Blog · Spotting fake reviews
How to Tell if an Online Store Is Legit Before You Buy
Scam storefronts look more convincing every year. Run this quick checklist before you enter your card details anywhere new.
A convincing online store is cheap to build and easy to throw away. Scammers spin up polished-looking shops, run ads for a few weeks, take orders they never ship, and vanish before the chargebacks catch up. The good news is that fake stores almost always leave tells. You just have to know where to look. Here's a practical checklist you can run in a couple of minutes before you enter your card details anywhere new.
Start with the domain and the padlock
Read the URL carefully. Scammers love lookalike domains that borrow a trusted brand name with an extra word or an odd ending, like brand-outlet-sale.shop. Check how long the site has been around; a "20-year-old family business" running on a domain registered last month is a red flag. And while a padlock (HTTPS) means your connection is encrypted, it does not mean the store is honest. Plenty of scam sites have valid certificates. HTTPS is the bare minimum, not a seal of approval.
Look for real contact details and real policies
Legitimate stores want you to be able to reach them. Look for a physical address, a working phone number or support email, and clear return, refund, and shipping policies that actually say something specific. Be suspicious when the only contact option is a generic web form, when the "About" page is vague filler, or when the policies are copied boilerplate that never names timeframes or conditions. Paste a sentence from the About page into a search engine; if the exact text appears on dozens of other stores, you're looking at a template.
Be skeptical of prices that are too good to be true
An 80%-off designer item, a sold-out console at half price, the newest gadget cheaper than anywhere else, these are bait. Real businesses have costs, and margins that thin don't exist. If a deal is dramatically better than every legitimate retailer, assume the goal is to get your card number, not to sell you the product. Cross-check the same item at a couple of established retailers to see what the real price floor looks like.
Search the store's name, then check how you can pay
Run a quick search for [store name] reviews and [store name] scam. Complaints about orders that never arrived, charges that kept recurring, or impossible-to-reach support tend to surface fast. Then look at payment options. Paying by credit card or through PayPal gives you buyer protection and a path to dispute a charge. If a store insists on bank transfer, cryptocurrency, or gift cards, walk away, those methods are chosen precisely because they're hard to reverse.
Vet the product reviews, not just the star average
This is the step most people skip, and it's where a lot of scams and low-quality sellers hide. A 4.7-star average is meaningless if the reviews are manipulated. Watch for a flood of five-star reviews posted in the same short window, generic praise that never mentions specifics, reviewers with no other history, and text that reads like it was generated. On big marketplaces, manipulated reviews are the norm on risky listings, not the exception.
Because reading reviews critically is tedious, a free tool can do the first pass for you. ReviewVigil lets you click once on any product page and get an AI grade from A to F on the visible reviews. It estimates the true rating once suspicious reviews are discounted, shows the percentage it flags as suspicious, and names the specific signals it found. It works on Amazon, eBay, Etsy, AliExpress, Temu, Shein, and TikTok Shop, runs with no ads or affiliate links, and picks up where Fakespot left off after that tool shut down. You can learn more on the ReviewVigil page. Even if you never install it, the habit is the point: judge the reviews, not just the average.
Put it together before you check out
None of these checks is decisive alone, but together they add up fast. A shady domain plus too-good prices plus manipulated reviews plus bank-transfer-only payment is not a coincidence, it's a scam wearing a nice template. Run the checklist, trust your gut when several flags stack up, and pay with a method that has your back.
Check any product's reviews in one click
ReviewVigil grades the reviews on any store page and estimates the true rating. Free Chrome extension.
Add to Chrome — free Learn moreQuestions, answered
What's the single biggest red flag for a fake store?
Payment methods with no buyer protection. If a store only accepts bank transfer, crypto, or gift cards, treat that as a stop sign, those payments are nearly impossible to reverse once sent.
How can I tell if the product reviews are fake?
Look for bursts of five-star reviews posted together, generic praise with no specifics, and reviewers with no history. A free checker like ReviewVigil grades the visible reviews A to F and estimates the real rating once suspicious ones are discounted.
Does HTTPS mean a store is safe?
No. HTTPS only means your connection to the site is encrypted. Scam sites can and do use valid certificates. Treat the padlock as a minimum requirement, not proof the business is legitimate.
Keep reading
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Is Temu Legit? How to Check Temu Reviews Before You Buy (2026)
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