Online shopping is extremely convenient, and this is true for any type of shopping – including clothing. Being able to shop from the comfort of your own home, avoiding traffic, is priceless. For some people, avoiding the crowds – and avoiding pushy sales people! – are priorities too.

When shopping for clothing, including evening dresses, another bonus is that you get to avoid those horrible fitting rooms, which always seem to have the most horrible lighting!

However, some people are worried about the safety of shopping online. Here are a couple of tips for safe online shopping:

1. Make sure the company you are dealing with is legitimate by checking their contact info and making sure it’s for real – a legitimate company will have a physical mailing address, and a phone number that works.

2. To protect your online credit card transaction and your identity, you need to make sure the site is secure. Some shady sites just copy and paste a security sign, but most major browsers will have a lock sign that tells you if the transaction itself is indeed encrypted. In addition, you should click on those security signs posted on merchant websites. If the site is legitimate, clicking will take you to the accreditation site, where you’ll be able to see that the site is indeed accredited and safe.

It’s fairly easy to spot legitimate businesses online and to tell the difference between them and illegitimate businesses. You just need to look for the signs.