Tip 7 in an occasional series. Keep visiting regularly for more Online Shopping Safety Tips.

Some sites are verified by reputable third parties like VeriSign or Guardian eCommerce.

Naturally such certifications can be faked, and if a site’s owners are intent on stealing your credit card details then it’s unlikely they’ll be struck by their moral conscience when pretending to be certified when they are not.

While certification like this should not be viewed as the acid test (some very reputable companies are not certified, while some fly-by-night organizations will be), it can be used as one of the indicators by which you judge a site’s authenticity.