For cautious shopping online (safedoor.co.uk)

Member Name: SimonT

Product:	safedoor.co.uk
Date:	04/12/01 (86 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Extra safeguard for online transactions

Disadvantages: Not many shops accepting SafeDoor payments

Although I have been a victim of fraudulent use of my credit cards amounting to about £1000, I'm not too worried about giving my credit card number to online shopping sites. As safedoor.co.uk was offering £5 off the first order, I decided to sign up and try out this new venture.

SafeDoor basically acts as an online payment agent to pay your online shopping in the UK. The idea is you only need to register your credit/debit card with them so you can go shopping online and pay with the SafeDoor account. The service is free and SafeDoor only charges the actual cost you pay on the shopping site. Why bother, one may ask. SafeDoor does offer extra safeguard for online shoppers. First of all, it is run by Securicor, a blue chip company specialised in security matters. They claim that all personal details and credit card numbers are strongly encrypted and securely stored in their servers which are physically locked in steel cage, even their staff do not have access to them. Secondly, no credit card numbers will be revealed to any online shops. Thirdly, in case of any fraudulent use of your SafeDoor account, SafeDoor would refund any money which is not covered by your bank or credit card company.

The online registration on safedoor.co.uk site is quite straight forward. Only essential personal information is required, namely your login name, password, full name, home address, e-mail address, credit card details and five security questions, e.g., where were you born? When logging in your account, you will be asked one of these security questions in addition to the password as added security measure. As soon as your credit/debit card has been verified on registration, your SafeDoor account is opened and ready for use. There is no need to make a deposit or top up the account.

I went straight to an online shop to place my first order. On the checkout page I was offered the option to pay by SafeDoor. At this point I didn't need to fill in my name
and address; having clicked the SafeDoor button, I was transferred to safedoor.co.uk site. After I had logged in, the order appeared on my SafeDoor account with delivery charge as charged by the online shop. SafeDoor would pass on my name and address for delivery. If you don't want the online shop to know your name and address, you may use SafeDoor's own delivery service called SafeDoor Shielded Delivery at extra cost. The payment process went very smoothly and I was able to track my order on my SafeDoor account.

However, there are mostly little-known online retailers which accept payments via SafeDoor. To be honest, if big e-businesses such as Amazon.co.uk do not accept SafeDoor, having a SafeDoor account is like holding Monopoly's paper money! On balance, I would recommend SafeDoor to cautious shoppers who are not comfortable at giving their credit/debit card numbers to online shopping sites. Please note that SafeDoor is available to UK residents only.

E&OE

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