This week: Online Transactions

Rhetoric about this being an "Information Superhighway" aside, many companies are staking a large part of their future on Internet transactions and online shopping. We already have online ordering for books, CDs, flowers, gifts, food, and much more. Now Korea's Daewoo has announced that it plans to enter the U.S. car market by selling autos over the Internet. What do you think about the future of online shopping? Would you make a large purchase of an item you'd never actually seen? Do you trust the security of Internet transcactions? Why do you think 'Net sales aren't growing as fast as anticipated?

Read what others have said so far, and then tell us what you think.

See what Tripod members had to say about raising the minimum wage in the last survey. For other past survey results, check our survey archive.

A new Work & Money survey is published each Wednesday.

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Comments or Questions:

I have never ever ever ever even considered buying something throught the internet because of all the bad things that can happen to you.

mard1: I trust genuine, name-brand companies when they have something to offer on the Internet. For other companies, I "may" trust and incur loss in Internet Transactions if they manage to convince me through very cleverly presented homepages. All I have is their word (and graphics). If you can be cheated in person by smart and cunning people, you are more likely to fall for cons in a medium where you can see the salesperson's face or eyes? So it may depend on how ingeniously contrived their Web Pages are...

quixote: I'll always have reservations about dealing with businesses on the Internet -- it is a good place for information and exchange of ideas, but giving out your credit card number is something else. I always gotta see what I buy before I am willing to pay for it! Plus, there are to many "cybernet pirates" around to be comfortable. I advise all our friends to have the same attitude. Thank you.

Mur: You give your credit card to a gas station attendant, who might "forget" to tear up the carbon copy. You give it to waiters and waitresses who take it away from you for five to ten minutes. You give it to the catalogue company over your cordless phone, and you feel odd about giving it over the Internet? Online ordering is no more or less safe than any of the above. Security systems online are getting better and better, although the database where the number ends up is relatively easy to hack into -- but then, any company you have ever bought anything from via credit card has that problem. Buying over the internet is as "safe" as using your card anywhere else.

Rachel: I'd feel safe buying something that I don't need to *see* -- CDs, say, or books and T-shirts. But I wouldn't feel comfortable buying something like a car -- I'd want to see the thing, drive it, touch it. I don't have any problems with the idea of sending my credit card info over the 'Net, though.

AlMiller: If I know exactly what I'm getting, that's fine. I have booked airline tickets through the Internet, and found it more convenient than calling their reservation line or using a travel agent. That is because all routes, flights, and fare structures were well displayed on screen. I do like to see and touch the product I am going to buy unless I know exactly what it is. Credit card risks online don't appear to be any greater than phone or mail order. With a good website, I can even print my own receipt (try doing that on the phone).

AmazingGrace: The problem seems to me to be the perception of security as much as anything else. The potential cost of such a fraud could be the limit on your card.

I'm not happy about giving out my credit card details out over an unsecured medium of any description -- allowing transactions to be done out of sight is dangerous. This is not to say I have never used on-line shopping facilities, but usually only to order things that I am billed for on delivery by more conventional methods. Another potential way is to have an 'Internet currency' that you buy from a service provider and can then 'spend' on-line. Any fraudulent use of such currency is their problem. Actual money is transferred from the service provider to the point of sale via normal banking transfers. Or simply have a charge account with very limited credit, so that the amount you could have defrauded is strictly controlled. I don't think that the Internet will ever be truly secure by its very nature -- any security standard will eventually be breached, but then all financial transactions carry an element of risk. It's just a question of how much risk are we willing to take!

KMorrison: I'd like to be able to buy things on the Internet, make plane reservations, etc., but I have a few reservations of my own. That's just me, and I need to get over it if I want to be truly "wired." Maybe a way to ease into it would be to be able to put an item or plane ticket on "24 hour hold" and be required to call the company within 24 hours with the credit card number. Does anyone think that might be a good idea?

NatH: I've bought quite a bit of stuff here online, but I will only give my credit card number in a secure area.

gbknox: Assuming the Internet survives, I think online shopping will become huge eventually. Seems inevitable and NEAT!

I would trust a secure transaction (i.e. both sides can validate the other is genuine) to purchase anything -- especially if the warranty was clear and proven to exist.

'Net sales are dependent on a feeling of doing a secure transaction. That's just not there yet (but coming soon to a McDonald's near you!).

I will always support my local (real live people with real live stores) merchants before any other. My community is just too important to me. On the other hand, if I can only get want I want from the 'Net, so be it.

Shriram: All this E-commerce stuff sounds really great. But suppose someone kidnaps a person else with access to all these wonderful things over the Internet. Are there any safeguards??

DeliaT: I'd window/Net shop on the Net but never buy. Then I'd make sure the company's for real, unless of course it's a well-known one already. I'll never give any information over the Net, I'd rather print out order forms and go through snail mail.

Spartica: Online transactions scare the hell out of me! No, I don't trust security on the 'Net...too many smarter than me hackers out there! If I did trust the security though, I would buy a pricey item from a well-known, reputable company online. If I didn't know the company and I wanted the item, I'd do some research...lots of research first!

Eli_: I think that transactions over the 'Net are a wonderful new innovation, but I keep hearing about people who get swindled, or credit card numbers that get stolen. I don't think that I could feel comfortable conducting transactions over the 'Net until there is a way for companies to verify that the person using the credit card on the other end is really the owner of that card.

Rowzee: I cringe when I have to give my credit card number over the phone to confirm a hotel reservation, so you can only guess what I think about online transactions. Whenever I charge anything "in person" I am VERY careful and always check my statement thoroughly every month. As a matter of fact, I had a charge that I never made questioned on my credit card recently. Thank God it was only for $24.95 and it was resolved!

yawdaor: I am in conflict with a Canadian company that did not deliver -- but did charge my credit card. My bank credit has sent it back, but after 2 months there has been no word. So I have decided if they do not have a special encryption feature, I will not be buying on the Web/Internet in the near future.

mpraska: Online shopping is something that is going to become a major part of commerce in the world. I myself feel the the current level of security is not adequate to make the general public feel safe about giving out their credit card numbers. Once this fear is overcome, online shopping will become probably the most widely used tool to purchase items worldwide.

AndrewLee: I believe in most cases the items offered for sale are genuine and up to standards so far as quality is concerned. I personally don't trust the security of my credit card number once it gets on the 'Net. Now, I know that unscrupulous persons and organizations already sell this kind of info, but the way my browser alerts me whenever I want to send any info out, I get the distinct impression that the 'Net is very susceptible to abuse. Also I see many products that offer encryption and then notes that say the encryption may not be exported outside the US. This I find frustrating.

Dickj: If we are lucky the world will control the spin off to a totally capitalist net. Already it is obvious that most netizens are aligning themselves to find their $$$ niche on the highway. What will happen to those weaker "salespeople" when they discover they cannot compete with the new guile and greed in the future. For one I am for maintaining a free exchange of information and ideas. Too bad it will not stay that way. Look at the people we all know who have struck it rich and have forsaken the ideal for the buck. Sooner or later the WWW must lower itself to the level of the person on the street. Sorta like your average newsgroup or chat room. It has begun.

Jpotts: Many of my current transactions are conducted by telephone using sensible precautions, and the Internet is just as easy and secure. Also I can conduct business at any hour of the day.

Ron_Hodges: I'm not so worried about transactions going across the 'Net as I am about information stored in databases that can be breached from the net.

The Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol protects transmissions fairly well. However, as the recent hacking of DOJ's web page by neo-Nazis demonstrates, security of the Web site and whatever lies behind it is critical. There will be a booming business in firewalls over the next several years!

Anytime you use a credit card, you're in a database somewhere. Hell, thanks to Christine Todd Whitman, NJ will SELL you the information in their driver's license registration database!

That's the kind of stuff that scares me.

Ruger: I have used the 'Net once to buy with my credit card. I was in a Netscape secure area -- and I still felt strange giving it out. I also hate it when they ask for personal information that they have no need for. I'm a fan of PGP encryption and think that you should be able to order and then call in your key word to be decrypted. You could also use the certified signature applications that are available.

Lennin: Not only are there many people who scam over the Internet for cash, but the trend towards buying online will just make our society more computerized. I wouldn't care if it is more convienient or not. My definition of shopping is: to leave your home to go to a commercialized center to exchange legal tender for goods and/or services. Has the theory of actually getting out of the house become old hat? I hope not.

Jackey: We all know there are dishonest waiters, service station attendants, and those who crawl through dumpsters at night looking for charge card carbons. But, I believe that there are a larger number of sophisticated crooks cruising Websites looking for credit card numbers than there are people as I have described. I'll never purchase anything on the 'Net using a credit card.

gerbil2: I think online transactions are a good thing, but unfortunately for me, there is one problem: I don't have a credit card! I wish there was some other way to buy things over the net besides using a credit card.

finanfree: Have any of you seen the movie "The Net"? I don't know how accurate the basis for that movie is, but it shows how much paper trail we leave. The main character didn't use the Internet, but all credit card purchases were on file anyway. I think it is just as safe (or not) to use cards on the 'Net as anywhere.

Now that you've read through the responses, add a few thoughts of your own.