Is this web shop legit? The checklist
A fake web shop now looks like a real one. The price is the bait; the address, the payment methods and the age of the domain give the rest away.
Fake shops come in two kinds. The first never delivers: you pay, nothing arrives. The second does deliver — a counterfeit, or something other than you ordered — and the customer service does not exist. Both want one thing: that you pay up front in a way you cannot reverse.
The Dutch police publish a list of known fraudulent traders; it is in our database. But a brand-new fake shop is on no list yet — which is why the checklist below matters more than any list.
How to spot it
- 1The price is too good.A brand shoe at 60% off, an iPhone hundreds below retail. Brands do not allow that. If it costs € 900 everywhere and € 350 here, here is the problem.
- 2Prepayment only.No pay-after-delivery, no credit card, no PayPal — only bank transfer, iDEAL to a private account or crypto. Payments you cannot reverse are exactly what a scammer wants.
- 3No address, no KVK number, no phone.A Dutch shop must show a physical address and a Chamber of Commerce (KVK) number. A contact form is not contact.
- 4The domain is young.A shop “since 2009” on a three-week-old domain is lying. Our checker shows the age.
- 5Sloppy details.Machine-translated text, prices without VAT, terms copied from another shop, product photos found elsewhere.
- 6The trust mark is a picture.A real Thuiswinkel Waarborg or Webshop Keurmerk badge is clickable and lands on the trust-mark site with the shop’s name. A picture without a link is decoration.
- 7Reviews only on their own site.Five stars without dates or names. Search the shop name plus “ervaringen” or “scam” — and on Trustpilot read the complaints, not the average.
A real example, taken apart
- The domain is not drmartens.com.
- “Closing-down” and “today only” apply pressure.
- A .shop domain with the brand name in it is the classic fake-shop pattern.
What you do
- Check the domain.Paste the address into the checker. Look at the age, a brand name in the domain, and whether it is already in the database.
- Find the address and KVK number.Address shown? Look it up on Google Maps. KVK number shown? Look it up on kvk.nl and see if the name matches.
- Look at how you may pay.Pay-after-delivery or credit card available? Then you have a fallback. Bank transfer only? Walk away.
- Search for complaints.Shop name + “ervaringen”, “scam”, “not delivered”. One serious complaint with details outweighs a hundred anonymous stars.
- Pay with protection.Credit card (chargeback), PayPal (buyer protection) or pay-after-delivery. Never transfer to a private account.
Never do this
- Prepay by bank transfer, Western Union, MoneyGram or crypto to a shop you do not know.
- Send a copy of your ID or card “for verification”.
- Pay a second time because “the first payment did not arrive”.
Dossiers of this kind
8,557 dossiers in our database match this kind — counted by what they are, not estimated. A few:
See what is being checked now →
Questions people ask
I paid and nothing arrives. Can I get my money back?
Credit card: request a chargeback from your card issuer. PayPal or pay-after-delivery: open a dispute. iDEAL or bank transfer: call your bank immediately — a payment can sometimes still be stopped — and file a police report. See Scammed — what now?.
Are foreign shops always suspect?
No. But outside the EU you have fewer rights (no 14-day cooling-off, hard returns, import duties). Pay with a method you can reverse.
What is the difference with a dropshipper?
A dropshipper does deliver, but slowly and often a cheap product at a high margin. Not illegal, just disappointing. You recognise it by long delivery times (2–4 weeks) and products you find on AliExpress for a fraction.
Paste it into the checker. Thirty seconds, and you know what others already saw.
Read next
Sources
ACM ConsuWijzer — web shop checklist · Police — known fraudulent traders · Thuiswinkel Waarborg