4mo ago

2024 Guide to Safe Online Shopping

blog.thenewoil.org 2024 Guide to Safe Online Shopping

For many, this month is when gift-giving season officially begins in the United States (and several other places, I presume) thanks to Bl...

For many, this month is when gift-giving season officially begins in the United States (and several other places, I presume) thanks to Black Friday, which is quickly consuming most of November in many cases. As a result, even though online shopping is something most of us engage in year-round, now it’s particularly important to discuss how to safely shop online. Below is my now-annual updated online shopping tips, reflecting techniques and strategies I've picked up in the last year.

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if action = "Online shopping" then if paymentMethod = "crypto" then result = "Safe" else result = "Unsafe"
- Unless you use Monero, it's not private nor safe.
  
  Well there's more to it. For example, you can't create an account with your real name on the shopping website and then pay with Monero. You need good opsec. Though 99.9% of online shopping providers don't accept crypto in the first place.
- privacy is when there's a permanent public log of all your transactions
  
  Monero doesn't quite work this way.
  
  no but every other cryptocurrency does
  
  Yes, but even things like Bitcoin or Litecoin are much easier to use privately than bank cards. You can swap from Monero to them if Monero is not accepted, for example. You can buy them without KYC if you know where to look. With a bank card or something like Paypal, you'd need to use a "drop" (a random person to KYC your accounts) if you want anonymity, which is illegal so a normal person wouldn't risk it.
  That said, while I use crypto for digital purchases like domains, I would rather use cash for physical ones. Or gift cards if available (where I am, they're almost-nonexistent and the only ones I've seen can only be bought with another bank card).
  
  I think it's the other way around, mister/miss.
- While I do use crypto for digital purchases, for physical ones I would much rather pay cash. I either shop in-person or order delivery to the online store's physical office where cash can be paid, which is usually the only delivery method without extra cost anyway. Our big Amazon-like marketplaces only accept prepayment, but pretty much all others with a physical office accept payment on delivery.

13 comments