Everyday Money online: payments, refunds and subscriptions
Buying from a shop you have never heard of, safely
How to check an unfamiliar online store in three minutes, which payment method protects you, and the signs of a shop that will simply take the money.
The short answer
- Check an unfamiliar shop in three minutes by looking at the domain age, the contact details, the returns policy wording, the product photos, outside reviews and which payment methods it accepts.
- Paying by credit card is the protection that matters, because it adds a network dispute process and, in the UK, joint liability with the retailer on purchases above one hundred pounds.
- A shop that will only take a bank transfer, cryptocurrency or gift card codes has chosen payment rails with no reversal, and that choice is the warning.
- The padlock only proves the connection is encrypted, so read the registered domain rather than trusting the icon or the look of the page.
- A seventy percent discount on a current model flagship product is always a counterfeit, a used item, a six week shipment from overseas, or nothing at all.
- On a marketplace, check who the item is sold by and shipped by, because that line decides whether the platform or an unknown seller is responsible.
Spend three minutes checking who is behind the shop, then pay with a credit card. The checks tell you whether to walk away, and the payment method decides what happens if you were wrong. Almost every bad outcome online, from a counterfeit to a parcel that never ships, is survivable when you paid by card and unrecoverable when you paid by bank transfer. Treat the payment choice as the real protection and everything else as a way of avoiding the hassle.
The three minute check before you buy
Run these in order and stop as soon as two of them fail. None is conclusive on its own, which is the point: a real small business will trip one of them, and a fake shop will trip four.
| Check | How to do it in seconds | Reassuring | Worrying |
|---|---|---|---|
| Domain age | A domain lookup service, or the copyright year in the footer | Registered years ago, matching the brand story | Registered weeks ago with a full catalogue |
| Who they are | Read the contact, terms and about pages | Postal address, company number, working phone | A web form only, or an address that is a mailbox |
| Policies | Search a distinctive sentence from the returns page | Specific terms, named carriers, real timeframes | The same text found on dozens of unrelated shops |
| Product photos | Reverse image search one image | Photos unique to this seller | Images lifted from the manufacturer or a wholesaler |
| Reviews | Search the shop name with the word complaints | Mixed ratings with specific detail and dates | Only five stars, all posted in one week |
| Payment options | Reach the checkout before entering anything | Cards and mainstream wallets | Bank transfer, crypto or gift cards only |
The last row is the one that settles it. A shop that takes cards has been through a merchant account application and can be charged back. A shop that insists on a transfer has chosen a payment rail with no reverse gear, and there is only one reason to prefer that.
Read the address bar before you read the page
The web address tells you which company you are dealing with, and it is the one part of the page a scammer cannot fully control. What matters is the registered domain immediately before the ending: in shop.example-store.co/deals the business is example-store.co and everything to the left is theirs to invent. Fake shops lean on this constantly with a famous brand name buried in a subdomain or bolted on with a hyphen. Learning to read a web address takes ten minutes and pays off forever, which is what reading a web address properly covers.
Two common misreadings. The padlock proves the connection is encrypted, not that the seller is honest, and criminals get certificates as easily as anyone else, so what the padlock actually proves is worth knowing. And a missing owner name in a domain lookup is normal, because privacy services hide registrant details by default now. The registration date is the useful field, not the name.
On the site itself, look for identity rather than design. EU and UK rules require a trader to publish their name, geographic address and contact details, and a company or VAT number where they have one. A polished storefront with no legal entity anywhere on it is a template, and templates are cheap.
Reviews, photos and prices that cannot be real
Reviews on the seller's own site are marketing copy: they publish what they choose. Look for the shop name somewhere it does not control, then read the one and two star reviews first, because complaints contain specifics and praise rarely does. Fake review sets share a shape: a burst of five star ratings over a few days, wording that praises the product but never mentions delivery, and reviewers with no other history. The general method for weighing what a source is worth is the same one in how to judge whether a source online deserves belief.
Reverse image search one product photo. If the image belongs to the manufacturer, the shop may be a legitimate reseller or may never have touched the item. If it appears on a wholesale marketplace at a fraction of the price, you are looking at a drop shipping storefront.
On price, keep one rule. Current model electronics, big name trainers and designer goods are sold on thin margins with tight distribution, so a genuine discount of seventy or eighty percent does not exist. There are only four explanations: a counterfeit, a used item sold as new, an item that ships in six weeks from another continent, or nothing at all. Deep discounts on last season stock, open box goods and end of line items are real. Deep discounts on this month's flagship are not.
How you pay decides what happens when it goes wrong
A credit card is the strongest choice because it adds a card network dispute process on top of whatever consumer law applies, and because the money leaving is the bank's until you pay the statement. In the UK, credit card purchases above one hundred pounds also make the issuer jointly liable with the retailer under Section 75, which survives the shop going bust.
A debit card carries similar network dispute rights, but the funds have already left your account while the claim is investigated. A payment wallet is somewhere in the middle, and it matters whether it is funded from a stored balance or a linked card, because card rights can reach through. Bank transfer, cryptocurrency and gift card codes have no reversal mechanism at all. If a shop asks for those, the shop already knows that.
Whatever you choose, use guest checkout and decline the offer to store the card, so a breach at a small shop cannot hand out your number. If you do get stuck, the escalation path, the evidence to attach and the deadlines are set out in how a card dispute or chargeback actually works.
Marketplace or direct seller
Buying on a large marketplace does not mean buying from it. Most listings are third party sellers, and the useful line on the page is the small one naming who the item is sold by and who ships it. An item sold and shipped by the platform is the platform's problem. An item sold by a trading name you have never heard of and shipped directly from abroad is that seller's problem, with the marketplace acting as a referee.
The trade is worth understanding both ways. A marketplace usually offers a buyer guarantee that is quicker and easier than a chargeback, and it can suspend a seller, which motivates cooperation. But its guarantee has time limits and exclusions, and disputes are settled by its own rules. Buying direct from a specialist can be better for service and returns, and you keep your card rights either way. Never move a marketplace conversation off the platform to complete a sale: doing so is what empties the protection, and it is the most common request in marketplace fraud.
What happens after you press order
Two surprises account for most complaints about shops that were not, in the end, fraudulent.
The first is delay. A drop shipping storefront holds no stock and forwards your order to a wholesaler overseas, so delivery can take weeks and tracking may not update for several days. Returns go back to that warehouse at your expense, which can cost more than the item. Look for a stated dispatch time and a returns address in the same country before you order.
The second is import charges. On a parcel from another country you may owe duty, sales tax or VAT plus a handling fee to the carrier, payable before delivery. Low value exemptions have been narrowed in several places in recent years, so do not assume a cheap parcel arrives free. A price that looked good can end up level with a local seller once these land.
Then there is the message that follows almost every international order: a text saying a small fee is due to release your parcel. That is a scam, it is timed to arrive while you are genuinely expecting something, and the details are in how the fake delivery fee text works. Real carriers take customs charges through their own site or app, which you should open yourself.
The habit worth keeping
Make it mechanical. Before paying an unfamiliar shop, check the domain age, find a postal address, read one bad review, and reverse image search a photo. Pay by credit card, decline to store it, and screenshot the listing, the price and the promised delivery date, because listings get edited and your screenshot does not.
Keep the order confirmation in one mail folder, and diarize the promised delivery date so a missing parcel is noticed while the dispute window is wide open rather than months later. If the purchase set up a recurring charge, a trial or a membership alongside the order, deal with it now rather than at the next statement, using the method for finding and cancelling recurring charges. Most of the time nothing goes wrong. The point of the routine is that the times it does cost you a phone call rather than the money.
Common questions
How can I tell if an online store is fake?
Look for a mismatch between how established the shop looks and how established it is. A domain registered a few weeks ago, no postal address or company details, a returns policy whose exact wording appears on dozens of other sites, stock photos taken from a wholesaler, and reviews that all arrived in one burst together add up to a template shop. Any one of those alone can have an innocent explanation.
Is it safe to use my credit card on a small website?
Usually yes, and it is safer than the alternatives. Your card number is not the real risk here, because a disputed charge can be reversed and a stolen number can be replaced. Choose guest checkout rather than saving the card to an account, and check the payment page is handled by a recognizable processor. The bigger risk is paying by a method that cannot be reversed at all.
Does the padlock mean a site is trustworthy?
No. The padlock means traffic between your browser and that server is encrypted, so nobody in between can read your card details. It says nothing about who owns the server or whether they will ship anything. Certificates are free and automated, so fraudulent shops have them too. Use it to confirm you are not sending data in the clear, then judge the seller separately.
Will I have to pay customs charges on an order from abroad?
Often yes. Depending on the value and the country, you may owe import duty, sales tax or VAT plus a handling fee charged by the carrier, and it is usually collected before the parcel is released. Several countries have narrowed their low value exemptions in recent years, so cheap parcels are not automatically free. Pay through the carrier's own site, never through a link in a text message.
What should I do if the order never arrives?
Contact the seller in writing with the order number and a deadline, then go to your card issuer or the marketplace if nothing happens. Dispute windows are usually counted from the transaction or the expected delivery date, so do not spend two months in polite correspondence. Keep the listing screenshot, the confirmation email and any tracking that stopped updating, as those three are what the claim rests on.