How to tell if a site is legit
I know that there are a legit site that sell computer hardware, etc such as TigerDirect, NewEgg, Amazon... But I recently found this site
http://computerpartsdrives.com
Most of the parts I need are ~30% cheaper than the mainstream sites. I tried finding out a bit more about this site with little luck. I know that smaller sites has less reviews, trafficking etc and still can be legit. I noticed that buyers can use paypal as payment for this site, will I be able to be protected from fraud/scam if I use PP?
October 2, 2012
8 Comments • Newest first
[quote=Yathos]@BobR: Thanks for the tips. I always looking to buy a few parts for my comp, and they cost ~$150-$250, and I don't think I need anything 'small'. If by the off chance I get scammed I can always reverse charges on for PayPal? Lastly where is a good place I can rep or report this site after my purchase.
Thanks[/quote]
Paypal does have a process where you can report a retailer for non-delivery of goods and have the funds returned to your account if their investigation backs you up.
They do have a lot of pretty picky restrictions about that though, so it's important to read all the "fine print" if you need to make use of it.
Particularly in the areas of WHEN you can ask for help and what you need to prove your case.
The other thing is that they can only refund you if the retailer still has money in their Paypal account.
That is, they can't get money back from a store if the store has already cleaned out their Paypal account and disappeared.
As a "backup" to that, if you use a credit card to fund your Paypal account, you can always have the card company reverse the charge to Paypal back to your credit card account, but Paypal gets really upset when that happens and usually closes your Paypal account. (If that happens Paypal ends up holding the bag and losing the money.)
There are sites that have reviews of retailers, but most of them aren't very effective. There's one called "Bizrate" that is supposedly what you're looking for, but they seem to have become more of a "gateway" to their participating retailers than a true rating site.
I actually haven't used sites like that very much, but maybe other forum members may have some ideas about where to look.
Edit: Never mind, I don't know what I'm talking about.
@BobR: Thanks for the tips. I always looking to buy a few parts for my comp, and they cost ~$150-$250, and I don't think I need anything 'small'. If by the off chance I get scammed I can always reverse charges on for PayPal? Lastly where is a good place I can rep or report this site after my purchase.
Thanks
@Yathos As others noted, NEVER place a large order with an unknown retail site. ALWAYS order something small and see what happens. Let them gain your trust before you give them any appreciable amount of money.
Also, Paypal doesn't necessarily protect you any more than just using a credit card directly, except that it shields your card number from them (one reason I prefer using Paypal for purchasing from unknown sources). That just means that Paypal is the only one who actually knows your card number, not this site themselves.
And ALWAYS use a credit card to order online, since it's possible to have the bank reverse the charges if the site doesn't deliver.
It's hard to tell much about the site just from looking at their pages. It's terribly user-unfriendly (meaning it's hard as hell to find a specific product or type or product), not the kind of thing I'd expect from a scam site. You'd think if they were trying to scam anyone they'd make it easier to find the stuff you might want to buy.
Just an observation.
dat prices
[quote=StewieFg411]Google: Is computerpartsdrives.com safe?[/quote]
I tried doing some hw on this site, but there is little to no reviews for this site.
Try WOT
buy somethign cheap and see if it work?