Online Shopping is different from traditional 'cash and carry' shopping in that the money is usually paid well before the receipt of the goods purchased. This time lag allows the seller to keep the payment and not deliver the goods as promised. This is the most prevalent form of online shopping fraud. While it may be difficult to establish the trustworthiness of sellers, shoppers can minimise the incidence of fraud in a variety of ways:

• Using a secure payment method such as PayPal that insures purchases up to a certain amount, or using certain credit cards that insure online purchases. Using direct money transfers through Western Union for example would be considered risky as the seller can be untracable in the event of fraud.
• Using an escrow service (www.escrow.com), especially when making large payments. Escrow services add security to a transaction by being a third party that receives the payment from the buyer and not releasing it to the seller until delivery is made.
• 'Googling' (using the search engine Google.com) the seller using the business/seller's name to learn more. However, it takes a certain amount of search engine experience to employ this method.
• In the case of eBay and other sites where feedback exists, checking the feedback and comments made by previous customers helps. However, such feedback can be manipulated.

Fraud can also happen the other way round - that is to say, sellers can be defrauded by buyers. For example, fraudulent buyers can pay using a cheque or cashier's order that is rigged to bounce. As some sellers errorneously regard cheques and cashier's orders as cash equivalents, there is a tendency to deliver the goods while waiting for the cheque to clear, exposing themselves to the risk of a bounced cheque. A more advanced version of this fraud involves a deliberate overpayment using a cheque, such as the addition of another zero or the misplacement of a decimal point. For example, the buyer may write a cashier's order for $2000.00 instead of $200.00 by 'accident'. The buyer then informs the seller, seeking a refund of $1800. Unfortunately, there are a small percentage of sellers who will refund this $1800 overpayment while waiting for the cheque to clear.

Stolen credit card information can also be used to make purchases. By the time the credit card company approaches the seller for processing the fraudulent transaction, of which the seller bears the responsibility of ensuring the transaction is legitimate, the buyer would have already disappeared with the goods.