Black
Friday and Cyber Monday, the Friday and Monday after Thanksgiving, have become
two of the most popular holiday shopping
days of the year. Better Business Bureau serving Eastern
North Carolina offers the following tips to help shoppers save
time and money this holiday season:
Beware of tricky advertisements. For in-store purchases, read the
fine print on all coupons and ads to make sure you are truly receiving the
promised discount. Offers on Web sites for extremely low prices on hard-to-get
items should be researched thoroughly to decipher their legitimacy.
Shop with trust. If you find a deal, do not jump at
the first chance to get it. BBB recommends doing research on the business beforehand
at bbb.org.
Pay with a credit card. This offers you more protection
if an item is not shipped or if an additional charge is accidentally added. For
online purchases, only give credit card information through secure, encrypted
Web sites marked with “https” in the URL. If you have doubts about a site, BBB
recommends right-clicking anywhere on the page and select “properties.” This
will let you see the real URL and the dialog box will reveal if the site is not
encrypted.
Protect your computer. Your computer should always have
the most recent updates installed for spam filters, anti-virus software and a
secure firewall.
Know your rights. Federal law requires that orders
made by mail, phone or online be shipped by the date promised or, if no
delivery time was stated, within 30 days. If the goods are not shipped on time,
the shopper can cancel and demand a refund.
For
additional advice on shopping this holiday season, visit bbb.org.
