What is the Safest Payment Method for Purchasing Products Online?

When you purchase any product online which payment method do you use? I know most first use Debit Card or Credit Card because it is one simplest method to do the Online transaction. Yes, it is the easiest option but also a dangerous method.

If you use your plastic card for online purchase, there will always be high risk because you’re sharing full card detail with the shopping sites such as Card Number, Expiry Date, CVV Pin, etc. It is enough information to empty your bank account. So always be careful if doing the transaction using your Debit Card & Credit Card.

How to safely purchase products online

We buy the products online due to highly discounted price, But we don’t always check that the site is secure or not for submitting card data. If we do not care, then we may have to face dire consequences. Therefore I had also written about how you can do a safe Banking transaction online? It can help you to identify site security and keep safe your online purchase.

Safest Payment Method for Making Payment Online

We have listed all the option with that you can safely do online shopping without losing your money:

#1. COD (Cash On Delivery)

The COD (Cash On Delivery) Payment method is 110% secure because of you’ll not need to provide any information including Bank Information or Card detail. You’ll only need to give your office or resident address where you want to receive the ordered item delivery.

When you receive the purchased product then give the money to the delivery man, and you have safely done online purchase.

#2. UPI (Unified Payment Interface)

UPI full form is Unified Payment Interface, It is a digital payment system that allows users to send money between two bank accounts by using UPI application. It doesn’t matter both sender or receiver accounts are in the same bank or different banks.

It is one most secure method to transfer money because you don’t need to share your Debit or Credit Card Detail, Bank detail to anyone, and also the money can’t be moved to others account without your authenticity.

When you use any UPI app (It may be your Bank provided (eg. ICICI iMobile, HDFC Bank MobileBanking), or third-party UPI app (BHIM, Google Pay, PayTM) your mobile number is your UPI address or VPA (Virtual Private Address). Such as I’m using BHIM to sending or receiving money then until I’m not creating custom UPI VPA, my mobile number is my UPI address for BHIM app: 9018XXXXXX@upi, Once you create name-based UPI address then it would be like this: pramodk.545@UPI.

For purchasing any product when you select UPI for payment, then you’ll need to enter your VPA (Virtual Private Address) and after that hit the Make Payment button.

Now a notification message will appear in the notification bar, as you tap on the message you’ll need to login and accept the payment, and only after that, the transaction will be authenticated.

So we can say the UPI based transaction is 100% secure if we compare it to other options.

Please note:

• All the banks offer custom name based VPA or UPI addresses to their customers eg: pramod.1574@icici, but before using any custom VPA, you’ll need to setup this into the Banking app.
• The UPI based Payment System may not be available in all the countries. If it is, then you are so lucky.

#3. PayPal & Payoneer

PayPal or Payoneer, both companies provide International Money Transfers Service quickly & securely but you’ll be charged some money as a conversational charge, but you’ll not see what they have charged because all charges will be included in the when making currency conversation. And when we compare PayPal or Payoneer then PayPal is a bit better option because mostly online store support PayPal.

It is most popular ways to make online International Purchases because PayPal is not only for sending money, it also allows users to get fund from other countries into your local bank account. If you are a professional or freelancer or business owner, these twos can enable you to do online business without having an International account. So you can quickly deal your International clients or customers to getting paid without any hassle.

Read: How to Signup PayPal For Free Individual Account.

For doing purchase using PayPal, you’ll need to have an International Debit or Credit Card. Means the International transaction service must be activated on your card. The card information will be authenticated into PayPal account then after you can safely make online purchases and you don’t need to share your card information with online shop because all the transaction will be done at PayPal Payment gateway. So the operation always remains safe and along with the security you’ll get 180 days refund policy, means if you get defected product or the purchase doesn’t meat your requirement then you can get the full refund of purchased Product (T&C apply).

#4. Payment Wallet

The third most secure option is Payment Wallet, today majority of sites accepts payment via Payment Wallet when transacting also check the option because you’ll not need to share your Banking detail if you choose Payment Wallet as the Payment option.

#5. Net Banking

Net Banking is another security solution because when you decided the payment via Internet Banking, then the amount will be done via your Banking Portal, where you’ll need to login into your Internet Banking account and authorize the payment. Which means you’ll not need to share your Banking detail on the merchant site.

#6. Wire Transfer, NEFT, IMPS or RTGS Payment

Some merchants also accept payment via Wire Transfer, NEFT, IMPS or RTGS, for this Merchant will provide you an account number in which you’ll need to transfer fund, and after transferring you can share the transaction id, so the payment is also a secure option when you can’t use above options.

#7. Debit Card & Credit Card

Lastly, we only have Debit Card or Credit Card based payment method, it is widely used payment system if your card is based on Visa, Master Card, American Express, Discover, etc. Then you can globally use for purchasing any product online. The Debit Card & Credit Card payment method can be secured if the card issuer bank or company provides 3d Secure PIN Service. The 3D Secure PIN works as dual factor security & after enabling the service if you buy any product, when you enter the Card credential then if the merchant follows the bank rules the payment windows will be redirected to Bank 3d secure PIN page where you’ll need to enter your 3d secure password then after the Payment will be verified.

It may not work at all times because if you do the International transaction, the 3d secure pin will be bypassed and the transaction will be done without the security. Hence, I will recommend, if you can’t use above mentioned method then enable daily spend limit on your card. So if something terrible happened to you, then you’ll lose minimum. Along with this always use your card on the genuine E-commerce store, eg: Amazon, etc.

Also See: 

• 10 Debit Card Safety Tips.
• How to Secure an Android Smartphone?

Final Verdict:

We buy the product online because of the item available online at a higher discounted price. So we first search online for best price. But we need to take some precautions while shopping online or else sometimes it may have to face a lot of losses. BTW, we have already written a guide on this how to do safe banking transaction online. This guide will help you to do a purchase online without losing your money safely.

There is also some other alternative payment option available such as Bitcoin, but we don’t include the option because nobody knows when the payment system stop working. And too many counties have the different online payment system, so you’ll need to identify yourself which one is the safest option in your country. Let me know! Which online payment system you prefer for purchasing product online.