New research has found while three-quarters of Canberrans made purchases online, the vast majority were uneasy about it.

The survey by Sensis found 96 per cent of ACT residents were paranoid about the theft of their credit details or private information online, compared to the nationwide average of 85 per cent.

Nigel Phair, director of the Centre for Internet Safety at the University of Canberra, said online businesses needed to put as much effort into their back-of-house security as their front-of-house web store.

"Organisations put some effort into marketing to get people in the front door to buy whatever goods and services are online but they don't seem to put that effort into retaining the customer from a trust and safety perspective," Mr Phair said.

He said it was actually a positive that more people were worried about how their data was handled by merchants but weeding out crooks wasn't as straightforward as avoiding dodgy-looking websites.

"Even a really clean and polished website doesn't mean they've got really good security in the back," Mr Phair said.

"Added on top of that is we don't have data breach notification laws in Australia. If you're an e-commerce company selling jeans and you've sold 1000 or 100,000 pairs of jeans and you've kept all this data because you're too lazy to expunge it or whatever, and someone hacks you and steals all those credit card details, there's nothing obliging you to tell the customers themselves or the privacy commissioner or anyone in between. That's another part of the trust and safety equation that consumers need."

Canberra businesswoman Louise Curtis, who owns online party supplier Pink Frosting and chocolate bouquet portal Lollypotz, said she had found Canberrans have gradually become more trusting with purchasing online.

"I think the consumer over the past seven to 10 years [has come to feel] more confident in purchasing online, whereas 15 years ago there was a real fear of '[are] my details safe'," Ms Curtis said.

"When Lollypotz first commenced we had six people in our call centre managing orders [because people didn't want to buy online], but over time that decreased. We now have one person managing those orders for an increased turnover than it was six years ago. So what that has told us is as a brand becomes more familiar with people and more trusted, people are more willing to put their details online."

She believed social media reviews could help cultivate trust between a business and a buyer, as well as the longevity of the brand.

"Having people give you feedback that is published through social media gives people that assurance it is a reputable business," she said.

"Longevity of the business, quality of the website and using other companies that are also well known – so for example, using PayPal or using eWay which are brands that are associated with security gives the customer assurance that the product is going to be delivered and that the service is going to be there."