How do I tell if a website is genuine before paying?

Fake shops are cheap to build and increasingly well made. The reliable defence is a short routine plus paying in a way that gives you a route back.

Safety

Step by step

1. Read the domain letter by letter.Substituted characters, extra words, unusual endings. A convincing copy of a known retailer usually differs by one character or a hyphen. This is the most common tell and it takes five seconds.
2. Ignore the padlock as evidence of honesty.It means the connection is encrypted, nothing more. Certificates are free and scam sites have them. A padlock on a fake shop is entirely normal.
3. Look for a real address and phone number.A genuine UK retailer has a physical address and a company number. A contact form and nothing else is a warning. Check the company number against Companies House.
4. Check how old the domain is.A free WHOIS lookup shows the registration date. A site selling well-known brands from a domain registered three weeks ago is almost certainly fraudulent.
5. Search the name plus 'scam' or 'reviews'.Two minutes. Look for reviews on independent sites rather than on the seller's own pages, and be sceptical of a wall of five-star reviews all posted in one week.
6. Distrust prices that are far below everyone else.A hard rule. Genuine retailers cannot sell substantially below trade cost, and a heavily discounted in-demand item is the single most reliable indicator of a fake shop.
7. Look at the writing and the images.Odd grammar, mismatched fonts, product photos lifted from other sites, a returns policy that reads as though translated. Individually weak signals; together, decisive.
8. Check the payment options offered.Bank transfer only, cryptocurrency, or a request to pay a named individual are all conclusive. Legitimate retailers accept cards.
9. Pay by credit card where you can.Section 75 makes the card provider jointly liable for purchases between £100 and £30,000. This is the strongest consumer protection available and it costs nothing to use.
10. Use a debit card as the second choice.Chargeback is weaker than Section 75 and has time limits, but it is a genuine route. It is still far better than a transfer.
11. Never send a bank transfer for goods.It is treated as an authorised payment you chose to make, and recovery is very limited. Any seller insisting on it is telling you something.
12. Check the returns and delivery terms exist.A UK trader selling at distance must give you cancellation rights. A site with no returns policy, or one that contradicts those rights, is either fraudulent or not UK-based.
13. Act quickly if it goes wrong.Contact the card provider immediately, report to Action Fraud, and keep every screenshot and email. Speed materially affects recovery.

Tips

• Read the domain character by character. Nearly every convincing fake differs by one letter or a hyphen.
• The padlock means encrypted, not honest. Scam sites have padlocks.
• Pay by credit card over £100. Section 75 is worth more than every other check combined.

Common mistakes

• Treating the padlock as proof the site is legitimate — Certificates are free and universal. It confirms the connection is encrypted and says nothing about who is at the other end.
• Paying by bank transfer for goods — It is an authorised payment with very limited recovery. Card payments carry Section 75 or chargeback protection instead.

If it doesn't work