We’ve now placed 130 orders on UK retail sites for our next Online Retail Delivery Report.
One thing I’ve noticed this year is an increase in the number of retailers that saved our credit card details without asking – ie when we went back to the site, our payment details were already filled in. 14 of the retail sites we bought from gave us no option - our card details were saved whether we liked it or not and there was no opt-out.
I absolutely detest this. Don’t get me wrong – I completely understand the benefits for the customer. I dearly love the fact that I can place my fortnightly orders on Amazon without having to dig around for my credit card and type in the details every time. But do I want my precious card details to be automatically saved by every website that I ever buy from? No.
Another 12 sites allowed me to opt out of having my details saved – I had to untick a box or tick to say no thanks - but at least they gave me the choice. Best of all were the 9 sites that gave me the chance to opt in to having my card details saved.
Of course there are other questions around this. Are these 14 retailers doing ‘one-click’ shopping, whereby anyone that knows my e-mail address and password can now buy stuff without confirming any payment details at all? Or do they ask for the CV2 number as a confirmation, like Sainsbury’s does? Do I have to log-out from the site when I finish a visitor session or does this happen automatically? Will they change my delivery address without reconfirming payment? Amazon doesn’t - if I want my stuff sent somewhere different, then I have to get my card out to confirm.
I’d be very interested to know what other people think about this.
One comment
Very very bad to save details without permission. I don’t want my details saved, just because I have bought somewhere. I want to keep control over my cards, and this takes it away.
Now I like the Amazon way – not the 1-click ( I hate that ), but the fact that I don’t need to get my card out again to buy. It does make them billions, because it eases the process of buying. But I want this to be my choice, based on whether I will ever return to the site again.