know others who have had consistently positive expe-
riences with the online store, you can be reassured of
the site’s quality.➟ Doing your own background check.Found a great
price but it’s from a store you don’t know? Check it
out on sites dedicated to reviewing e-stores, such as
Epinions (www.epinions.com), BizRate (www.
bizrate.com), and the Better Business Bureau
(www.bbb.org). If you can’t find any (positive)
review for the store, think hard before shopping there.
Another Web site to consider is The National Fraud
Information Center (www.fraud.org; shown in
Figure 12-3) which watches out for shady Internet
dealings and offers consumer tips on its Web site.Figure 12-3
➟ Is the Web site secure? Legitimate online merchants
offer secure transactions. Look for two assurances to
see if you’re on a secure site. The URL should show251