Clearing Up Some Common Misconceptions About Purchasing Online With A Credit Card

What about swiping at the store? Does it make a difference in the type of swipe? The online CVV or CVC Verification Codes Purpose.

As for the POS machines that do allow the customer to swipe and not the store clerk, they also send and receive information behind firewalls just as if you were buying from home. The transaction information is stored on a server just as it would be if you were buying this item from home via the internet. It is no different in terms of firewalls and hacking. The information is still sent over a network when using your credit card at the store and the information will still be stored on a server.

Now how does your transaction information get sent twice when buying at the store?

When the swipe is made the transaction is OK'd however....the money is not yet sent to the acquiring bank (the stores bank). The transaction is just "OK'd" at this point. Later the sales clerk (at the end of his shift, or the end of the cashiers shift) will again compare the transactions against the over-all totals for that cash register. Now a second request is made from the store to the issuing bank. The issuing bank (your credit cards bank) sends the money to the acquiring bank (store bank). That is actually TWO routes your data takes from the store alone. If you bought online at home it would be that much less traffic with your information.

So in essence when buy using a credit card at the store your credit card transaction information is actually sent twice. If you were buying from home it would be only a single request coming from your computer. Then your part is finished. Less traffic with your data means less chance it will be intercepted.

Buying at the store leaves a paper trail.

when using a credit card at a store a "paper-trail" is created. At least two copies of the transaction are released on hard copy. Using your credit card at home there is none (unless of coarse you choose to print one but again that is only one copy compared to the store printing out a total of two).

Would you rather loose your credit card in your house or some other place?

I hope this helps. I'll admit nine years ago when I first started purchasing items online I was skeptical and some what timid about it. Since then there have been enormous efforts put forth to preserve your informations safety when buying online. I have both processed as well as ordered online lavishly (especially in the past five years). I cannot tell you how many but in the past few years it has been so many I could not even begin to give you an approximation. I can honestly say we have never to this day had an incident. It is my opinion you are very safe if you follow common sense in handling your credit card while out shopping at the store and it is also my opinion that you're quite safe in purchasing using your credit and/or debit card when buying online. For additional safety make sure you are purchasing from a reliable merchant in either situation.

Ian Billen, with ValleyPurchases.com

Hi folk's I'm Ian Billen. I 've written this article in order to bring some major points to light about safety when buying online vs. safety when using a credit card at an actual physical "brick and mortar" location. This article is not meant to discourage purchasing items at the physical store itself but is meant to clear up some common misconceptions about the safety of online purchasing.

Ian Billen is a Computer Service Technician, Server Technician, and Data Restore Specialist. Ian is from Girard, Ohio in the Untited States. He holds many IT (information technology) top level Certifications such as MCSA, ACHDS, A+, Network+, Server+, i-Net+, CIW Ass., and MCP. He is both PC and Macintosh Certified. In addition Ian is TCP/IP Certified with Expert Rating. He is also a Certified Technical Trainer and has successfully taught Microsoft and Comptia Certification among several other computer related courses for a living. He also runs two e-commerce businesses. One of which is webfreight.org. A remote (as well as local) data backup and data restore organization.