Credit Card on the Web

How many people know how to handle a merchant who is not fulfilling a service request and who had been paid via Credit Card? As a matter of fact, I was not very sure till I went thru some trouble.

The main point to be kept in mind is, once you authorize a credit card transaction, your bank, will not reverse it. So if you buy something on the web and pay via credit card, once you click that order button, the money is out of your card. If the merchant does not send you the product ordered, your bank will not reverse the card charge (and hold it from your merchant). It is for you to talk with the merchant and either get the charge reversed or get the product delivered. Or you can file a case against the merchant and take the legal route.

It become even more complex when buying online as if you are using any of the smaller sites, you most probably have only an email id to track and what happens if you do not get any replies for your emails?

You will actually have to pay your bank and try and take legal action. I did go thru something similar, but the merchant I had bought from used ccavenue, a credit card processing agency to accept CC payments. So I got in touch with them and they in turn talked to the merchant and resolved the issue. But still, this is an area that is a cause for concern for me and this is the first time I have had a problem shopping online.

But I am going to be more cautious from now on when I do online purchases. So should you be...