An Internet Policy for Your Employees

5. Online Purchasing

5.1 Make all employees aware of the potential contractual liability arising from online ordering and purchasing.

• Tell employees they should only enter contracts on the company's behalf if they have permission to do so. Even then, they must read the terms and conditions carefully to avoid entering into a contract with harsh terms.

5.2 Only allow online purchasing from approved suppliers.

• You may want to encourage online ordering for regular orders from existing suppliers to make ordering quicker and more convenient.

5.3 Allow online purchasing only by authorised employees.

• Purchases should be made by employees authorised to make purchases by traditional methods (eg telephone).

5.4 Make sure payments are handled securely.

• Check that any sites you use for online purchasing include secure technology. You can often tell if a site is secure when the web address starts with https://, or when your browser displays a padlock symbol. Some sites are members of recognised security schemes, such as VeriSign.