How to Tell If a Website Is Legit: 9 Checks

Before you type your card number into an unfamiliar store, spend two minutes on the checks below. No single signal proves a site is safe, but stack a few together and the picture gets clear fast. Here's exactly what to look at and what to click.

1. Read the web address carefully

Scammers copy real brands with tiny changes: an extra letter, a swapped character, or a strange ending. Look closely at the part right before the first single slash — that's the real domain. amaz0n-deals.shop is not amazon.com.

• Watch for number-for-letter swaps (0 for o, 1 for l).
• Be wary of a famous brand name buried in a longer address, like nike.bigsale-outlet.com.
• Odd endings (.shop, .top, .store) aren't proof of a scam, but they're common on throwaway sites.

2. Don't trust the padlock alone

The padlock and https:// mean traffic is encrypted — nothing more. Free certificates take minutes to get, so fake stores have them too. Treat the padlock as a baseline, never as proof the seller is honest.

3. Check how old the domain is

Most scam stores are only weeks old. Run the address through a free WHOIS or domain-age lookup to see the registration date. A site claiming to be an established brand but registered last month is a red flag. Older, stable domains lean more trustworthy.

4. Look for real contact details

Legitimate sellers make it easy to reach them. Hunt for a working email on the site's own domain, a phone number, and a physical address. Then test it: search the address in a map, and be suspicious of a Gmail-only contact or a form with no other option. No way to reach a human is a serious warning sign.

5. Find the policies before you buy

Click through to Shipping, Returns/Refunds, Privacy, and Terms. Real stores spell out how long delivery takes, how to send something back, and who pays return postage. Missing, vague, or copy-pasted policies mean you may have no recourse if the order goes wrong.

6. Judge the payment options

This is one of the strongest signals.

• Good: credit card, PayPal, or a recognized checkout like Stripe, Apple Pay, or Google Pay — all offer some buyer protection.
• Bad: a store that pushes bank transfer, cryptocurrency, gift cards, or wiring money. These are hard or impossible to reverse, which is exactly why scammers prefer them.

If a checkout suddenly switches you to one of the risky methods, stop.

7. Search for independent reviews

Search the store's name plus the words scam, reviews, and complaints. Look for reviews on sites the seller doesn't control, check that they're recent, and read the negative ones. A brand-new store with only glowing five-star reviews — or no trace online at all — deserves caution. Reviews pasted directly on the site can be faked, so weigh outside sources more heavily.

8. Test the photos and text

Right-click a product photo and run a reverse image search. If the same picture shows up across dozens of unrelated shops or a stock library, the seller may not actually stock the item. Also scan the writing: heavy typos, mismatched fonts, and broken links on the home page are common on rushed fake sites.

9. Be suspicious of pressure and impossible deals

Countdown timers, "only 2 left," and prices far below everyone else are designed to rush you past the checks above. If a deal seems too good to be true, slow down and verify before paying.

Put it together

Run through as many of these as you can. One yellow flag isn't a verdict, but several together — new domain, no contact info, wire-only payment, no reviews — is your cue to walk away and keep your money.

Short on time? You can check any shop in seconds, and if you got a suspicious link or message, paste it into our scam checker before you click.

When in doubt, buy through a card

If you still want to risk a purchase, use a credit card. If the goods never arrive or aren't as described, you can usually dispute the charge with your bank — a safety net that bank transfers and gift cards don't give you.