How we check
Every verdict comes from fixed, published rules applied to public information: the store's own pages and the public domain registry. No one at Legit or Not reviews stores by hand, and no store can pay for a better result.
The signals
- Domain age
- From the public domain registry (RDAP). Under 30 days is a risk, under 90 days is a caution.
- Secure connection
- Whether the page loads over HTTPS with a valid certificate.
- Contact details
- A contact or help page, or an email address or phone number.
- Return policy
- A refund or return policy page. A caution if there is none, or if it says all sales are final.
- Shipping policy
- A shipping policy page. A caution if there is none, or if delivery can take 25 days or more, which usually means the item ships from overseas.
- Business address
- A street address on the store or its policy pages.
- Policy wording
- A risk if policies still contain template placeholders like [INSERT EMAIL]. A caution if they give an email at a different website, or are Shopify's default text word for word.
- Discount
- A caution if the store's own "was" price makes the discount 70% or more.
- Deposits (non-store pages)
- A risk if a page asks members to add money to a balance ("recharge", "deposit", "withdraw" and similar).
How the verdict is scored
Each caution adds 1 point and each risk adds 3. Signals we couldn't check add nothing.
- Looks safe1 point or fewer
- Be careful2 to 4 points
- High risk5 points or more
A store is never rated Looks safe if its domain is under 30 days old, or if fewer than 3 signals could be checked.
For stores whose domain is at least 2 years old, something we couldn't find (a contact page, a policy, an address) is still shown but adds no points. Established brands often keep these behind help centres or scripts we can't read. Things we did find, like template text or a no-refunds rule, always count.
What it can't tell you
A verdict is a summary of signals, not a judgment about the people behind a store. A new store can be honest, and an old store can disappoint. Some stores block automated checks, so we show what we could check and say what we couldn't. Use the result as one input, alongside reviews and how you pay.
Find it for less
The search buttons open Google Lens (with the product photo), Amazon, AliExpress and Temu searches for the product's name. We don't currently earn anything from these links. If that changes, we'll say so here.