Actually, from what I have seen, sellers have been very eager to eliminate this problem. In many of the stores near where I live, you can buy gift cards for various online sellers in addition to brick-and-mortar ones. For example, in my nearby grocery store, we have Amazon gift cards, Kindle gift cards, Ebay gift cards, and just the other day I saw one entire side of a gift card rack decked out in Facebook gift cards. Though Barnes and Noble and Best Buy both have brick and mortar stores, their gift cards allow you to purchase at either the store or the website.
I don’t know how many other places have this kind of availability, but if you can buy a $10, $25, $50, or $100 gift card for an online store, that opens up a variety of possibilities for online purchasing. Especially if, like Amazon, the vendor allows you to use more than one of their gift cards. Of course, this approach does seem to limit you to larger companies, but still allows a variety of web purchases.
Also, online purchases from any vendor are possible for young adults who have a debit card with a credit card logo, though some may not prefer to make purchases this way.
The easiest debit cards to obtain, especially for younger people who don’t have a credit rating, are generally linked to a bank account—I had one such at eleven, although I understand that’s unusually young. Use that card to make purchases and you’re essentially giving out a handle to that account, with obvious implications for fraud. My understanding is that recouping fraudulent withdrawals from a bank can be harder than doing the same for a credit line under some circumstances, and account balances are often higher than credit limits—though probably not for teenagers.
Ah! I see. Thankfully it’s the norm here in Australia that the card issuer is mostly responsible for card fraud and they are decently vigilant about it (me being in the reference class of “buys things online”, I have twice been called by my bank to inform me that my card has been blocked due to suspicious charges which were reversed upon me confirming I did not make those purchases). Judging from my parents’ experience with recouping credit fraud, the procedure is exactly the same. Thanks for taking the time to explain.
Yes, that’s what I was referring to. I use my debit card for online purchases, but I am selective about doing this, since I like to avoid fraud. I have had an experience with fraud before which was more time consuming than what you described (with a significant amount of paperwork), but did result in the bank returning the money to me. As a result of the unpleasantness of this experience, I tend to be reluctant to buy from sites I don’t clearly recognize as legitimate.
This is not a strictly online concern for me, though. I also make much fewer debit card purchases at stores nowadays and don’t use it at all at restaurants.
I would probably feel similar even if I had a credit card instead since I found the first experience so unpleasant.
Actually, from what I have seen, sellers have been very eager to eliminate this problem. In many of the stores near where I live, you can buy gift cards for various online sellers in addition to brick-and-mortar ones. For example, in my nearby grocery store, we have Amazon gift cards, Kindle gift cards, Ebay gift cards, and just the other day I saw one entire side of a gift card rack decked out in Facebook gift cards. Though Barnes and Noble and Best Buy both have brick and mortar stores, their gift cards allow you to purchase at either the store or the website.
I don’t know how many other places have this kind of availability, but if you can buy a $10, $25, $50, or $100 gift card for an online store, that opens up a variety of possibilities for online purchasing. Especially if, like Amazon, the vendor allows you to use more than one of their gift cards. Of course, this approach does seem to limit you to larger companies, but still allows a variety of web purchases.
Also, online purchases from any vendor are possible for young adults who have a debit card with a credit card logo, though some may not prefer to make purchases this way.
Could you elaborate? I’m currently doing this, and I saw no downsides, but that comment makes it look like there might be good reasons not to.
The easiest debit cards to obtain, especially for younger people who don’t have a credit rating, are generally linked to a bank account—I had one such at eleven, although I understand that’s unusually young. Use that card to make purchases and you’re essentially giving out a handle to that account, with obvious implications for fraud. My understanding is that recouping fraudulent withdrawals from a bank can be harder than doing the same for a credit line under some circumstances, and account balances are often higher than credit limits—though probably not for teenagers.
Ah! I see. Thankfully it’s the norm here in Australia that the card issuer is mostly responsible for card fraud and they are decently vigilant about it (me being in the reference class of “buys things online”, I have twice been called by my bank to inform me that my card has been blocked due to suspicious charges which were reversed upon me confirming I did not make those purchases). Judging from my parents’ experience with recouping credit fraud, the procedure is exactly the same. Thanks for taking the time to explain.
I have a debit card which notifies me with a text message to my phone every time I make a purchase.
I’m jealous of this. I wish more banks and credit card issuers provided this feature.
Yes. When I discovered that, I was surprised that such a simple solution to the problem of card fraud existed but was not widely implemented.
!! This is a really, really good idea.
Yes, that’s what I was referring to. I use my debit card for online purchases, but I am selective about doing this, since I like to avoid fraud. I have had an experience with fraud before which was more time consuming than what you described (with a significant amount of paperwork), but did result in the bank returning the money to me. As a result of the unpleasantness of this experience, I tend to be reluctant to buy from sites I don’t clearly recognize as legitimate.
This is not a strictly online concern for me, though. I also make much fewer debit card purchases at stores nowadays and don’t use it at all at restaurants.
I would probably feel similar even if I had a credit card instead since I found the first experience so unpleasant.