Just like pickpockets heading for busy shopping malls during the holiday season, online fraudsters are gearing up for the massive increase in consumer online shopping.“One in 10 holiday shoppers can expect some form of Spyware, Adware, or other Internet attack as they conduct transactions on the web,” said Michael Greene, Vice President for Product Strategy at PC Tools Limited, who added dangerous spyware and rootkits are on the rise.

“Many consumers are simply not aware that surfing the web can cause problems leading to identity theft or computer lock up,” Greene said. He explained that holiday shopping is the perfect scenario for hackers who use spyware and keyloggers and phishing techniques to cull passwords and sensitive information from users.

Greene advises shoppers to use caution when going to new Internet sites to make purchases. Consumers should look for labels indicating transactions are protected. He also said users should make purchases from trusted providers. Shoppers should also never provide personal information in response to an email request.

Click to read the full article: One in 10 holiday shoppers will face fraudulent Internet attacks this year

We’re excited to annouce that you can now easily browse and search over 12 million products directly from shopestores.com. Simply use our search box located at the top of the site and select “Products” from the drop down menu. This is a great way to do price comparison shopping as well if you know exactly what you are looking for.

As a reminder, you can also use our search box to browse merchants (our default setting) and coupons. It’s just one more way we are helping you save time and money when shopping online. Enjoy!

We just added complete product catalogs for the following merchants. This allows you to easily shop each store without ever leaving shopestores.com. Enjoy!

• United Shades
• 4 All Memory
• Acme Hardware
• Active K9
• Apple
• Back Country
• Betty Mills
• Blades Board & Skate
• Boscov’s
• Brook’s Brothers
• Buying Bar Stools
• Camera World
• Chef’s
• Chinaberry
• Circuit City
• Click Inks
• Coffee For Less
• Collectibles Today
• CompUSA
• Crucial Technology
• Deal Yard
• Designer Linens Outlet
• Directly Home
• Discovery Store
• Duncraft
• Emitations
• Fans Edge
• First Street
• Fraction Price
• Gateway
• Gemologica
• Gift Shopping Zone
• Home Decorators Collection
• iRobot
• Jillery.com
• Magazines.com
• MagsForLess
• Mitchell & Ness
• Mountains Plus
• Music Import

We’ve just added special online catalogs and product datafeeds for the following merchants. Now, you can shop even faster for your favorite items while saying on shopestores.com. Watch for more stores to be added to this list soon. Enjoy!

• AC Lens
• All Things Trendy
• Batteries.com
• Bent Gear
• Botonic Choice
• Boutique Oohlala
• Brushstrokes Fine Art
• Cats Play
• Closeout.com
• Crazy For Bargains
• Everything Office Furniture
• Fantasy Jewelry Box
• GoToBaby.com
• Personalization Mall
• Playful Plush Toys
• Restock It
• Simple Shoes
• Teva
• The Village Hat Shop
• UGG Australia

With Halloween only 17 days away, we wanted to remind you to check out our Halloween Deal Shop packed with tons of great offers from estores like Target, The Children’s Place, Better Homes, Walter Drake, Old Navy, K-Mart, Hammacher Schlemmer, Coastal Contacts, Wal-mart and more! Plus, don’t miss specials from the merchants that known Halloween best like Fright Catalog, Half Priced Costumes, Buy Costumes and more.

We’re adding Halloween coupons and deals right through the 31st as we get ready to move right on to Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Remember, before you shop online this holiday season, shopestores.com!

A new website was launched that offers even more helpful tricks and tips to ensure your security while shopping online.

SafeShopping.org, created by the American Bar Association, will help you order safely when shopping online. The site offers information on a varity of topics including Security, Privacy, Payment, Seller information, legal terms, delivery expecations, complaint management and more. It also has a shopping tip list that is reprinted below for your convienence. Take some time and browse the site for a ton of helpful information!

Here’s a list of tips you should consult when shopping online. Print this page and keep it in a handy place so it will be easy to review before you order.

1. Trust your instincts. If you don’t feel comfortable buying or bidding on an item over the web, or if you feel pressured to place your order immediately, maybe you shouldn’t.
2. Be knowledgeable about web-based auctions. Take special care to familiarize yourself not only with the rules and policies of the auction site itself but with the legal terms (warranties, refund policy, etc.) of the seller’s items that you wish to bid on.
3. Double check pricing. Be suspicious of prices that are too good to be true. Also consider carefully whether you may be paying too much for an item, particularly if you’re bidding through an auction site. You may want to comparison shop, online or offline, before you buy. Make sure there are not extra shipping or handling costs.
4. Find and read the privacy policy. Read the privacy policy carefully to find out what information the seller is gathering from you, how the information will be used, and how you can stop the process. If a site does not have a privacy policy posted, you may not want to do business with it. If it does have a privacy policy, there will probably be a link to it from the seller’s home page, or it could be included with the Legal Terms.
5. Review the return, refund, and shipping and handling policies as well as the other legal terms . If you can’t find them, ask the seller through an e-mail or telephone call to indicate where they are on the site or to provide them to you in writing. See Legal Terms.
6. Make sure the Internet connection is secure. Before you give your payment information, check for indicators that security software is in place. See Security.
7. Use the safest way to pay on the Internet. Pay for your order using a credit card. See Payment.
8. Print the terms. You should print out and date a copy of terms, conditions, warranties, item description, company information, even confirming e-mails, and save them with your records of your purchase. See Recordkeeping.
9. Insure the safe delivery of your item. If you’re concerned you may not be home when your package is delivered and that someone may take it if it is left on the doorstep, ask whether you can specify that the shipper must receive a signature before leaving the package. Or, it may be safer to have the package delivered to your office. See Delivery.
10. Inspect your purchase. Look at your purchase carefully as soon as you receive it. Contact the seller as soon as possible if you discover a problem with it. Tell the seller in writing about any problems you have, ask for a repair or refund, and keep a copy of your correspondence. See Legal Terms.

As our site continues to grow, we are determined to make sure that our category and sub-category navigation remains effective. Our “Flowers & Gifts” category has exploded with over 65 stores crammed into one “Gifts” sub-category. So we recently took some time to add a number of sub-categories so that you can quickly browse what you are looking for. Take some time to browse these and discover some great new stores to shop at!

• As-Seen-On-TV
• Balloons
• Business & Corporate
• Candles
• Cards & Stationery
• Cigars
• Clubs & Subscriptions
• Collectibles
• Flowers
• Food & Wine
• Gift Certificates
• Home & Garden
• Imports
• Inspirational
• Misc. Gifts
• Novilty
• Party Supplies
• Romantic

The FTC has some great information about keeping your information safe while shopping online. Here are a few highlights:

• Use a secure browser. This is the software you use to navigate the Internet. Your browser should comply with industry security standards, such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). These standards scramble the purchase information you send over the Internet, helping to secure your transaction. Most computers come with a browser installed. You also can download some browsers for free over the Internet. To tell you are on a secure page, look for both the “https” (”s” = secure) in the website URL as well as the lock icon in the bottom right of your screen.
• Shop with companies you know. Anyone can set up shop online under almost any name. If you’re not familiar with a merchant, ask for a paper catalog or brochure to get a better idea of their merchandise and services. Also, determine the company’s refund and return policies before you place your order. These should be posted on the company’s Web site. (Note: Every merchant on shopestores.com is tested to ensure that any store we parter with conforms to industry security standards.)
• Keep your password(s) private. Be creative when you establish a password, and never give it to anyone. Avoid using a telephone number, birth date or a portion of your Social Security number. Instead, use a combination of numbers, letters and symbols.
• Pay by credit or charge card. If you pay by credit or charge card online, your transaction will be protected by the Fair Credit Billing Act. Under this law, you have the right to dispute charges under certain circumstances and temporarily withhold payment while the creditor is investigating them. In the event of unauthorized use of your credit or charge card, you generally would be held liable only for the first $50 in charges. Some companies offer an online shopping guarantee that ensures you will not be held responsible for any unauthorized charges made online, and some cards may provide additional warranty, return and/or purchase protection benefits.
• Keep a record. Be sure to print a copy of your purchase order and confirmation number for your records. Also, you should know that the Mail and Telephone Order Merchandise Rule covers online orders. This means that unless the company states otherwise, your merchandise must be delivered within 30 days; and if there are delays, the company must notify you.
• Pay your bills online. Some companies let you pay bills and check your account status online. Before you sign up for any service, evaluate how the company secures your financial and personal information. Many companies explain their security procedures on their Web site. If you don’t see a security description, call or email the company and ask.

To access more information on secure shopping from the Federal Trade Commission, go to http://www.ftc.gov/onlineshopping.  

shopestores.com just passed the 1,250 mark for merchants added as we continue our qwest to become the largest coupon shopping directory online. We are pleased to be partnering with the following high quality new merchants, all added within the last 60 days:

• Classmates.com
• Columbia House
• Day Timer
• Finish Line
• Foot Locker
• Gap
• GNC
• iTunes
• Jamster
• Jarden Direct
• Journey’s
• K-Mart
• Kodak
• Lancome Paris
• Lenox
• Montgomery Ward
• Musician’s Friend
• NBC Universal Store
• Old Navy 
• Orvis
• ProStores (an ebay company)
• T-Mobile

And that’s just a small sampling of what’s been recently added here at shopestores.com. In fact, over 128 merchants have joined shopestores.com in the past 60 days. You can view them all here. New merchants are added every week so keep checking the site for the latest offers from the best online retailers.

shopestores.com now gives registered members the ability to add their choice of merchants to their account and then receive email updates whenever new coupons and offers are added for the selected stores. It’s the easiest and quickest way to save at your favorite stores. You can change your email notification frequency at any time by simply logging into your account. You can choose to receive a Weekly Summery that lists your coupons and offers added within the past seven days, or you can choose to receive Instant Notifications as soon as offers are added.You will only be notified when new coupons and offers are added for the stores that YOU choose. We do not use this list to market to you in any additional ways.To get started, simply click here to register a new account.

To get started, simply to register a new account.View a screen shot that shows where you can now add merchants to your Coupon Finder account.