Online Shopping Safety Checklist
Twenty checks. Two minutes. Before you hand over your card details to a store you've never used.
Fake stores look legitimate on purpose
New fraudulent online stores appear faster than any blacklist can track them. They look legitimate — professional design, fake reviews, reasonable prices, HTTPS padlock — long enough to take money from buyers who have no recourse once the order never arrives.
The signals that distinguish a genuine store from a short-lived scam operation are identifiable, but only if you know what to look for and where to check.
Most people apply the same trust heuristics that worked in 2015 to a much more sophisticated threat landscape in 2025.
Step by step
- Download the one-page PDF.
- Before buying from any store you haven't used before, open the checklist.
- Work through the 20 checks across four categories: the website itself, reviews and reputation, pricing and payment, and what to verify after you buy.
- If multiple checks fail, find the product elsewhere — the time spent is significantly less than the time spent disputing a fraudulent charge.
Anyone who shops online
Particularly useful when buying from a store discovered through a social media ad, a Google Shopping result, or a recommendation from an unfamiliar source.
- One-page PDF checklist
- 5 website checks
- 5 review and reputation checks
- 5 payment and pricing checks
- 5 post-purchase checks
- Print-ready
- Works on any device
Two minutes before you buy. Zero minutes disputing a fraud charge.
The stores that scam people look legitimate on purpose. This checklist checks the things that are harder to fake.
Get the checklist ($5) →One-time download · No account required · Print-ready PDF