Do your holiday shopping online?
Online shopping is already booming this holiday season. While the surge in holiday e-commerce last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic is not going to be repeated this time around, online shopping in November and December is expected to exceed $ 200 billion for the first time. And as online shopping increases, so do online scams.
Already, many businesses outside of the United States are advertising relatively uncontrollably on the Internet, selling—or even pretending to sell—all kinds of products. Items are typically advertised using designs stolen from legitimate companies and artists, often ripped off Etsy, especially if those designs have been featured on popular sites like Bored Panda.
When people buy these scam products, what usually happens is that they are of poor quality. This is if something ever happens. Often times, the business just closes and renames itself without sending anything. In the worst case, they also steal customers’credit card information.
So how do you shop smart and spot scams? Here are some clues to watch out for.
1. Is it too good to be true?
Does the product shown match the price? Know the market. An amazing product for a low price is cause for suspicion. For example, Instagram featured photos from a “Halloween Advent Calendar”. The ad was priced at US $ 59.99, but available for a limited time for $ 29.80. At first glance, you might think you’re getting a lot, but take a moment to think about it. This price would barely cover the shipping and handling costs for a product of this size. The original product, sold on Etsy, sells for over $ 1,800 and the creator has a backlog of orders.
Two online ads, left and top right, that use a product image taken by an Etsy vendor after the vendor’s “Halloween Advent” product, bottom right, was featured on the Better Homes and Gardens sites , Pinterest and OddityMall.
Screenshots by H. Colleen Sinclair, CC BY-NC-ND
2. If in doubt: Google it
Maybe you aren’t familiar enough with Etsy’s work to recognize a likely scam. If in doubt, search for the product name or download the image and run a Google image search. You are likely to find the original source. If the product really exists – unlike this one CG baby shark that a company used as an advertisement for their alleged baby shark robot toy – you can choose to pay the original artist for their hard work or take the risk and try to get the imitation. The search will also reveal if there are multiple alleged companies selling the same “unique” and “exclusive” items using the exact same images. Once you start seeing double or more, this is a warning sign.
3. Check the reputation of the company
Searching for the name of the business will likely bring you to the business site. Instead, search for the name of the company with the word “scam.” You will be able to tell fairly quickly if there is a disturbing story associated with the business. You can also try scam, which is dedicated to identifying the reliability of online links. There may be a Better Business Bureau listing for the company, but be careful not to rely on it. You can also find Facebook groups, like this one for fashion related scams, which track down unreliable sites.
4. Too new to trust
In some cases, the business is so new that you won’t be able to find a track record. It’s a red flag. They’re probably one of those businesses that shut down after they’ve received enough orders, then create a new name and domain, and start over. It is possible that this is a new legitimate business trying to open a store during a pandemic. To tell the difference between a legitimate new business and an improvised operation, use some of the following steps to judge them.
5. Review the reviews
Look carefully at the reviews. If there isn’t, back out. If there are, check the following warning signs. The opinions are few and unanimously five stars without comments. If there are any comments, they are filled with rough English or vague praise that could have been copied and pasted from any product. None of the reviews contain photos of the product actually received. There are no negative reviews, which is a wake-up call because even the best, legitimate companies can’t appeal to everyone all of the time. By the way, if you are looking for a legitimate product offering, be careful not to read too much negative reviews.
6. Is this a “good” site?
Does the company have a website, not just a Facebook page? Otherwise, that’s a big no. If they do, is it a full website or is it barely there? Verify that the business has a working phone number, and when you look up the number, there aren’t 12 other “businesses” associated with it. Make sure it lists a mailing address, preferably one that isn’t just a PO box.
Visit the “about us” page of the site. Does not have ? It’s another no. Does “about us” include the year the company was founded? Does it include information on the creators of the products? If the page contains a photo claiming to be of the owner or the artist, you can do a Google image search to see if it is a photo copied from another webpage, archive photo or a fake created by an AI system. Do their claims about themselves stand up to scrutiny? For example, does the site claim to be a business owned by black Americans but their WHOIS domain information list a company in China?
7. Presence on social networks: do they have one?
Likewise, do they have a social media presence outside of the ad that appears in your News Feed? Otherwise, avoid. If so, you can click on the poster name to see where the person or business is located and when the page was launched. You can also see how far their posts have gone, as well as check the quality of those posts and discuss the company.
8. Beware of the “closing business” story
During the pandemic, legitimate businesses are in fact shutting down. Illegitimate businesses have clung to this as a tool to shoot people’s hearts to cheat buyers. He is illegal for US companies to do this, but businesses outside of the United States are not subject to the same laws. One way to distinguish legitimate businesses from fraud is to check the start date on website domain records and social media sites. If the business emerged during the pandemic just in time to shut down, stay away.
Suspicious ads on Instagram, on the left, and Facebook, on the right, with pandemic cessation stories that use a product image taken from a legitimate company, Lalabug Designs.
Screenshots by H. Colleen Sinclair, CC BY-NC-ND
9. Trendy advertising bait
Beware of trendy items. Counterfeits and scams abound on any hot or trendy item. These days, marketers are also interested in political trends. Companies are popping up with names like “WeLuvTrump”, “FemPower” and “BlackGoodness”. The same tends to happen with new policies. For example, RBG articles were all the rage following the death of Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2020. Again, following the steps above will help you determine which products are legitimate.
10. Social influence tips
Also beware of common marketing techniques originally discovered by the social psychologist. Robert cialdini which are used by legitimate and illegitimate businesses. The most common that you are likely to see on scam sites are exclusive access claims, which appeal to your need for uniqueness, limited offer or time elapsed claims for a “sale”, which play out. the psychological value people buy rare items and statements like “Karen S. from Indianola just bought this item” which are “social proof” that behavior is safe or appropriate because others have done it.
Ultimately, if these 10 tips seem too hard to follow just to get that one-of-a-kind toy for your grandchild, buy from a trusted source you’ve relied on in the past instead. It’s also a good idea to use credit cards or payment services like PayPal that protect consumers from fraudulent charges.
Buy wisely. Your bank account is counting on you.
H. Colleen Sinclair, Associate Professor of Social Psychology, Mississippi State University
This article is republished from The conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read it original article.
Also beware of common marketing techniques originally discovered by the social psychologist. Robert cialdini which are used by legitimate and illegitimate businesses. The most common that you are likely to see on scam sites are exclusive access claims, which appeal to your need for uniqueness, limited offer or time elapsed claims for a “sale”, which play out. the psychological value people buy rare items and statements like “Karen S. from Indianola just bought this item” which are “social proof” that behavior is safe or appropriate because others have done it.
Ultimately, if these 10 tips seem too hard to follow just to get that one-of-a-kind toy for your grandchild, buy from a trusted source you’ve relied on in the past instead. It’s also a good idea to use credit cards or payment services like PayPal that protect consumers from fraudulent charges.
Buy wisely. Your bank account is counting on you.
H. Colleen Sinclair, Associate Professor of Social Psychology, Mississippi State University
This article is republished from The conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read it original article.
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