When you come across a business website and do a whois, it comes back private, do you ever get a little worried about this? I always thought all businesses had to keep the contact info unblocked, it was this only for the contact phone number?

This would definitely be a red flag for me and I'd look at doing business somewhere else, if possible.

For a whois, I believe businesses are free to do as they please.

I don't see a problem with a private whois. What worries me more are eCommerce sites without green SSL certificates.

An average consumer will never check domain whois data. An average consumer does not even know what domain whois is.

Certainly its a factor to consider, but as of late there has been an increase in amount of spam received through domain whois information, so for many people blocking that data is worth it.

I think there's a difference between "private" and false. Some people register domains and put false information in the WhoIs, which is a big no-no. I don't know if there's a way to make sure that what you're looking at is actually "private" rather than just fabricated.

If a small mom-and-pop, brick-and-mortar store put private whois, I'd see it as less of an issue than if a host, which has no physical location from which to buy did so. It's just about the level of confidence in the business relationship.

It's a red flag to me because it makes me think the hosting company is trying to hide something / doesn't want people to know where they operate.

If there's snail mail spam, get a P.O. box. If there's e-mail spam use a free email address or something like that.

If I know the business and know they're reputable or have a brick and mortar location, then I don't see a problem. The SSL encryption protects the transaction for most purposes. Does Amazon have an EV SSL?

Couldn't answer that as I don't use them. But as you pointed out, they are a reputable business, so I doubt I'd have any issues shopping there. I'm one of those shoppers who checks that lock icon, and am hesitant to type in my credit card info to any firm I know nothing about. If they don't have that EV SSL, I guarantee you I'm doing some research on their company before I post any personal info. I'm much more comfortable if I know there is an established brick and mortar business standing behind that website.

It doesn't bother me a bit if the info is hidden.
There got to be so much farming of whois information in order to spam the owners I don't blame anyone for hiding it.

If I have any concerns it's easy enough to search for information or make sure they have a phone number.

I don't think anyone here will argue that inserting fabricated information into whois is wrong.

However, I believe the question here is domain whois privacy and that I have no issues with, as long as detailed contact information is available on company website.

What if there's just an email address or a helpdesk on the site and private whois?

That's what gets me concerned.

Hiding that info is safer than leaving it out. Hackers and spammers use that information to either get your stuff or to spam you. I used to hide that information but every forum I went too would bash me becuase I had it hidden. So, instead of loosing clients becuase of a$$holes, I keep my information out in the open and becuase of that spam is just getting worse as the weeks go on.

Its a worry for me seeing a business having private whois. You can understand if its a private site, then it should not be doing business.

But, I would look at going else where if possible if I saw it was a private whois, as it begs the question, Why

You will judge the business by whether their domain whois is private or not?

As to your question "why", the answer is simple: protect from spam.

For me, a business is a business, why do they need to hide their business address from whois?

I can understand why a private person would, But from a business point of view if contact information is not listed on the site and whois is private then its a worry.

But, I will say that if the site has means of contacting the business via the site such as e-maila nd telephone then I guess its ok to hide the whois.

Since we've only been talking about whois data, not website contact data, your opinion was strange. But now I see we are on the same page. Obviously if there is not a single point of contact its a worry for anyone. But whois data is up to that organization to manage as they please.

Already answered. Whois is a notorious source for spammers.
Businesses already have enough to deal with without having to sort through extra spam.