How do I check if an online store is genuine?

[Redeemer]

Hi guys. I'm needing a costume, and I found a very affordable one on a website called herostime.com - only problem is, it's so affordable I'm doubting it. The website itself seems a little odd, like some of their customer information is poorly written, but that might be a translation issue as the website is run from China.

 

I've tried looking up reviews on google but no one has really asked, and I can't seem to find anything else.

 

What else can I do? Time is short, and I need this costume as soon as possible. D:

[LoneWolf]

Check the Google reviews if there are any. See if they have an EBay store, then you can check customer feedback. Otherwise it's just a gamble, there's no real way to check unless you can find previous customers.

[CrypticQuery]

Like LoneWolf said, it can be a gamble.  In the United States various organizations verify the integrity of websites - their logos are usually toward the bottom of the pages and can include Verisign, Bizrate, the Better Business Bureau, etc [see spoiler].  The logos can be clicked to view authenticity certificates in addition.  When you deal with international sites, however, things become a bit more murky.  It is good that the site you posted supports PayPal - I have yet to have a personally negative experience when purchasing through PayPal and it is nice to know that a dispute of the charges to your card is also possible. 

 

 

 

 

[Redeemer]

I was talking with my older brother, and he said that it looked fine, plus it supports paypal. No website with bad intentions would allow paypal due to the slam they get if they do anything funny.

 

I went ahead and ordered my suit. Thanks guys!

[DZComposer]

Domain appears to belong to a Chinese individual.

Monospaced Text

Domain Name ..................... herostime.com

Sponsoring Registrar ............ HICHINA ZHICHENG TECHNOLOGY LTD.

Name Server ..................... dns31.hichina.com

dns32.hichina.com

Registrant ID ................... hc788816951-cn

Registrant Name ................. zhang ze jun

Registrant Organization ......... zhang ze jun

Registrant Address .............. No 3,cheng du shi cheng jiang street,qing yang road,cheng

du

Registrant City ................. cheng du shi

Registrant Province/State ....... si chuan

Registrant Postal Code .......... 610000

Registrant Country Code ......... CN

Registrant Phone Number ......... +86.15184487846

Registrant Fax .................. +86.15184487846

Registrant Email ................ 271850063@qq.com

Administrative ID ............... hc788816951-cn

Administrative Name ............. zhang ze jun

Administrative Organization ..... zhang ze jun

Administrative Address .......... No 3,cheng du shi cheng jiang street,qing yang road,cheng

du

Administrative City ............. cheng du shi

Administrative Province/State ... si chuan

Administrative Postal Code ...... 610000

Administrative Country Code ..... CN

Administrative Phone Number ..... +86.15184487846

Administrative Fax .............. +86.15184487846

Administrative Email ............ 271850063@qq.com

Billing ID ...................... hichina001-cn

Billing Name .................... hichina

Billing Organization ............ HiChina Web Solutions Limited

Billing Address ................. 3/F., HiChina Mansion

No.27 Gulouwai Avenue

Dongcheng District

Billing City .................... Beijing

Billing Province/State .......... Beijing

Billing Postal Code ............. 100011

Billing Country Code ............ CN

Billing Phone Number ............ +86.01064242299

Billing Fax ..................... +86.01064258796

Billing Email ................... domainadm@hichina.com

Technical ID .................... hichina001-cn

Technical Name .................. hichina

Technical Organization .......... HiChina Web Solutions Limited

Technical Address ............... 3/F., HiChina Mansion

No.27 Gulouwai Avenue

Dongcheng District

Technical City .................. Beijing

Technical Province/State ........ Beijing

Technical Postal Code ........... 100011

Technical Country Code .......... CN

Technical Phone Number .......... +86.01064242299

Technical Fax ................... +86.01064258796

Technical Email ................. domainadm@hichina.com

Domain Create Date .............. 2012-12-21 21:32:19

Expiration Date ................. 2013-12-21 21:32:19

Not saying it's not legit, but I would be weary. Especially since the domain was created December of last year and only registered for one year. If you're running a business, why would you only reg for a year, given that domains are so damn cheap?

[Hidi]

How does one obtain such information on a site?

[Redeemer]

Thanks DZ. I ordered knowing that paypal will cover me if anything is scammed.

[DZComposer]

How does one obtain such information on a site?

Run a domain whois. There are several sites out there, so googling that term will bring one up.

Since I now know one of you will whois SF-O, I'll do it for you:

Monospaced Text

Domain Name: starfox-online.net

Registrant Contact:

starfox-online.net Private Registrant

DreamHost Web Hosting

417 Associated Rd #324

Brea, CA 92821

US

+1.7147064182

Administrative Contact:

starfox-online.net Private Registrant

DreamHost Web Hosting

417 Associated Rd #324

Brea, CA 92821

US

+1.7147064182

Technical Contact:

starfox-online.net Private Registrant

DreamHost Web Hosting

417 Associated Rd #324

Brea, CA 92821

US

+1.7147064182

Billing Contact:

starfox-online.net Private Registrant

DreamHost Web Hosting

417 Associated Rd #324

Brea, CA 92821

US

+1.7147064182

Record created on 2006-03-18 21:18:33.

Record expires on 2014-03-18 21:18:33.

Domain servers in listed order:

ns1.dreamhost.com

ns2.dreamhost.com

ns3.dreamhost.com

It's a private record. This is because if you own a domain you'll get all kinds of junk mail and spam since this is all public information. Private registration prevents that.

Not all of them look the same, though. Registrars format their whois data however they want:

Monospaced Text

Domain Name.......... nintendo.com

Creation Date........ 1995-01-10

Registration Date.... 2011-08-31

Expiry Date.......... 2015-01-10

Organisation Name.... Nintendo of America Inc.

Organisation Address. 4820 150th Ave NE

Organisation Address.

Organisation Address.

Organisation Address. Redmond

Organisation Address. 98052

Organisation Address. WA

Organisation Address. UNITED STATES

Admin Name........... Web Master

Admin Address........ 4820 150th Ave NE

Admin Address........

Admin Address........

Admin Address. Redmond

Admin Address........ 98052

Admin Address........ WA

Admin Address........ UNITED STATES

Admin Email..........

Admin Phone.......... +425.8822040

Admin Fax............ +425.8823585

Tech Name............ Nintendo DNS Administration

Tech Address......... 4820 150th Avenue NE

Tech Address.........

Tech Address.........

Tech Address......... Redmond

Tech Address......... 98052

Tech Address......... WA

Tech Address......... UNITED STATES

Tech Email...........

Tech Phone........... +1.4258822040

Tech Fax............. +1.4258823585

Name Server.......... GTM-WEST.NINTENDO.COM

Name Server.......... GTM-EAST.NINTENDO.COM

[StarFoxfan-FUR_ever]

Well, I went ahead and looked up Hichina Zhicheng Technology LTD on google. It would appear that the company regularly is involved with websites that only renew purchase one or two years for their domain names. (Google search link below)

 

https://www.google.com/#sclient=psy-ab&q=HICHINA+ZHICHENG+TECHNOLOGY+LTD.&oq=HICHINA+ZHICHENG+TECHNOLOGY+LTD.&gs_l=hp.3..0j0i22i30l3.989.989.0.1771.1.1.0.0.0.0.145.145.0j1.1.0...0.0...1c.1.18.psy-ab.LZQKvHq-Xb0&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.48340889,d.dmQ&fp=f779c510774b677f&biw=1024&bih=629

 

However, it seems that not all the domain names they work with are scams. However because there are some, I would be a bit concerned about it, but as you said Red, you used PayPal, so if anything does go wrong in your case, you should be covered.

[DZComposer]

Hichina is the registrar, not the owner.

The Administrative contact is the owner:

Administrative Name ............. zhang ze jun

Administrative Organization ..... zhang ze jun

[StarFoxfan-FUR_ever]

Well then i made a pretty silly error there. But I still find it odd that Hichina was linked to a lot of scam websites.

[Drasiana]

I don't know if it's similar in China but I know here my mom's business licenses are only good for a year and she has to renew them every time, maybe it's a similar deal with this person. Anyway, it's weird, there's hardly any word-of-mouth information on this place...but the photos make some of the costumes look extremely cheaply-made

[Redeemer]

If it happens to be crap, I'll be returning it to them. If they don't want to pay shipping, I'll threaten to go open a dispute on paypal. The item is marked as shipped, so it won't be long until it arrives. I'm quite nervous, but one of my friends said he ordered from them once and it was fine, so it could go either way.

[psy_commando]

Well, I got scammed once for not that much money on ebay.. Paypal was completely useless and I never got refunded or anything..

 

I bought some too good to be true bundle of older used pokémon games (gen3 games), and when I received them I immediately saw they were fakes and opened them up to make sure. I took pictures. I notified the seller, who ask for a return, so I shipped them back, but I didn't pay extra for a reception confirmation or tracking.

 

He just kept saying he didn't receive the games.. And apparently even if he sold me counterfeits I still needed to return him the game before getting any help from paypal's staff who kept rambling about tracking numbers..  Even though selling counterfeits is illegal in the first place, and I thought my pictures would be enough.. But it wasn't..

 

All in all, I did a lot of stupid things, especially buying those in the first place, even though when I bought them I was pretty sure they were counterfeits.. But I kinda thought I could probably get that punk off ebay, and get refunded.. I have some funny ideas sometimes..

 

But, I think I trust more my credit card company than paypal as far as my money is concerned to be honest !

 

I suggest looking up webpages review websites. Webputation is decent : http://www.webutation.net/

And try searching the company's name here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/

[CrypticQuery]

He just kept saying he didn't receive the games.. And apparently even if he sold me counterfeits I still needed to return him the game before getting any help from paypal's staff who kept rambling about tracking numbers..  Even though selling counterfeits is illegal in the first place, and I thought my pictures would be enough.. But it wasn't..

 

To be fair, when you shipped them back out did you choose to have them tracked, and then did you deliver the tracking numbers to Paypal as requested?

[psy_commando]

To be fair, when you shipped them back out did you choose to have them tracked, and then did you deliver the tracking numbers to Paypal as requested?

 

I took pictures. I notified the seller, who ask for a return, so I shipped them back, but I didn't pay extra for a reception confirmation or tracking.

 

 

Nah, I did not and that's part of the stupid things I did. But I was mostly relying on the criminal part of the whole transaction to be honest..

 

It was just common sense to me but common sense and companies are on bad terms..

[CrypticQuery]

Ah, excuse my inability to read.

[Redeemer]

Well they're a bunch of fannies, they sent out my suit twice but twice it was returned to them due to problems with the courier. They didn't contact me, they didn't even repost automatically, they just let me sit there and wonder where my order was. So I've told them just to keep it, and that I want a refund.

 

They're claiming that I'm due to pay for postage, but since I never even received my item I think that's pretty shitty. So I'm taking this to paypal.

 

LOOKS LIKE I'M MISTY AGAIN THIS YEAR.

 

Actually happy about that - can't be bothered with loads of face paint on when it's so hot outside.