How To Know If You’re Buying A Dress From A Knock Off Website

With anything you buy online, it’s important to think before you click and not get scammed. But, this is especially true for formal dresses. For instance, if you see a prom dress perfect for your daughter on just about every site for around $300, and then you suddenly find it on every site for anywhere from 10 – 50 percent off, chances are, it is a fake know off. Here are some tips to help make sure you don’t get scammed.

1. Check the price.

If your dream formal dress is listed at around $300 in every retail store and on local websites, and you find it significantly discounted on another website, that raises a red flag.

2. Check out the website’s credibility.

If the site only has a PayPal seal or SSL seal at the bottom of the page, that is not enough. The seals ought to be active and not merely an image. Scam websites often steal the seals and just place them on their site as a jpg. picture. A reputable e-retailer will also be a member of a consumer organization.

3. Look for content information.

Legitimate formal dress sites will state their phone number, customer service reps, and physical address. If there is zero contact info, be very weary.

4. Check out the shipping methods.

If an international website says they will mark your order as a “gift” to help save on the cost of shipping, that should also raise a red flag. Counterfeit manufacturers often do this to try and avoid detection by the local customs officials.

5. Go through the site’s content carefully.

Take a look at the content – are the descriptions of the dresses written well, or in broken English and oddly phrased? You can see a wide variety of 2017 homecoming dresses at Prom Dress Shop. Check the descriptions of their dresses and other products and you will see that it is written in perfect English.

6. Compare style numbers.

If your ideal dress is listed as style 2230 on every website except the one you want to order it from, that’s another red flag.

The Downfall of Shopping on Knock Off Websites

While the prices may certainly seem appealing, and at first glance it seems as though you’re getting an amazing dress at a bargain, there are few things to keep in mind:

• The dress may never arrive.
• Knock off dresses are not made of the same quality material that designer ones are made of.
• You may land up spending more money on a second dress if the one you ordered from the knock off site arrives and is a dud.
• There are usually no customer service reps to help you with queries and concerns.
• It is next to impossible to take legal action against international companies.
• There is zero quality control, so seams could be off, the hem may be uneven, and one sleeve may be longer than the other.
• There is likely no way to do a return or get a refund on a fake site that doesn’t have contact information.
• Usually, fake dresses are not cut well and don’t fit properly.
• Buying knock off dresses takes business away from local stores.

When shopping for a dress, make sure you only purchase it from reliable retailers and dress stores. We hope the points we’ve discussed above will help you determine whether you’re purchasing from a knock-off site or not.