Well yes, we have happened to answer questions of this type, completely normal and legitimate, however, which shopkeeper do you want to answer this question that is not serious? :) Probably the less he is, the more he will try to prove the opposite to you, so we thought we'd give you some simple indications to teach you how to recognize online shops that are 'serious' or not.
1) The very first thing you need to look at when you enter a site to make purchases is the indication of the company name, registered office and VAT number. They are usually at the bottom of the page or in the contact section. In Europe these details are mandatory, all of them, not just the name and contact email. If you don't find them , beware immediately. These are easily improvised shops, which don't even have goods in their own warehouses, and which promise free and fast shipping, amazing discounts and are full of reviews, probably fake.
2) The reviews: once it has been established that at least the site is a legal entity, one would immediately go and look at any reviews. Attention! they are not always real and verified, if you are listed on external sites such as TRUSTPILOT or FEEDATY they are already more reliable, if they are specific to the sites it is not certain, no one checks whether they are true or false and how well any negative reviews are filtered. As far as our shop is concerned, at the moment there is a system of free reviews, for those who want to leave them, we do not normally ask for them after the purchase, some customers take care to leave them spontaneously, and we do not yet have a system of verified external reviews because we have not yet organized ourselves in this sense (they are not free systems, so things need to be done wisely)
3) The cost of shipping: you can find advertisements with free shipping, but free shipping on any amount often means that a lot is already included in the cost of the product, so ok it's fine but don't get your hopes up. Shipping for an expense exceeding a certain amount (as we do for example, but also many other e-commerce sites) means: 'come on, buy me something extra and I'll give you the shipping free'.
4) Shipping times: you can find great proclamations of super-fast shipping clearly visible on the front page, but then go and read the shipping information carefully , perhaps you will discover that the order is shipped in 24-48 hours, and then takes weeks to arrive. Here too, no problem if you don't want it urgently, but what if you wanted it quickly? You have been misled. As far as our shop is concerned, we normally deliver in 1-2 working days from the order (but at checkout for example we write to you 1-4 working days also allowing for some rare unfortunate cases in which the courier has delays) and on very few items, not shipped by us but by our foreign suppliers, we indicate 5-10 working days and everything is always indicated on the site.
5) Payment methods: be careful! if the only payment method available is on delivery , it's a red flag. All e-commerce offers electronic payment methods and some offer payment on delivery, because many customers request it, but having only payment on delivery available and no form of electronic payment is not a protection for you. Make sure once again that the VAT number is indicated, check that it is a real VAT number (it is a free service on the revenue agency website), and perhaps only make 1 small test purchase, because contrary to what many believe, payment on delivery is the one that protects you the least (if you have a problem you have no payment institution that can act as an intermediary between you and the merchant).
6) The information: always placed at the bottom of the page on conditions of sale, privacy, cookies, returns etc..., ok for many of you they would be very boring to read and also difficult to understand, but at least make sure that they exist, and once again that the company's legal data exists and at least give a quick read to the shipping and returns policy.
7) Social media: yes, they can help you get to know the company you are about to buy from, not so much by counting the number of likes and comments, but above all by looking at posts and stories, from which it is possible to understand the people who are behind the company, whether you are buying from a company with a reality behind it or from an anonymous showcase set up overnight.