by Shopify is an eCommerce Platform developed by Canadian multinational company Shopify Inc. having headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. Shopify provides an easy way to open retail online stores through click and select tools. It is a too handy tool for Retailers but at the same time, it become a tool for scammers as well. In this Shopify Scamadviser post, I will share detailed information about Scam that done by scammers through the Shopify platform.
After going through various online and offline research I gathered some interesting facts about Shopify scammers. I recommend you to read this post at once before purchasing any product from the Shopify store.
Table of Contents
What is Shopify
Shopify is an online select and clicks website builder software offered by Shopify Inc on a subscription basis to retailers for designing their online website stores. It offers a wide range of services to its users like Store designing, Order management, Inventory updates, Marketing, Product promotion and categorization, Web hosting, and payment solution at various price plans on an annualized basis. Shopify become the first choice of all retailers due to these wide ranges of offered services and its ease of design.
Shopify Features
Shopify offers a wide range of features to its retailers that include services like Branding, Online store setup , POS, etc
Dropshipping
Shopify enables the store owner to run the dropshipping business which means the Store owner only markets the product in its store and attracts the customer to its store. They did not own any inventory or product. As soon as they receive the payment from the customer storeowner place the customer order to the product manufacturer. Later the Product manufacturer shipped the product to the customer’s address. In this whole process, the store owner earns a profit above the cost of the product. Shopify gives facility to its user to integrate with various dropshipping apps like Ordoro, Inventory Source, and eCommHub, making it easy to set up a new dropshipping business.
Online Store
Shopify enables the Brick and mortar shop owners to open their Online stores. It allows the store owner to sell a wide range of physical and digital products at one single store.It also provides a wide range of payment acceptance options along with fulfillment center options. The best part is that this whole can be started with the low price of $9/month
Point of Sale (POS)
Shopify has App-based POS software which helps to convert any smartphone or tablet into a POS system. With the help of this Customers can select the store product, Get the final quote price, and make payment through various options all in one place without any hassle.
How Shopify eCommerce works
- A customer visits an online eCommerce website store and makes select the product to purchase.
- A customer’s order goes into a shopping cart after that customer makes the payment by selecting any one of the different payment options.
- SSL certificate of Shopify store encrypts data customer personal information and payment information safely.
- A customer’s data sends to a payment gateway for financial transactions and money is sent to a merchant account later it transfers to a business bank account.
- Once payment is confirmed a transnational email is sent to the customer confirming the order and sending a receipt of purchase through Shopify software.
- After that Store, owner wither fulfill the order and shipped the product or in case it’s a dropshipping store then the store owner sends the order to the manufacturer for delivery of goods to the customer
- At the last stage, the product is delivered to the customer by the supplier, and the product purchase journey is complete.
Shopify Scamadviser Scam review
These days number of scams are occurring through Shopify stores . There are lots of Fakespot, problematic sellers, scam stores that cause counterfeit issues, possible brand infringements, a poor reputation, privacy leaks, and suspiciously cheap listings.
These days lots of customer complaints of Shopify are received on the Scamadviser website. Few such complaints are given below for your reference
Shopify Scamadviser review
Scamadivser gives Shopify an average to good trust score due to its long online presence, availability of lots of website links, and use of safe SSL certificate for data encryption . However, despite the number of positive points, Shopify’s lower association on social media and negative online reviews reduce the trust factor to Average and good category only.
Shopify Scamadviser Customer complaints
Mostly the Shopify customers complain about the non-delivery of goods even after making payment of more than several weeks. this occurs either due to fake online stores or duplicator store-type scams.
The major type of Shopify Scam
With the advancement of technology, the scammer has also adopted new ways to loot money from genuine customers and individual businesses, There are 6 types of scam that scammers have done through which Shopify platform.These scam further categorized into 3 categories based on Scammers victim
Victim 1 – Manufacturer or Supplier
Triangulation Scheme
Scammers create the Shopify store. Then they purchase the goods from online suppliers or manufacturers. Once Supplier sends the good, Scammer cancel the transaction and get the refund from Shopify
Switching Scheme
Scammer Shopify store owners approach manufacturers or suppliers as customers to purchase products. They send fake Paypal invoices stating that payment is on hold and will be released once the product is shipped. The manufacturer or supplier delivered the product but no money is sent to them.
Fake Purchase order
Scammer alters the checkout sheet and uploads the same to the manufacturer of supplier system. The supplier does not realize and release the product.The Scammer get the good without paying any money to supplier
Victim 2 – Retail Customer
Duplicator Scheme
Scammers create a duplicate online store of branded online stores. The scammer uses the domain name as similar to the actual store name. This duplicate store looks like the exact replica of an original store with original product categories, pictures, and descriptions. The Actual customer visit that duplicates the store and makes the purchase.Once the payment is done Customer is neither get any product nor any refund from store.
Direct Client
The scammer first gains the trust of customers and told them to the same product will be delivered to them at a cheaper price if they send money another way instead of Shopify to avoid unnecessary product charges. The customer sends the money at given details and later the scammer neither sends the product nor makes any payment refund.
Victim 3: Store owner
Fake return ticket
The scammer first placed the High-value product order. Once the product is delivered they place the return request stating the product is different from one seen in the store.At the time of return, they replace the original product with a similar cheaper product and get the refund back as well. Here Store owner will lose both the money and the product.
How to identify Scam Shopify store
It’s not easy to identify which Shopify store is legitimate and which is a scam but with little alertness and cautious observation, you can at least get a prenotion whether it is safe to buy from a particular store or not. Here are the few points that you can use to identify the scam store
- Always check the store contact details, Store about us, and store profile page. A scam store never mentions their address or phone number on the scam site.
- Always look for customer feedback about the store. Too much positive feedback is also a sign of a suspicious scam store. Search on google the store name with the word fake and scam to get the real customer feedback about the store.
- Look for the store domain ( URL) details website “https://www.whois.com/whois/”.If the store URL or domain is recently purchased and all other details are hidden then you must be cautious before making any purchase from it.
- Ensure that the URL of the store starts with ” https://…..” which means the website is using an SSL certificate and your personal information shared with the store is fully encrypted and safe.
- Check the URL of the store to ensure that the store is not the duplicator store of the original store ( check for the store redirect link in the original brand website)
If at any point while visiting the website you feel doubt then you must believe that it is a 100% scam website and never do any financial transaction through it because no one else better than your instinct can warn you against a Scam website.
How to Report scam stores on Shopify
If you ever find a scam store on Shopify then follow these simple steps to report the store and get it taken down:
- Visit Shopify’s reporting page and choose the option that suits the issue you faced.
- Enter your basic information such as name, company, and contact info.
- Ensure to mention the scam store link in the information you are reporting along with your issue
- Submit the report to the Shopify portal.
Shopify has a dedicated team that will cross-check your provided complaint and takes necessary action according to their company policy.
Final Words
Shopify is an eCommerce Platform developed by Canadian multinational company Shopify Inc.Shopify business mode work on providing services to Online store owner hence its not easy for Shopify website itself to differentiate between online store owner who is genuine or who is a scammer. Therefore it is always advisable that you must do some research before making any purchase from any new online store. With little caution and awareness, you can easily save yourself from scam online stores and scammers.
I hope you have found this blog useful. If you have something to share or want to ask something then Do share your comments below.
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