Black Friday Online Shopping Safety: Checklist Before You Pay
Check the seller, payment method, device, and return terms before you pay for Black Friday deals online.
Safe Black Friday online shopping means verifying the seller, using a protected payment method, securing your device, and reading return terms before you pay. Apply this checklist to every unfamiliar store, marketplace seller, and ad that links to checkout. Shopping scams were the most-reported social-media scam in 2025, according to the FTC.
The agency reports nearly 30% of fraud-loss reports started on social media, with $2.1 billion lost, and over 40% came from ordering advertised goods, as detailed in FTC's April 2026 social-media scams data.
Verification note: Program terms and availability can change. This page was checked against linked sources on November 05, 2026.
How do you vet an unfamiliar seller?
Search the seller name and website address plus review, complaint, or scam before you buy. The FTC recommends this check for unfamiliar sellers, as explained in FTC's December 2023 holiday shopping alert. Treat unusually low prices in social-media ads as a warning sign.
Non-payment and non-delivery scams caused over $785 million in losses from 49,572 complaints in 2024, according to the FBI. Holiday shoppers who pay but receive nothing fall into this group.
- Search the seller name plus review, complaint, or scam
- Search the site URL plus review, complaint, or scam
- Pause on super-low prices for well-known brands in social-media ads
Which payment method gives you recourse?
Pay by credit card when possible, according to the FTC. Federal protections let buyers dispute charges for items never received, billed twice, or wrong or damaged, generally in writing within 60 days of the first statement showing the error, as described in FTC's guidance on billing errors. Do not buy from sellers that insist on only gift cards, wire transfers through Western Union or MoneyGram, payment apps, or cryptocurrency.
The FTC says only scammers demand those methods. The FBI also warns never to wire money directly to a seller and never to pay with prepaid gift-card numbers or PINs, since recovery is unlikely. Contact your bank immediately and report the incident to ic3.gov if you paid.
- Gift cards
- Wire transfers
- Payment apps when required as the only option
- Cryptocurrency
Is your phone or laptop ready to shop?
CISA advises checking devices before Black Friday buying. Install software updates or enable automatic updates, use long unique passwords of at least 16 characters, and turn on multifactor authentication, according to CISA's holiday shopping guidance. Do updates and password changes before you browse deals.
Short or reused passwords give account thieves an easier path during high-volume shopping weeks.
Does a lock icon mean the store is safe?
A browser lock icon or https means the connection is encrypted, not that the store is legitimate, according to the FTC. Scammers can use encryption too. Read refund, return, and delivery terms before you enter payment details.
If a store hides contact information, return windows, or delivery timeframes, shop elsewhere.