VPN 101: Save Money & Protect Privacy While Shopping Online
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a vital tool for providing encrypted and secured connection over the Internet. It can be extremely useful for enterprises, where employees can transfer sensitive information safely. Apart from businesses, VPN is becoming a popular feature on routers for home users. Investing in a VPN for home uses is equally important since the benefits of using it go far beyond security. Our routers support over 30 popular commercial OpenVPN and WireGuardVPN services, and it allows you to enjoy a private network anywhere. In this article, we will cover the advantages of using a VPN service and how can you get one.
Secure & Private Your Personal Data
Online shopping requires access to your personal data, including credit card, bank information, and address. By using an encrypted VPN tunnel, your data will be protected and secured during data transmission over wireless or wired connections. It also comes in handy when you are traveling and shopping online with a public wireless network. When using a public wifi hotspot, you should be extra careful since it is basically “a hacker’s dream”. Big brands including Marriott, Hilton, and InterContinental have faced different levels of data breaches. The VPN service is also particularly useful for small retail business owners as well, since they often need to handle private information from customers. The VPN service can ensure payment safety and instantly boost the store’s credibility.
Change Your Geographic Location
Geographic segmentation is a common marketing practice in online stores, which means the product prices would be modified based on a customers’ location. In short, users will see different prices or discounts from different locations. This strategy helps companies like airlines, travel agents, and shopping sites to better target their customers. And it applies to more websites and products than you can imagine.
VpnMentor did an experiment on changing their IP address to the airline’s country when browsing flight tickets. In the pictures below, they changed their IP address to Belgium, where Brussels Airlines based in. Even if they were searching for the same journey, users will be charged a higher price.
As you can see, this pricing strategy is very common among shopping sites. A VPN can hide your actual location and allows you to choose a virtual one. This is helpful if you want to access geo-restricted content or discounts. You can also log onto various VPN servers in different locations and check the price differences.
Hide Your Browser History
The prices of your favorite products can be different not only because of your location, but also your search history. E-commerce websites often personalize prices by peeking at your browser history. Some pages may charge a different sum on the same good, or even pushing people towards a higher price. Airline or travel-booking agents use this technique very often. Basically, the more you search for the items, the more you would be charged. To avoid this situation, the best solution is to use a VPN to hide your web browser history. An encrypted tunnel can ensure the e-commerce platforms do not track your history and create a user profile of you. This way, you can keep your browsing and spending habits to yourself.
How to Get a VPN?
Setting up a VPN can be a hassle sometimes, lucky for you, our routers support the following 30+ VPN services, including NordVPN, Surfshark, & PureVPN. You can simply drag and drop your VPN files to activate the function once you subscribe to the service providers. Once you activate the VPN services, you can easily shop online to save money and protect your privacy at the same time!
About The Author
Ruby Lo is a Hong Kong-based Digital Marketing Specialist at GL.iNet. As a technology and cybersecurity lover, she is passionate to share her ideas and tips with the visitors. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
About GL.iNet
GL.iNet builds network hardware and software solutions that bring affordable and secure network connectivity to families and businesses all over the world. We work with a wide range of industries, solving everyday internet problems in offices, and providing complex networking solutions such as smart buildings and IoT Networks. At GL.iNet, We believe all successful businesses build upon a strong and secure foundation, which is why our highest priority is perfecting network security and reliability for our partners.