If you have heard of chocolate covered espresso beans, you may have decided to try them for your espresso coffee maker or you may have decided to give them a try or get them as a gift for that certain someone who has everything. You may have considered just going to a gourmet shop, but if you want to get a deal, the best thing is to buy them wholesale on the Internet. How do you go about buying them wholesale safely? You don't want to risk giving your credit card numbers to a site that is not legitimate, and possibly risk identity theft by doing so. We all know stories about people who put their credit card number on a site that was not protected, and the next thing they knew, they had tons of bills and maybe even their bank account was debited. If you not careful about shopping on line, it can happen.

But it does not have to be dangerous to shop for chocolate covered espresso beans (or any other product, for that matter) on line. Make sure you know how to take the right precautions.

The first thing you have to do is make sure you are going to get the product you want. If a site doesn't have illustrations, you may end up ordering a product you did not want. You also have to be sure to read any warnings or any of the fine print that may allow substitutions, etc. And you always have to be careful of offers that seem way too cheap. You know what the value should be, and if it too cheap, something has to be wrong with the product, or maybe you are not going to be getting the right product.

Next, be a savvy Internet shopper. Make sure you do not give out any information that is not directly related to the purchase. Be very wary of any site that asks for your social security number, your driver's license or any bank account information. All they should need is the delivery address and the card you are charging to.

Once you have made a purchase on line, make sure you have a record of it. This way if the product you think you ordered is not what you received, you have some proof. Make sure you have the name of the vendor, the name of the website, a copy of the confirmed order with quantity, price, delivery address and estimated delivery date. If there are any problems down the line, you want to have all of this information at your fingertips.

If, even after this advice, you are leery of shopping Olin, you can go to the site of the wholesaler and just get the 800 number listed there. This way, you can have a catalog sent to you, and you can order the old fashioned way by sending in an order form or calling in an order.