Safe online shopping - Europejskie Centrum Konsumenckie

E-shop reliability check

For security purposes, before buying online, you should:

read the terms and conditions,

read the so-called privacy policy which specifies the rules for keeping personal data,

when to place an order you are required to provide suspiciously extensive confidential data, i.e. your PESEL number or ID card number, make sure the data will not be used for other purposes,

read opinions on the trader on the Internet,

check if secure payment methods are available. Before the address of the e-shop website there must be a green bar and https:// protocol, as well as closed padlock symbol,

compare the trader’s details with the name of his/her bank account. Avoid express transfers and transfers into a private bank account of the seller,

compare competitive offers and assess the real value of the goods. Too low a price should arouse doubts, for instance as to the authenticity or the technical condition of the goods. A tempting offer of a mobile phone for PLN 300 when its market value is about PLN 1,000 may be a scam.

NOTE: A website address ending with “.pl” does not necessarily mean that the website belongs to a shop registered in Poland.

How to check shop reliability?

First, look for full contact details of the trader. Absence of basic information about the e-shop (i.e. registry data, address, phone number, e-mail) affects its credibility.

It is worthwhile to use on-line national registers of economic operators. To check a Polish entity, go to:

NOTE: A common practice for entities from outside the European Union is to state a Polish address which in fact is only a virtual office. A Polish mailing address does not necessarily mean that the trader is registered in Poland.

If you suspect you are dealing with a scam, you may want to use SCAM search engines such as https://www.scamwarners.com/.