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I'm looking to buy a new sleeping bag and this website has a really good price:
https://www.sleepingbags-onsales.com/
If a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is.... so, how do I know if this is a scam website or real?
The sleeping bag I am looking at is half the price of anywhere else, so I'm guessing it isn't legit..?
Buy something
Wait a few weeks
If nothing comes, the website is a scam.
HTH
If they’re drop shipping the price can be ridiculously low.
Do a whois on the domain name. If it's existed for a few years then it passes check 1.
https://www.whois.com/whois/singletrackworld.com
Search Google for Reviews "singletrackworld.com" and see what comes up
I reckon the domain name gives it away 🤦
That, and the content...
Well if you go to the delivery and returns sections at the bottom there are immediate red flags.
Start from you place your order with payment done, total you have to spend 15-25 days on waiting your package. It will takes 10-15 days for checking and then go to your place.
And the returns page has a different company name, mountain equipment.
I often just Google 'is website name legit' as well.
That site is not legit.
Not a single review....
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/sleepingbags-onsales.com
if it's too good - it probably is.
Post code does not appear to exist.
No phone number.
mmm.
China - and they don't want you to know any more than that. Registered in the last couple of.months. Could be legit, but...
Scammier than a really very scammy thing.
address
Generally I find that when you find yourself starting a thread on STW asking "is this a scam" then you already know the answer and are just hoping someone will tell you otherwise.
Domain was registered in October for just one year, no legitimate business does that. (And "sleepingbags-onsales" is plainly a bollocks name.)
There are a million different things to check, as well as the domain name etc. registration
No company name or store name
No location
No address
Prices in £, Delivery costs in $
Looks just like a bazillion other similar sites
On a different forum at the weekend someone posted a "is this legit?" thread. I copy/pasted half a sentence from the "about us" text, and googled it, and the first 50-100 results were identical text for 50-100 totally different "sales" websites, all in different areas of "sales", most with just a domain name and no store name.
This one doesn't seem to be that bad, and someone must have replace the proforma text with something, even if they don't say who they are. Oh actually, no, it looks like the Delivery page was copy pasted from when it was a "shoe sales" site.
These are all cookie cutter sites. I think most of the money is in the trading of pre-made sites for scammers, that they can spin up in no time. When this one is take down, it'll be up within a day with a different name.
Thanks, I'm not too 'tech savvy' , just thought I'd ask before doing something stupid.
You don't need to be tech savvy 🙂 just poke around and do a Google 🙂
Another clue is looking at the rest of the website rather than just the product you found via a search engine, sometimes they have huge gaps in the range i.e bike shop but they don't sell any tyres, or it's a bike shop but they are also selling vapes.
or it’s a bike shop but they are also selling vapes.
TBF, judging by the number of threads on here asking for advice about renovating bathrooms, etc., CRC could probably pull themselves out of their financial woes by adding a toilet and bathroom hardware section.
CRC could probably pull themselves out of their financial woes by adding a toilet and bathroom hardware section.
Chain Reaction Cisterns?
Chain Reaction Cludgies of course, but yes
Price is the biggest warning but it's probably the Nigerian prince principle. If you made the price low but a bit more sensible you might attract too many people who spot the scam too quickly. You want people who will overlook all the red flags in the desire for a bargain so a super low price is itself a red flag but just indicates that more checking is needed, exactly as the OP did
I'm loving the COVID social distancing bollocks on a web site that's a few months old!
The about us section was pretty telling.
No tales of two plucky entrepreneurs starting in their back room. Just some tripe about always surpassing them selves with quality products.
Just some tripe about always surpassing them selves with quality products
Blatantly AI generated
Even Trust Pilot isnt too good a guide - owners of scam sites will load review sites up with fake reviews. It can take a while for real reviews from disappointed customers to appear on the site becuase of course it takes a few weeks for it to become apparent you've been ripped off and the poor reviews don't seem to move the needle much in terms of the site's rating for a while too. So a site might have a 4-5 star rating and the first few reviews on the page are all glowing, but scroll down a bit and all the genuine reviews give the game away
Drain Reaction
I'm not sure that got the recognition it deserved 😆
I know this doesn't help but a couple of months ago I decided to buy a new sleeping bag. Did my research and narrowed to down to a Mountain Equipment Helium 400. I needed to wait for payday so didn't order. A week or so later I was at a conference where ME were exhibiting. At the wrap up session there was a small raffle, I won a ME Helium 400.
Anyway, website is dodgy as a dodgy thing from Dodgesville. It really is quite obvious.
The most obvious scam website I've ever seen. Selling £300 and more sleeping bags for £96? Nah.
As for a sleeping bag its got to be the Alpkit Pipedream 400 or the 600 depending on your needs. Wait until after Christmas if you can for the inevitable sale they always have. This is the best down sleeping bag you can get for the money. Period. I did all the miles searching and this won't be beaten. Packs down very small (i have the 400) and is warm enough for me year round.
I direct my non-techy, but capable septuagenarian mother to use https://www.getsafeonline.org/checkawebsite/ before she buys anything online from a new site. It gives an easy to read summary of the various checks outlined in previous responses.
I direct my non-techy, but capable septuagenarian mother to use https://www.getsafeonline.org/checkawebsite/ /blockquote>
Oh, that's handy.
From that site, https://www.scamadviser.com/check-website/sleepingbags-onsales.com
To be honest that getsafeonline page seems to err in the websites favour. Mainly green ticks with a simple warning to do your own checks! The fact it knows the website URL is only two months old should be a red flag to start with...
https://check.getsafeonline.org/check/Sleepingbags-onsales.com?inputUrl=Sleepingbags-onsales.com