Online bargain. Is website trustworthy?

Jim_san

Hi all, my first post here and I'm looking for some advice if anyone is able to help?

I am looking to buy a gift for my partner for Xmas and have found a website that is selling said gift at a fraction of the price that the item generally is (apart from on eBay where they are second hand)

Now, I have done a Whois on the domain name of the website and it's only been registered a few weeks and it's registered in China (even though the contact address on the website is given as Manchester and the various pages are written in very poor English)

As much as I want to believe that this site is legit and grab myself a bargain (and infinate brownie points from the mrs) I can't help but think that something fishy is going on here.

Would I be foolish placing an order with these guys? Would I ever see the goods do you think, or would they just help themselves to my money and disappear?

This is the site

yslbootshop.com

Any advice would be greatly received. Thanks

kalaika

Well it's registered in China, poorly written (you can change the currency to "Europe Dollar", whatever they think that is...) and the 'customer service' email is a Yahoo address. All classic signs that it is a scam website.

If you've got a barge pole handy, don't touch this website with it.

Jim_san

Thanks for the reply.

I did email the 'customer service' email address but as yet I've heard nothing back.

There seems to be a lot of websites very similar to this all selling the same thing.

I think I'll just have to play it safe and hope something crops up on eBay I guess

underlay_guru

IMO this stinks of either a scam site or site selling rotten fakes.

I would avoid at all costs

sassyblue

Hi Jim, could you get a 0% credit card or buy the gift on interest free credit?? I'd stake my life on that website being fradulent, don't touch those yahoo,gmail,hotmail accounts to buy anything.

kimmy1984

they accept paypal, would this not be safe?

Jim_san

Thank you all for your replies.

It's not the ways of payment that concern me, it's whether I would actually receive the goods after I'd paid for them and if they would be genuine items.

Seeing as they're not cheap items I think in this case it would be better to be safe than sorry and stick to a trusted seller based in the UK. I don't mind paying a bit extra so long as I know what I am buying is actually going to turn up and be what I am expecting.

Unfortunately, I am yet to find anywhere to buy Manolo Blahnik shoes online in the UK other than eBay and eBay seems to be pretty limited on choice.

Might have to nip back to the drawing board

ben500

kimmy1984 wrote: »

they accept paypal, would this not be safe?

Since when has paypal payment been safe?

kimmy1984

ben500 wrote: »

Since when has paypal payment been safe?

is it not? i always thought it were the safest option when paying online?

vicshippers

kimmy1984 wrote: »

is it not? i always thought it were the safest option when paying online?

Paypal offers you pretty much no protection whatsoever unless you also go through the eBay system.

When online you should always pay with credit card where possible.

nikki2804

If the website is selling the likes of GHD's and Ugg boots for knockdown prices then I would stay clear TBH. With things like this, the saying "if its to good to be tre then id probably is" screams out.

Interest free credit card is probably the best bet.

Or biting the bullet and paying full price - at least you will know the item is genuine and not likely to harm anyone