By now most of us know how important it is to protect our personal information when we shop online, yet many of us continut to shop even when we suspect that a site might not be safe.

So why do we ignore warning bells anf go ahead with risky purchases? Part of the problem is that it is difficult for many shoppers to determine whether a specific site is safe or not. In fact, a recent survey conducted by McAfee revealed that 40% of respondents thought it was hard to tell if a site is secure.

That is bad news for consumers and for legitimate online merchants who reply on tools such as trustmarks to indicatre that their sites are safe. And although trustmarks can be extremely helpful, many could not tell the difference between various types of trustmarks.

Given the confusion, we thought it would be a good idea to review our top five safe shopping best practices.

Learn the difference between trustmarks---Trustmarks are icons added to websites that the site has been checked for safety by an independent third-party. However, there are several different kinds of trustmarks and it pays to know the difference among them.

Comprehensive scanning/security---Trustmarks like McAfee SECURE indicate that the site has gone through rigorous security checks to ensure that your computer and data stays safe. Sites with the McAfee SECURE trustmark must pass a daily scan in order to keep their trustmark.

Make sure you are on a legitimate site---According to our survey, most consumers belive that larger, well-known sites are safer than samller sites, but you shuold still check the legitimacy of a site each time you shop.

Review the company's policies---Do some investigation before you buy. Make sure to study the company's shipping, return and exchange policies, ensure you are comfortable with them, and understand how this will affect what your total price will be.

Use a credit card instead of a debit card---If something goes wrong, credit card compaies will usually reimburse you for fraudulent charges. However, if you use a debit card, the money will automatically be withdrawn from your account, and it will be much harder to recoup your losses.