First time venturing onto the Web to shop? Not familiar with a particular “e-tailer”? How do you know which Web site will actually deliver the products you order, have quality merchandise, safeguard your personal information or have a fair return policy?
A number of watchdog services have popped up on the Internet to guide shoppers by giving seals of approvals or ratings. But how do you know which of these to trust?
These monitoring programs vary significantly. Some review only Web companies’ privacy policies. Others review everything from the Web design to delivery costs.
Although some consumer advocates applaud the watchdog programs as a good first step, others say the programs are no substitute for stricter government oversight of the Internet or comprehensive national privacy regulations.
“It’s not a sure-fire way to find a good company,” said Holly Anderson, a spokeswoman for the National Consumers League.
But with Internet retail sales expected to reach $44.8 billion in 2000, more than double last year’s sales, and Internet-related complaints continuing to rise, it is a crucial time for e-tailers to build trust with shoppers.
In 1999, the Federal Trade Commission received 20,819 Internet-related complaints. Since January, the agency has already received almost 16,000, accounting for 30 percent of all complaints filed with the agency. The complaints range from failure to receive products to reports of defective merchandise.
Last year, several major e-tailers failed to deliver holiday orders to thousands of customers in time for Christmas. The trade commission fined seven companies, including ToysRUs.com, KBkids.com, Macys.com and CDnow.Inc., more than $1.5 million for making unattainable shipping promises.
About 50 percent of consumers who have had a negative experience shopping online will not shop on the Internet again, according to Seema Williams, senior analyst for Forrester Research Inc., a Boston-based Internet research group.
To promote consumer confidence, many Web sites have turned to monitoring programs and agreed to follow what the watchdogs consider consumer-friendly policies and practices.
But consumers have to do their own investigating before trusting a seal or rating service, advocates say. The watchdog programs require different practices and policies of Web companies, and they vary in what actions they take if a company fails to follow the policies. Some critics charge that the watchdog programs aren’t aggressive enough in revoking membership or seals of approval when companies violate the policies and customers file complaints.
One watchdog group requires consumers to pay for access to Web ratings. The rest, however, charge companies.
All provide some type of mediation to deal with consumer complaints.
Before trusting a seal or review, online shoppers should also make sure the site really does participate in the program. Watchdog groups say fraudulent use of their seals or ratings is a significant problem. Cybershoppers can verify a seal by clicking on it. It should link directly to the monitoring group’s Web site. Or, a small tag might pop up after clicking on the seal that will confirm the company’s participation in the program. Shoppers should also visit the Web site of a company that claims to have a rating by a monitoring group to verify that it is listed.
Even if a site has a seal or rating, shoppers should make sure the Web site lists an address and a phone number. They should also read the company’s privacy and return policies, review delivery charges and check to see if it is using secure encryption programs for transactions. If it is secure, a small lock icon will appear on the shopper’s screen.
And advocates say just because a company doesn’t participate in a program doesn’t mean you shouldn’t shop at the site. Amazon.com, for example, is not a member of any of the programs. “There are plenty of good companies out there that aren’t willing to pay to belong to some of these programs,” said Anderson.
Here is an overview of some watchdog programs:
– The Better Business Bureau (www.bbbonline.org/) runs one of the more popular watchdog programs. The 88-year-old organization offers two seals to online businesses: a reliability seal and a privacy seal.
To obtain the reliability seal, the companies must join a local chapter of the Better Business Bureau in the town or city where they are based and be in business for a year. The BBB reviews all the Web sites to make sure the companies can substantiate any claims they make online. A BBB investigator visits the company’s headquarters to check on the company’s legitimacy. The company must also agree to participate in mediation and arbitration programs administered by the BBB if consumers have unresolved complaints and will strip a company of a seal if it has numerous unresolved complaints filed against it. For its privacy seal, the organization requires that companies tell consumers what they will do with their information and what options they have. The BBB also issues a separate children’s privacy seal.
– Consumer Reports (www.consumerreports.org), a division of Consumers Union, has recently started a Web-monitoring program. It differs from the BBB and the other monitoring programs in that companies do not pay Consumer Reports to get a rating. Consumers pay a $24 yearly subscriber fee to access the ratings. The fee includes a yearlong subscription to Consumer Reports magazine and online access to all previous product reviews that the magazine has published.
Investigators at Consumer Reports choose a site to rate based on which companies are getting the most hits and which products sell most frequently over the Internet. They then browse a site electronically and purchase a few products to check quality and delivery.
– TRUSTe (www.truste.org), which gives seals of approval, deals strictly with privacy issues. The non-profit company, which is partially subsidized by AOL and Microsoft, among others, charges businesses for use of its seal. To get the seal, the company must tell customers what it will do with their personal information and what options the customer has regarding how the information is used.
– WebAssured (www.webassured.com), based in Indianapolis provides a seal of approval and a dispute-resolution service. The resolution service offers a money-back guarantee of up to $200 for customers who have unresolved complaints against member companies. The guarantee is underwritten by Lloyds of London.
– The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (www.aicpa.org/index.htm) also gives out seals through its WebTrust program. To get the seal, the company pays an accountant to audit the Web site and make sure it follows best practices and policies.
– WebWatchdog (www.webwatchdog.com) rates companies by surveying consumers after they’ve completed a transaction at a site. Netcheck (www.netcheck.com), an Orlando-based company, tells consumers if a member e-tailer has any unresolved complaints. Web retailers can be listed with Netcheck for an annual fee of $195.
Companies must respond to a complaint filed by a customer within 20 days. Netcheck will mediate disputes between customers and companies.
– Gomez.com (www.gomez.com) offers certification seals and rankings to leading e-tailers. Its emphasis is on online banks, brokerage and insurance sites, but it also provides consumers with reviews of a variety of retail sites.
