As Sneakers Joint, we rotate in the realm of limited and hard-to-find shoes, and we know that there is more than one person lurking around the corner who will try to scam you by selling you your dream pair of shoes.
To protect you from being scammed, we have specially prepared this guide. Familiarize yourself with them so you can be ready for possible threats. The screen below is just one of the common situations that face online shoppers.
1, If you buy shoes from a website, check whether the company is legally registered in Poland. A company that runs an online store, is required to provide its data such as name, address and Tax ID. By typing this information into an Internet search engine, you should be shown sites like OWG or CEIDG, which show the current status of the company in question. If you can’t search for a particular company by TIN, it could mean that the company doesn’t exist and the store you want to buy shoes from is fake.
Additionally, check the store’s terms and conditions. If the store presents information similar to that shown in the screenshot below, it most likely sells non-original shoes.
Regulations of stores that are legally registered in Poland should look like this:
- If you did not receive a sales receipt after making a purchase from an online or Instagram store, and after reminders to provide one, it means that the sale went through illegally. The seller should issue you a receipt or an invoice if you made the purchase for a company. To guard against such a situation even before you buy, ask the seller if he will issue you a sales document. If not, the transaction should not be concluded, as it is risky for you the consumer. In addition, if the store is from the same city and the seller avoids meeting you, this is just another reason for concern.
- A very underpriced product is a very common signal that the seller is trying to cheat you. Although the ordered product will actually come to you, it will be inauthentic. In the shoe market, the price of shoes is variable and often the price varies between sizes. In most cases, it is constantly increasing. If you see your desired shoes at an undervalued price you should abandon the purchase. This is a common mistake made by people unfamiliar with the shoe market. Because of which later there is the proverbial ‘cry’.
- Also, be wary of people who claim to be authentic stores with normal prices – often after you pay, you may never see your pair. Check store reviews on sites such as Trustpilot, Google and Facebook.
- Another red flag are profiles on Instagram that have redeemed followers or redeemed likes.
We hope that the knowledge provided to you will help you to shop safely on the Internet. See you in the next blog!