The Internet and online platforms have become an integral part of our lives. This is an undeniable fact. Admittedly, most of us cannot imagine our lives without the Internet and mobile devices. Many aspects of our lives are reflected in online platforms. One of them is shopping, which many of us, especially our ladies, love. Thus, online shopping has become extremely popular in recent years around the world, as well as in our country. Thanks to online shopping platforms, we can now easily order the products, clothes and accessories we want from online shopping sites without leaving our homes. At first glance, online shopping may seem like just a nuance that makes our lives more comfortable. However, studies show that the shopping process causes the secretion of the powerful hormone dopamine in the human body. Online shopping makes dopamine, the hormone of happiness, more accessible. At first glance, this course of events, the fact that the Internet makes us access to a lot of information and entertainment, seems extremely utopian, but there is another side to the coin. When left unmanaged, they can be left astray and lose the right path. When it comes to online shopping and payments, some businessmen can take advantage of our carelessness, and through fake sites, online platforms, they can end our online shopping with an unpleasant ending. There are many examples of such unpleasant situations. Some sites use fraudulent bank card information for their own purposes, create fake online shopping sites, and if the payment for the ordered product is deducted from our account, we do not receive the product we ordered, sell counterfeit products, and so on. But how to protect yourself from such "fraudulent" sites? How can we tell if an online shopping site is trustworthy? This time in our blog, we will talk about ways to determine if an online shopping site is trustworthy. After reading our blog, you will be able to determine the reliability of any site you want to order, not only from secure online shopping sites such as Trendyol, Morhipo, n11.

1. Site address

The small, closed lock icon to the left of the online shopping site's address is one of the first signs that the site is secure. When you click on the name of the site, the letter "s" at the end of the text "https:", which you will see in front of the address of the site, indicates that the site has a security certificate and the bank card information you entered when ordering is secure.

In addition, one of the points you should pay attention to in the e-mail (name) of the online store is the number of stages of the site's domain. For example, www.Dynamex.az is a two-tier domain. These domains are paid and secure. Serious online shopping sites usually have a two-tier domain.

However, trusting shopping sites with domains such as www.kargo.ucoz.narod.com (a pseudonym) can result in unexpected and unpleasant surprises.

2. General view of the site

One of the things you should pay attention to when shopping online is the overall design of the site. Imagine if the physical store you enter for shopping is in a state of disrepair, the products are untidy, the shop windows are dusty - would you shop at this store? We think the answer is clear. Also, the visual appearance of an online shopping site is an indicator of how reliable it is, how well it sells quality products. Also, the presence of gross grammatical and spelling errors in the texts on the site indicates the "messiness" of the online store.

3. Ads on the site

If clicking on a product of your choice on the site leads to links to other sites, or there are so many advertising banners that you generally do not know where and why to click, we have bad news for you - this shopping site is most likely unreliable. The main purpose of this type of site is simply to make money by placing a large number of paid ads. Card information entered by unscrupulous customers will fall into the hands of fraudsters and orders will not be delivered to the buyer.

4. Payment methods

Another thing to pay attention to is the availability of payment methods and security signs that are well known to us on the online shopping site. The presence of payment methods such as Visa, MasterCard, security tokens such as Paypal, Better Business Bureau on the site is an additional indicator of the reliability of the shopping site.

5. Means of communication

We do not recommend that you trust this site unless you have contact details such as contact numbers, physical address, e-mail address of an online purchase. We would also recommend those who like to be especially careful to call the contact line and ask questions to real employees of the online store.

6. Pay attention to the comments

It is usually possible to form an opinion based on the comments written about the site, especially the online shopping site. It is clear that many negative reviews are due to reasons such as poor quality products and poor customer service of the shopping site. However, the lack of comments, or only positive reviews, raises doubts about the operation of the online store. It is likely that the short, simple positive comments you see are false. Of course, it is risky to rely on this type of online shopping. It is important to remember that it is natural for any online shopping store to have a certain number of negative reviews, and vice versa, it is an indicator of the real activity of the store. Negative reviews usually give more information about the real activity of the shopping site, its products.

Yes, the security algorithms of our computers, smartphones, and Internet browsers often ensure our security and protect us from fraudulent sites. However, there is no harm in being cautious. By following these steps, you can protect yourself and your personal information from fraudsters when shopping online. No, if you do not have the time or desire to check the reliability of any shopping site, you can get detailed information about reliable and wide range of online stores in Turkey and order on this blog. Happy shopping!