Want to Shop Online and Purchase From a Commercial Website? Check the Reliability & Reputation, First!
Buying online is phenomenal. Millions of people spend more and more huge amounts of money on the Internet and do their shopping every single day. On the other hand, the reports about scam websites and fraud companies have been increased over the past few years and many people unfortunately become victims of such dishonest websites. So, checking a commercial website is vital for every body who wants to shop on the world wide web.
Here are some of the tips that may help you check the reliability and reputation of a commercial website:
1. Search the Name
The very first step is to search for the name of that company or website. Just go to a search engine like Google and start your research by entering the name. See how many results will come up and read some of the first ones. Also, you can combine your search query with words like “Review”, “Feedback”, “History”, or even “Scam”. If you read a lot of negative stories or feedbacks about that particular website, then you should think about it again. Don´t hurry!
2. Whois Lookup the Company
As you may know, there are some reliable resources that can tell you about the history and whois records of a specific company. You only enter a web address and they will provide some useful information such as the website title, the registrar name, administrative info, technical info, status, creation and expiration date of the domain name, etc.
Well, it is not the only method for checking the reliability of a website by itself. But, for example, the creation date of the domain name can get a better judgement if the company is serious and professional or not. So does the expiration date. Therefore, it is a good idea to find out who is behind the website.
Another benefit is getting contacts information. It would be a great idea if you can call them right away or send them an e-mail message and see how fast they reply and what their response is. Remember, a good website offers great support all the time.
3. Browse the Forums and Discussion Boards
Maybe another powerful method for finding about a commercial website is hanging out in the forums and discussion boards. Don´t forget, if a company has a bad reputation or negative feedback, the unhappy customers will announce it somewhere on the Internet. So, check out popular forums in that particular topic and see what other people are saying about the website. Just type your topic or industry in the search engines with additional words such as “Forums”, “Discussion Boards” or “DB” and check out the results!
Bear in mind that if you can´t find any thread or post about the website, it doesn´t necessarily mean that there isn´t currently any feedback. Go and post your thread and then see what people are replying. Get in touch with the website´s clients or customers and ask about their opinions!
4. Ask Your Questions in Networks & Communities
Well, forums and discussion boards are not the only places for your questions. There are tons of other resources and communities where you can go and ask your own questions or get them answered by ordinary or expert people. Yahoo! Answers, Google Answers and JustAnswer are some real examples.
Besides, there are literally hundreds of Groups and Networks out there full of different people with similar interests, passions and activities. As long as you can join them and get in touch with real people, you have chances to get your questions asked.
5. Find Out Verifications by Trusted Organizations
Finally, another important point for judging the reliability of a commercial website is to check if there is any verification made by some trusted companies on the website itself. Normally, there are a number of web trusted organizations that evaluate and confirm applied companies to meet the program requirements and allow the websites to display those confirmation or verification seals on their own web pages.
These organizations have different criteria and various requirements. They cover important features such as privacy policy, security, disclaimer, trust, confidence and so on. Believe it or not, getting verification from some of those organizations is really a tough job. Resources such as BBBOnline, Verisign, TRUSTe, UPS, HackerSafe and OnGuardOnline are some examples in this case.
So, next time, if you see a sign or a seal from a trusted organization, it could mean that the website is reliable. But, don´t take my word for it. Always check out the company history and customer feedback in the market, as well.
The list goes on. I´ve just mentioned the most important points for checking the reliability and reputation of a commercial website. Combine it with other factors that I had stated in my previous post. Elements such as Google PageRank, Alexa Traffic Ranking, The Website Appearance & Its Accessibility. All of them may give you a better feeling for your judgements. So, let your heart & brain work together!
To Your Success!
Hooshmand Moslemi
Subscribe by RSS
Subscribe by E-Mail
October 27th, 2008 at 2:22 am
This is a good post. If I’m not sure about a company though I often type in the companies name in a search engine along with the word ‘scam’ – Ripoffreport.com is a good place as well to see if there are complaints on a company.
Good post!
January 6th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Hi, please verify, if possible, the reliability of the above website. I wanted to pay for drugs (I hope original brand) via Western Union and I asked for City/State and the name of the beneficiary and i got an answer with a Thai name located in Bangkok. Now, I’m not sure at all, if everything is alright. Many thanks and bye, Robert
January 6th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Sorry, this was not a comment but a request.R.
January 6th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Hi, this is not a comment but a request. Please verify, if possible, the reliability of the above website. Many thanks and bye. R.
March 18th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
Well said, finally a good report on this stuff
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:26 am
Always good quality info from this site!
September 12th, 2009 at 10:40 pm
Great info thanks for the share. You don’t mind if I ask you a rhetorical question about yourself do you?
October 20th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
Thanks for sharing, say, do you have a twitter to follow?
October 21st, 2009 at 11:00 pm
Yes My Friend.
Here it is:
http://www.Twitter.com/Hooshmand
November 28th, 2009 at 7:21 am
It?s good to see you make postings on this topic, I should book mark this website. Keep up the good work.
November 30th, 2009 at 11:26 am
What I do not believe I agree with that at all really.
January 12th, 2010 at 1:06 pm
very good imformation
April 17th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
Great site I use a company called Ncube Digital for all of my Web Development and I would recommend them to anyone looking for a great web design company. I can honestly say that I have never dealt with a company in the industry so ready to answer a phone or an email and give great help.
May 17th, 2010 at 3:54 pm
Good post & Thank you. It’s helpful for both product customer & online merchant. I ‘ll keep watching it.
June 23rd, 2010 at 7:21 am
i love r&b music becaue it sounds soothing to my ears.;’.
September 4th, 2010 at 4:09 am
Furthermore, Agrotourism is a localy managed by community folks. the trip is usually spectacular the moment the tourists find out to value there becoming part from the manufacturing and management process. The earning from Agrotourism can develop the much-needed cash circulation inside the communities. That can assist solved the unemployment problem and promote domestic tourism. Come consider delight inside fertility from the land and help make agrotourism sustainable and productive activity.
October 13th, 2010 at 1:06 am
Incredibly good desgin of this website. It can be person and compares in your posts. Don´t give up and make your very own point!
October 13th, 2010 at 6:20 pm
R&B music is the best music, it is cool and very lively,”~
October 22nd, 2010 at 5:21 am
I didn’t just spy on other players, but I interrogated them as well. Any time I saw wealthy players I would add them as a companion and raid up a conversation so I could learn all their stealthys for myself.
November 11th, 2010 at 7:23 pm
This is a very good post it contains interesting information
December 20th, 2010 at 8:04 am
This is a interesting write up. Looking forward to reading more of your work.
February 16th, 2011 at 8:27 am
It is appropriate time to make some plans for the future and it is time to be happy. I have read this post and if I could I desire to suggest you few interesting things or suggestions. Perhaps you can write next articles referring to this article. I desire to read even more things about it!
August 11th, 2011 at 4:11 am
Thanks a lot for the helpful tips. You discover something just about every day.
September 3rd, 2011 at 5:01 am
Wonderful blog! I found it while surfing around on Yahoo News. Do you have any suggestions on how to get listed in Yahoo News? I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there! Thanks Also, please take a look at my blog http://www.kalerta.com/item/76
September 14th, 2011 at 4:03 am
I’ve found out a thing new on several different weblogs daily. It’s always stimulative to discover articles of other authors and learn somewhat something from their website. Thank you giving.
September 20th, 2011 at 3:11 pm
Could be the hopeless!
September 24th, 2011 at 1:05 pm
This is a very newsworthy article! I am so excited I checked your page. Keep up the amazing work. Have a great day!mail forwarder
September 25th, 2011 at 5:15 pm
excellenta ssuamo de cilio y prolóico con iuguiria semade. trizame a telira y stamo aridacemo con inhaba sanissen!
November 9th, 2011 at 3:41 am
Thank you so much for sharing a lot of this great information! Looking forward to checking out more blogs.
November 23rd, 2011 at 10:10 pm
Hello there, You have done an incredible job. I’ll definitely digg it and personally recommend to my friends. I’m sure they’ll be benefited from this web site.
November 24th, 2011 at 2:09 pm
I know the hard deliver the results it must have been needed to study just for this post.Almost all what i can say is definitely retain Submitting these publish all of us loves it.As well as the choices deliver one thing on your see,I have come across a number of weblog providng your blog seeing that reference with this information.
November 26th, 2011 at 12:01 pm
Lots of thanks for posting this. Absolutely superb submit. Lots of thanks!
November 27th, 2011 at 5:04 am
Hey everyone, sorry for being off but what theme do you have? or did you design it yourself? I really like the theme here on this blog.I think I saw one looking like this site but I dont recall right now.
December 15th, 2011 at 6:21 am
my business is sooo loving the game of golf discounts… They help me cut costs when actively playing the best sport…
December 25th, 2011 at 6:14 am
I’ve been browsing online more than three hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It’s pretty worth enough for me. In my view, if all web owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the internet will be much more useful than ever before.