how to research a online company before you buy?

[coastiewifern]

e-liquidation.net has a patio set I really want to purchase and it is a good price. I am leery of large online purchases from companies I have never heard of. How can one research a company to make sure they are legit? Or better yet has anyone ever ordered from them? I didn't find much by a simple google search. Please advise

 

[RitaE]

pay with a credit card that will guarantee online shopping protection/fraud protection etc.

I usually use my American Express for online purchases. Whenever I have a problem, I simply let them handle it.

 

[coastiewifern]

pay with a credit card that will guarantee online shopping protection/fraud protection etc.

I usually use my American Express for online purchases. Whenever I have a problem, I simply let them handle it.

Their preferred payment is green dot money pak which I have never heard of but they do allow you to use google checkout with visa or mc.

 

[dawson5]

http://www.dailyfinance.com/2011/06/23/beware-of-green-dot-moneypak-scams/

There is this about green dot. I think I would back away from this, just on this alone.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Start by searching 'company name customer complaints' using the actual company name, of course . You can try BBBonline.com as well, but I don't hold much stock in that.

Try - I think - whois.com to get information about the domain such as who owns it, for how long, etc.

Copy & paste the exact name of the item into a price comparison website, or even Bing or Google, and see if it's available for a reasonable price on a better-known site. I'd pay more to buy from a trusted site.

 

[Disney845]

I would be leery of them.

I went to their site to look them up. On the About Us page it says they ship from Elizabethtown IN. On the contact us page it shows a WI address as the ship from and an 888#.

When you look up the 888 number and the WI address it leads to another company called Affordable Depot.

Neither e-liquidation nor Affordable Depot are registered business entities through the gov websites of either IN or WI (that I was able to find...neither the IN nor WI sites were as sophisticated as the FL Sunbiz site that I am more familiar with...I have to occasionally research business entities when they apply to our company).

According to the BBB Affordable Depot's address was not accepting mail as of 4/2010.

I found a consumer complaints website with a few people reporting "buying" items from Affordable Depot that were never received, and then that website stopped working.

There are various other "company" names which seem to perhaps be related to these same people big-discounts.net and smart-liquidations.net which the websites are now down on, but I found various online buyer beware complaints.

If you google street view the address in WI it is a U-Haul rental lot with a storage facility. Not saying a company couldn't operate out of a storage locker...but...I myself would stay far away from these people!!!

 

[coastiewifern]

Thanks for all your effort researching them. Crisis averted. I will continue to look for a different place to buy from

I would be leery of them.

I went to their site to look them up. On the About Us page it says they ship from Elizabethtown IN. On the contact us page it shows a WI address as the ship from and an 888#.

When you look up the 888 number and the WI address it leads to another company called Affordable Depot.

Neither e-liquidation nor Affordable Depot are registered business entities through the gov websites of either IN or WI (that I was able to find...neither the IN nor WI sites were as sophisticated as the FL Sunbiz site that I am more familiar with...I have to occasionally research business entities when they apply to our company).

According to the BBB Affordable Depot's address was not accepting mail as of 4/2010.

I found a consumer complaints website with a few people reporting "buying" items from Affordable Depot that were never received, and then that website stopped working.

There are various other "company" names which seem to perhaps be related to these same people big-discounts.net and smart-liquidations.net which the websites are now down on, but I found various online buyer beware complaints.

If you google street view the address in WI it is a U-Haul rental lot with a storage facility. Not saying a company couldn't operate out of a storage locker...but...I myself would stay far away from these people!!!

 

[ladyfish]

Hey Christie,

I think we're both looking for the same set - is it the MONTECITO 7PC DINING SET?? If so, I'm looking desperately for this one as well, and ran into this fishy website myself....

Have you manged to find it anywhere else?

I will appreciate to hear back from you.

Thank you

 

[chrysano]

Quality and price of commodities are relative, as the saying well goes, "Cheap is dear, and dear is cheap".
After all, most merchandise are unsuitable for Internet shopping.