chance on a website that you aren’t sure about, understand this information and have a quick check around before you hand over your money, if not just to put your mind at ease.

Source by Dan S Smith