How do I vet the reliability of a site?

When I come across a website I am not familiar with but might be interested in something they are selling, I typically do a search about the website, something like “Beststuff.com reviews” or “is Beststuff.com a scam?” That typically opens up a number of places you can look to see if they are reliable or not. If all the sites are saying they are scams, I pass them by. You can also search for something like “Beststuff reviews” and see what if there are any reviews, how many there are, if they are good or bad, etc.

Depends on what the site is. If it does not even support HTTPS I’m out. For retail, can I find information about their stuff elsewhere? If not, I’m likely out. For news, information etc. are their sources /data cited or available? If not I’m out. There are browser extensions that will warn you if a site is unsafe if that’s more what you’re concerned about. It’s not just you, it’s hard for everyone.

I never click on an ad. Instead I do a private search for the website, and I look at whatever reviews I can find. Like @seawulf575 and @Blackwater_Park I get creative to maximize the results of my search.

I trust “Trust Pilot” reviews. Most, but not all, of the clothing sites are in China and have a 2 or less rating. They often have several different names for the same company. Pisses me off too cuz I’ve seen such cute clothes! I can usually tell if it’s a Chinese company just by the name and looks of the ads. I rarely even go to the sites, just go by ads.

A friend of mine ordered some bras from a Chinese site and she showed them to me. They were just a thin piece of foam rubber in each cup covered by a verrry stretchy material. She threw them away. There are many quality clothing sites, you just have to get through the crap. I buy clothes online all the time.

Thanks, guys. As I near the end of my sewing-my-own-clothes days, I really want to find a couple of clothing sites that have fun stuff, but I would hate to waste the time and money on crap.

@seawulf575 your link won’t open for me.

@canidmajor This is going to sound crazy but there is one sure-fire way to know for sure. This is where I have gotten all my clothes that seem to stand the test of time. Thrift stores. It’s not as cheap as it once was, but you get to see the clothing after it has been used a little. New clothes that are crap usually don’t make it through a few washes. It’s hard to tell because bargain or no-name brands can be high-quality and what used to be considered “nice” could still be nice, or it could be trash. I just got tired of spending money on clothes only for them to be destroyed after one wash. This is one thing that is still reasonable at thrift stores.

Thanks, @Blackwater_Park, but the style I want can’t be found in most thrift stores, believe me, I look. I love love love comfy used stuff, but my taste in fabric and style is pretty eclectic. Maybe in Berkeley I could find stuff, suburban CT, not so much. :-(

This is a great question. I usually only order from a website that someone I know has ordered from and had a good experience, or a company name I know well.

I have ordered from some random sites, if the amount of money is let than $50 and figure if I don’t get the item I can challenge the charge or at least I won’t be out a lot of money.

I just pass over and over again on a lot of the cute things I see pop-up online.

If you see something you like I would just ask my friends or even my facebook friends if anyone has ordered from them before.

If it’s a business you can also check online on the Better Business Bureau. Though I’m not sure if they cover business outside of the US. Otherwise you may have to check on lines as people have suggested.

@canidmajor It wasn’t supposed to be a link. I just made up a name as an example of what I would search for. Not sure why it took it as a link.

I generally don’t order online if I’‘m not familiar with the company which of course limits my choices. I never order something that is advertised on FB as “made in South Carolina” or “sadly we have to close down our business.” If something is sold through Amazon, you can check their reviews and see what people have said about the product even if you don’t buy it from Amazon.

Good idea, @janbb, about starting with Amazon. I do that for other things, I’ll try it with clothes. I would prefer to shop in person, but my eclectic tastes and the Long Covid preclude the brick and mortar options most days.

Pre-moderation post.

I just saw something cute on FB and did a Google search for the company name. Immediately a couple of hits came up questioning whether the company was legitimate or not and proving fairly conclusively that it was not. So you may be able to verify companies that way too.

My computer has a safe-site check that won’t allow me to access fake sites. As for real but not reputable sites, I just type “site name reviews”