Why look for trustmarks?
What do you look out for when buying something online? How can you be sure an e-retailer will respect your privacy? Are they reliable and will your purchase actually be shipped?
We know these are the last things you want to worry about when you’re enjoying an online shopping spree. This is why we certify e-retailers, so you can do what you love most: carefree online shopping.
Staying safe while shopping online is very important. Fraudulent e-retailers can take off with your money, sure, but what’s even worse: they can take all your personal details too! There are several ways of checking whether you’re dealing with a good apple. This includes looking for trustmarks for e-retailers, but did you know there are some major differences between the various online trustmarks?
Not all trustmarks are “to be trusted”
More than three-quarters of consumers believe that trustmarks for e-retailers are audited (83%), that they are audited by an independent body (78%) and that they are issued by industry bodies (74%). However, this is certainly not the case when it comes to trustmarks for e-retailers. Apart from the Dutch Thuiswinkel Waarborg and the international Shopping Secure label, there is no single trustmark for e-retailers that meets these consumer expectations. Some trustmarks can simply be purchased without requiring a single check of the website in question.
Shopping Secure: safe online shopping
Shopping Secure is cut from a different cloth: not just
anyone can become a member of Thuiswinkel.org and Shopping Secure. Shopping Secure stands for safe and secure online shopping, so we require our members to comply with all relevant rules and regulations. That’s why our members have to undergo a strict certification process and are recertified every year.
The certification process consists of three parts:
- a legal review
- financial monitoring
- a security scan.
In addition, our terms and conditions are aligned with those of the Dutch Consumers' Association and we have an independent arbitration committee and provide mediation services for consumers and online retailers.