Tips for teens who shop online
Teach them how to make safe purchases on the Internet
By Liza Finlay
Gloria Rankin's teenage son and daughter were desperate for concert tickets, but the lineup at the concert hall's ticket booth wound around the block. They'd never make it. Then they had an idea — they'd buy the tickets online. The only trouble was they had no credit card. So they turned to Mom.
"I told them forget it," says Rankin, a former e-commerce executive. "I'd never give my kids my VISA number. It's not that I don't trust them, it's that I don't trust all of their friends and the threat of peer pressure is just too great a risk to my financial information. I did go online and buy the tickets for them, though."
Rankin successfully sidestepped a sticky situation that more and more parents are facing — namely that of teen online shopping. According to a 2005 YTV survey, Canada's young adults (and there are more than two million of them) spend $2.9 billion of their own money every year, with candy, clothing, video games and non-electronic games and toys closely following food and drink purchases. What's more, they directly influence a whopping $20 billion in household purchases.
We are a nation crawling with young consumers. With computers occupying central real estate in 70 per cent of Canadian households, online consumerism is a growing influence among today's teens.
What's a parent to do? While research from PricewaterhouseCoopers tells us that 78 per cent of American teenagers have used their parents' credit card to make an online purchase, many experts say that's a big no-no. "I think it sends completely the wrong message," says Ken Schafer, president of The Schafer Group, a Toronto Internet best practices consulting firm. "It teaches kids that it's okay to impersonate someone and to use their money."
Okay, so if we don't hand over the credit card, how do we survive the persuasive and pesky pressure teens are so good at exerting? Here are a few ideas.
Be a teacher — not a tyrant
"Most parents go into lockdown mode when they find their kids using their credit cards online," says Schafer. "They put parental controls on every keystroke. The kids will get around you, only they'll do it covertly and you don't want that." Adds parenting expert Alyson Schafer: "Young adults are allergic to arbitrary authority. To gain their respect and their cooperation, parents need to appear reasonable and knowledgeable."
Do that by using the prospect of online shopping as a learning opportunity. Teach them about things like fraud, share articles on inappropriate sites, discuss hidden costs and conversion rates and, by doing so, keep their consumption habits out in the open.
Parents can also educate their kids about safe sites. Look for https in the URL or a closed lock at the bottom of the browser. Start the dialogue early, adds Debbie Gordon, founder of the Toronto-based Mediacs, which offers consultancy and workshops about media awareness to students, teachers and parent groups. "Don't wait for your child to become a teen consumer before you discuss the family's ground rules. The best time to instill your family's values around both the Internet and spending is before they're actually digging around for your credit card, when it may be too late."
Get creative
Find alternative monetary sources to obfuscate the need for your credit card. Some retailers, such as Canadian online music site Puretracks and the American clothing company J. Crew, offer pre-paid cards while others, like Amazon.ca and Chapters/Indigo have electronic gift certificates. All of these can be redeemed online by your teen.
Master the art of compromise
When she just has to have those jeans or that CD, consider meeting in the middle, with you paying for part on your card and your child contributing a portion. How much is she willing to pay out of allowance or babysitting money? How much are you willing to chip in? "Answering those questions will encourage your child to make savvy purchase decisions and to be accountable," says Alyson Schafer. "And the parent plays a supportive role." And then, adds Ken Schafer, when the deal is struck "you put in the credit card number — not the child."
What to do if you absolutely must give them your credit card
Minimize the potential for fiscal damage by handing out the card with the lowest credit limit. And, consider the protection offered by programs like Verified by Visa, which requires card users to key in a private password every time they use it online.
