Want to do your holiday shopping online, but don't feel safe enough with entering your credit card or personal information over the internet? Here are some security tips for shopping online.

If your computer is infected with a virus or spyware, DO NOT shop online until you have gotten rid of the infection. Many virus, spyware, and malware programs are designed to record every keystroke you make on your computer. So even if you enter your personal or credit card information on the most secure website in the world, if your computer is compromised, so will your personal information. To verify that your computer is clean, you can run an online scan from Trend Micro or from AVG.

Always shop at companies that you've heard of. BarnesandNoble.com, ShopNBC.com, or JCPenney.com are all safe choices, while you might want to stay away from something like BobsDoDadShack.com. If you are uncomfortable with a site check for reviews, either on the site you're shopping on, on ratings sites like Yelp or Insider Pages, or with the Better Business Bureau. If you are not convinced that it is safe, look elsewhere, there are plenty of legitimate stores out there. 

Do not shop online with companies that are going out of business.  They are already in financial trouble and have a degree of protection that could leave you without a product or the money you paid for it. If you really feel that the only place you can get an item that you truly need, always pay with a credit card or a PayPal account tied to your credit card. Here is an example of what can go wrong when a lady put a deposit on a piece of furniture. The website looked good, but she never got her furniture or a refund when the company went out of business before delivering her table.  http://caveatemptorblog.com/2008/10/01/store-disappears-taking-customers-deposit-with-it/

Auction or deal sites can be a great place to get a bargain or find that unusual item. While auction sites like Ebay.com, Amazon.com and Craigslist.com are themselves secure, always check on the reputation of the seller. Check for a feedback rating on ebay, and look at the feedback history. A 97% positive rating can be good or bad: if the seller got negative or neutral feedback when they got started selling on ebay and have had positive feedback ever since, then they may've made mistakes and learned from them and improved to become a reputable seller. Or a seller has hit hard times and although he has had a longtime positive rating, has decided that he has to be dishonest. His feedback rating has slipped from 99.9% positive to 97% positive and he's counting on nobody looking at his history to see that the feedback within the last month has all been bad.  

Once you're comfortable with where to shop, then look at how you are going to pay for the item. I always recommend to pay by either a credit card or by a PayPal account. Never use a debit card online and NEVER give out your PIN number. A good practice would be to keep a credit card with a small limit, or to purchase a prepaid visa card just for online purchases. A small card will prevent large amounts from being spent in the event of fraud, and a prepaid card does not have any relationship with your bank account, thereby preventing any personal banking information being leaked. Be aware that prepaid cards do have fees associated with their use, and possible lack of use. Read all information on prepaid VISA cards before you use them. PayPal works a bit differently than a credit card. When you set up a PayPal account you enter your information (personal, checking account/credit card) onto their secure servers and they process the transaction on their secure site, using only email addresses for identification. For more information go to www.paypal.com

Be sure to print a copy of your receipt. This will help in the event of a dispute, if you need to ask a question about the sale, or for warranty issues. Be sure the receipt has the store name, address, and a customer support phone number as well as an order number or some other king of confirmation. I once ordered a toy car for a gift and was getting annoyed that it had not yet arrived. I picked up my printout to call and complain when I realized that the "receipt" that I had printed out had the word "SUBMIT" under the total. Having that printed out for my reference prevented me from making a you-know-what of myself, and instead I called and asked if I had an order pending. We got the order fixed over the phone and I got the gift in time to give the recipient.