1 - Website Reputation
1.1 - Simply via an online search
If you have doubts about the reliability of a site, it is important to verify the identity of the managing company. To do this, in France, the DGCCRF (General Directorate for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control) recommends searching the company's name online while adding words like "scam," "fraud," and "reliability." This is a simple, free, and quick way to check if the site is associated with malicious practices.
1.2 - Using an online reliability tool
To delve deeper into the analysis, you can also use a website reliability assessment tool. Some tools, like ScamDoc, evaluate the level of trust you can place in a website. The tool relies on various relevant criteria such as the presence of an HTTPS protocol, site traffic, the age of the domain name, its ranking on certain sites, the reliability of email addresses associated with the site, and more. ScamDoc uses advanced artificial intelligence to obtain these results.
2 - Website Domain Name
Before diving into the next steps, it is crucial to ensure you are on the correct website. Scams are abundant, and fake sites are now extremely well designed. One should not rely solely on the appearance of a website, as, similar to a fake account on social media, a website can be easily replicated.
One of the elements that can help you ensure you are on the right site is the domain name. This is essentially the base of your URL. For example, the domain name of the igidop site is digidop.fr. Other domain names like digidop.ru, info.digidop.eu, and digidop-france.fr may belong to different companies or malicious individuals. Visiting a different domain name is like going into your neighbor's house thinking you are entering your own.
To verify the authenticity of a website, you can also use tools like Who.is. Once the URL is entered, the tool provides various pieces of information such as the IP address, owner, address, contact details, etc.
3 - Legal Notices and Privacy Policy
3.1 Legal notices
Every website must display certain mandatory notices related to the site owner, the publisher, the company, the address, and so on. These legal notices act as a passport for a website, accessible to every visitor or user of the solution. These legal mentions will allow you to verify the authenticity of the company owning the website, thus ensuring its reliability.
3.2 Privacy Policy
If it is not present in the legal notices, a website's privacy policy is also mandatory. It encompasses all measures implemented by the site to protect personal data. A reliable site must therefore have a complete privacy policy that complies with the new GDPR standards. Check this privacy policy to ensure that the site effectively protects your personal data.
4 - Terms and Conditions of Sale
The General Terms and Conditions of Sale or T&Cs must be present on every e-commerce site. Whether it's the sale of physical goods, intangible items, or services, a reliable e-commerce platform should make its T&Cs accessible with a single click. They should also be available before finalizing any purchase.
These T&Cs serve as a contract for each of your purchases, and it is important to review them to understand payment terms, refund policies, return policies, product guarantees, shipping terms, product and spare part availability, ancillary services, and more.
5 - Site and Payment Security
6.1 Legal Principle
According to the DGCCRF, “consent is characterized by a double click.” Therefore, be vigilant when making payments, as the seller is required to follow a two-step process:
- Click 1: verify the order, price, and included products or services, and accept the T&Cs and legal notices.
- Click 2: confirm the order and proceed to payment.
6.2 Technical Security
It is essential that the site is secure. There are different security protocols, but ensure the site includes at least an HTTPS security feature. This is indicated by the addition of an “S” to the URL.
✅ Secure site: https://
⛔ Unsecure site: http://
This can also be indicated by a closed padlock icon to the left of your URL.
In addition to the HTTPS protocol, it's important that your site
💡 The CNIL advises against storing your bank details in web browsers
6.3 Using a third party for payment
If doubts persist, we recommend using a trusted third party for payment processing. E-commerce platforms and no-code tools have popularized virtual wallets. The advantage is being able to make purchases without disclosing your bank details. If the site offers to pay with tools like Paypal, ApplePay, Paylib, Google Wallet, or Stripe, the payment will be much safer, as these tools comply with very stringent security standards.
6.4 Do not rely solely on payment icons
Beware of payment icons that make you believe the site is secure! Images of padlocks, mentions like “secure payment” on the site, and icons for Paypal, Visa, etc., are not guarantees of reliability. Anyone can add such images or messages without their site being secure. Only the previously mentioned indicators should alert you.
6 - Product Characteristics
Unlike a physical store, on an e-commerce platform, it is not possible to touch a product before purchasing it. Therefore, we recommend carefully reviewing the product sheet along with its technical specifications. This is primarily a way to ensure that you are buying the correct product, as the images on the product page may sometimes not match what you receive. Additionally, inconsistencies could alert you to the product's reliability.
⚠️Do not rely solely on the product photo
7 - Do not trust all customer reviews
7.1 Between real and fake reviews
The most common mistake consumers make is to overly rely on customer reviews. Let's clarify customer reviews on websites by distinguishing three types of reviews:
- Reviews posted by the site: the authenticity of these reviews is very difficult to verify since the company itself selects the content it publishes.
- User reviews: somewhat more reliable if the site has reviews from actual users. This translates to a login identifier for each user, resulting in unique profiles.
- Review platforms: more reliable depending on the platform. Some platforms like Google or TrustPilot have powerful algorithms capable of analyzing and removing fake reviews.
In general, be aware that practices involving fake reviews and paid reviews are very prevalent. Therefore, this is not a key criterion for assessing a website's reliability.
7.2 Legal Principle
In France, Article L. 111-7-2 of the Consumer Code regulates certain conditions that must be met regarding reviews on a website. Sites must inform consumers about “the existence of a review control procedure and its main characteristics, the publication date of the review and consumer experience, the ranking criteria for reviews, and the reasons justifying the refusal of publication of a review.”
In addition to this law, there is a French standard, the NF Z74-501 standard, aimed at regulating the collection, moderation, and presentation of consumer reviews.
8 - Check the site's presence on social media
The final step is to check the site's overall presence online. For example, you can look to see if the site has a presence on social media, if it has a Google My Business listing, or if other sites mention it.
