As most consumers’ online shopping habits reflect, e-commerce retail sales have experienced steady growth in the United States over the past quarter-century. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, online purchases accounted for more than 16% of total retail sales nationwide in the first quarter of 2025.
This increase in e-commerce means that safe ways to pay online and other cybersecurity tactics have become trending topics for internet shoppers in every corner of the country. And, with e-commerce fraud predicted to grow substantially in the coming years, knowing how to pay online becomes more important every day.
In this article, we’ll spotlight the most secure online payment systems for e-commerce transactions — and let you know which to avoid. The safest online payment methods for consumers to use when buying products or services on the internet include digital wallets, credit cards, and gift cards.
3 Safe Online Payment Methods
Online transactions using digital wallets, credit cards, and gift cards are generally considered safe. Here’s why each of these online payment systems is considered secure:
1. Digital Wallets
Apple Pay, Google Pay, and other digital wallets are widely considered to be the safest online payment system for consumers to use. These software applications store credit and debit card payment information directly on users’ smartphones, tablets, or other electronic devices, making it easy to pay for online purchases, often with the click of a button. Digital wallets provide the anti-fraud protections credit cards offer, plus:
- Tokenization, which replaces a user’s actual credit card number with an encrypted “token” that’s unique to each transaction. The user’s actual credit card information is never actually shared with merchants, and even if intercepted by cybercriminals, the token can’t be used to make additional purchases.
- Biometric authentication, which uses personal identifiers such as fingerprint ID or facial recognition to prevent unauthorized use of a consumer’s credit card.
2. Credit Cards
Credit cards are another of the safest payment methods to use when buying online. Held by more than 80% of American consumers, credit cards offer a range of inherent features to protect users.
- Encryption makes it harder for criminals to intercept a user’s credit card information during online transactions.
- Fraud protection, provided by credit card issuers, protects consumers from liability for unauthorized charges.
- Federal laws limit a cardholder’s responsibility for fraudulent charges to a maximum of $50.
3. Gift Cards
Consumers who use gift cards to pay online effectively limit the amount of money they could lose if a criminal were to steal their card numbers. This is especially true for gift cards with low available balances.
3 Online Payment Methods To Avoid
In most cases, it’s best to avoid using debit cards, bank transfers, or third-party payment apps to pay for e-commerce transactions. Here’s a deeper dive into why each of these payment options is discouraged:
1. Debit Cards
Debit cards offer checking account holders easy access to funds at ATM machines and a simple, convenient payment option for in-person transactions. They often give consumers the ability to get fee-free cash back when making purchases in some physical stores.
But using debit cards is typically discouraged for online transactions. Criminals who steal a user’s debit card numbers gain direct access to any connected bank accounts. In addition, debit cards typically lack the fraud protections and limited liability of credit cards.
2. Bank Transfers
Sending funds via bank transfer is not recommended for internet-based purchases. Bank transfers don’t come with the fraud protections offered by other, safer ways to pay online, such as credit cards and digital wallets. They also don’t give consumers the chargeback rights inherent with credit and debit cards, which allow account holders to dispute unauthorized transactions, billing inaccuracies, and fraudulent charges. In most cases, recipients of bank transfers should be limited to individuals or businesses you know and trust.
3. Third-Party Payment Apps
Using digital peer-to-peer payment applications such as Venmo and Cash App is discouraged for funding online purchases, as they can be risky to use with strangers. These apps should typically be reserved for sending funds to friends, relatives, and other familiar personal contacts. Consumers should never use them to pay for products or services from strangers until the goods are delivered or the work is complete.
At The Southern Bank, we pride ourselves on offering friendly, personalized service to all of our customers, including giving guidance when you have questions about any of our banking services. To learn more about our personal banking services — including mortgages, personal checking and loans, savings and money market, certificates of deposit (CDs), and more — check out the Personal Banking page on our website, or visit one of our local branches for friendly, in-person service with a smile.