How Safe Is It To Meet and Do Business Over The Internet?

The world of business is changing. Decades ago, you could do business out of a catalogue, ordering merchandise that you saw in a book and send money to an address and your merchandise arrived. But you also knew that the items you ordered were stored somewhere in a warehouse with a physical address. You could track down your money and the product if it didn't arrive, and talk to live people who were responsible for shipping. Today, people order products over the internet based on a "virtual" location, and may even talk to an automated voice to place an order, or may leave a voice mail message and never talk to a live person at all. Business has become rather impersonal but we are able to connect to people around the world and buy and sell. This removes certain barriers of race, culure, religion, nationality and geographic location. But it also presents other issues. Who do you hold accountable if things are broken or lost or don't work when you receive them? How do you know your money isn't being taken under false pretenses? How safe is it really to do business over the Internet? What should you look out for to make sure you don't get ripped off?