There was a time when you needed to take a day out of your busy schedule to plan a shopping trip.
You would grab your girlfriends, hit the mall, and hope to find something that fit both your style and your budget.
But now, with the rise of online shopping, you can do all your shopping from the comfort of your own home.
However, as convenient as online shopping is, it also comes with its own set of risks.
There are a lot of fake online clothing brands that are out to scam people.
Online shopping scams are nothing new and have been around ever since the early days of e-commerce.
But as more and more people are shopping online, the number of scams is also on the rise.
Fraudsters keep coming up with new techniques to scam people that even the most internet savvy people can fall for their trap.
While there is no shortage of legit online brands, the rising number of fake ones make people dubious about the real ones as well.
In this article, we’ll take a detailed look at a new online brand “Shining Style”. Rumor has it that this brand is a scam, but is it really?
Let’s find out the truth.
About Shining Style
Shining Style is a new name in the world of women’s fashion. The online brand first emerged in 2020 and specializes in different types of women clothing, such as dresses, tops, pants, tube dresses, jumpsuits, jeans, and more.
You can also find other products on their website including accessories, like jewelry, bags, and belts. The brand also sells innerwear, lingerie, and swimwear.
All of their products come in a wide variety of colors, designs, and patterns. Similarly, different kinds of materials and fabrics can be found in Shining Style’s products.
Is Shining Style Legit?
There are a few ways to identify if an online brand is legit or not. Here’s a list of all the things you need to check to determine if Shining Style is legit.
- Website
The first thing you should do when trying to figure out if an online clothing brand is fake or not is to check its website.
A legitimate website will have a professional look and feel to it. It will also have a well-designed logo and branding.
The contact information should be easy to find and the website should be free of grammatical errors. If the website looks like it was made in a hurry or has a lot of typos, then it is probably a fake.
In the case of Shining Style, first of all, the website has a poor trust score online. It seems ok, nothing impressive about it, but nothing too obvious to know it could be fake.
The weird thing is that the company doesn’t even have a fixed domain name. Previously it used to be shiningstyle.com, which was later changed to shiningstyle.us.
Interestingly, as for now, none of the URLs are working and one of them is for sale.
- Social Media Presence
Another way to check if an online clothing brand is fake is to look for it on social media. A legitimate brand will have an active social media presence with a decent number of followers. They will also be responsive to comments and queries.
If you can’t find the brand on social media or if their social media pages look inactive, then it is probably a fake. While Shining Style does have an account on Facebook, it’s barely active and hasn’t been updated since May 2021.
Also, the number of followers is below 500, which doesn’t sound good.
- Customer Reviews
Before making a purchase from any online clothing brand, always check for reviews first. A quick Google search will reveal a lot of information about the brand.
If there are a lot of negative reviews about the brand, then it is probably best to avoid them. Strangely, when it comes to Shining Style, there aren’t many reviews available on the internet.
That may be because of its inconsistent domains.
However, the few reviews that we came across were all negative.
- Background Check
It is always a good idea to do a background check. You can use Google to find out when the brand was registered and who owns it.
This information should be easy to find if the brand is legitimate. If you can’t find any information about the brand or if the information you do find looks suspicious, then it is probably best to avoid them.
For Shining Style, the google search results shows minimal to no information. We assume that it was established in 2020 because that’s when its Facebook page was made. Other than that, absolutely no information is available on the internet about the company.
- Deals Offered by the Brand
Most fake online brands offer deals that are too good to be true. They do this to lure people into buying their products. Shining Style is also guilty of offering such unbelievable deals at jaw dropping prices.
Use your gut instinct and common sense to determine if a certain item can cost as low as the brand is selling it for.
- Privacy Policy
When shopping online, always check the brand’s privacy policy. A legitimate brand will have a detailed privacy policy that is easy to find on their website.
This policy should outline how the brand will use your personal information. If the brand does not have a privacy policy or if the policy is not easy to find, like in the case of Shining Style, then it is most likely a fake.
- Customer Service
A legitimate online brand will have good customer service. They should be easy to contact and should respond to queries in a timely manner.
Shining Style’s customer service is nonexistent. The few customers who bought from them mentioned that they received horrible items and when they tried to reach customer service, they didn’t get any response.
The Final Word
As convenient as online shopping is, you need to be careful of the brands you buy from. A lot of fake brands, like Shining Style have cropped up in recent years and they are getting more and more sophisticated.
Make sure to check all the essential things mentioned above before purchasing to avoid getting scammed by a fake online brand.
Happy shopping!
