What do you risk using a credit card to shop on the Net?

A majority of consumers surveyed are still concerned about credit-card safety online. Merchants, banks and software firms should get the message out that if a credit card number is stolen and bills run up, the consumer would be out $50 at most, since when fraudulent credit-card charges take place online it is the merchant who must pay for the losses; indeed, many credit-card firms have zero-liability policies. Consumers will remain concerned about the risk of credit-card fraud as long as they continue to hear about cases of holes in data security, and until retailers and banks hold data-protection technology firms to higher standards.