A reader wrote in, asking about whether an unfamiliar online tool store was legitimate or not. His friend came across a listing for a Milwaukee cordless power tool combo kit, and it smelled “off” from the start. But could there be a chance it was a good deal?
Here’s some of the questions I ask:
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How old is the website? ICANN Whois (and other such services) can give you a domain’s registration info. Scam stores tend to be very young, with recent domain name registrations that measure in days or weeks.
Scam sites don’t often last long – once people start coming forward about being ripped off, the site is taken down and a new one takes its place at a different domain.
This is the FIRST THING to check. There are some scam stores that operate on existing domains, and I presume that they purchase these domains after their previous owners let them expire without renewal, but at least 9 out of 10 scam stores operate on brand new just-registered domains.
Is there a phone number to call? Smaller stores might only have an email address, but any listed information is better than a contact form. Unfortunately, there could be fake phone numbers as well as fake addresses.
Do the social media links work? Broken links to Twitter? A Facebook link that goes back to the home page? It’s a red flag when a modern brand or retailer doesn’t have any social media presence..
Does the URL match the product? The above screenshot of a Milwaukee Tool cordless power tool combo kit listing was found at a domain: [redacted.com]/matelass-leather-tote-p42.html.
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Does it look like a scam? The site I was asked about looks like it was put together in an hour using boiler plate templates. Don’t let the prospect of a deal trump your gut instincts. Unfortunately, scam stores can vary wildly in appearance, and they can be especially convincing when browsing on a mobile phone.
Does the branding match the URL? In this case, the logo doesn’t match the domain name. Scam store fronts also tend to have very varied top-level categories.
Look at the info pages. If a store only lists tools, but the return policy mentions items needing to be returned unwashed, unworn, and with tags attached, something’s fishy.
Legitimate stores will often have established social media accounts, verifiable contact information, an established domain name, realistic pricing, and will often “feel” right. When in doubt, you can usually also search online forums for discussion or deal posts tied to the store.
An online store might feel right and still be a scam, or it might be legitimate and still give off some wrong feelings. Use your judgement, and if you aren’t sure, ask us, or anyone else that can provide you with an objective outside opinion.
The danger here is that many otherwise reasonable shoppers throw caution and good judgement to the wind if there’s the prospect of an incredible deal.
Countdown timers or low quantity warnings can lead to a sense of urgency, but they’re artificial. Tactics like that tend to force rushed and emotional purchasing decisions.
Every now and then I need a specialty tool or product, and have to order it from an unfamiliar store. Even if you are 100% certain you’d never fall for a scam store, hopefully these questions and strategies can help you learn more about stores you might not have heard about before.
This post was first published on July 17, 2018, and updated on September 1, 2021 with minor changes and republished to help increase awareness.
Jamie Davis
Had this happen at [redacted] about a year ago for an M12 combo kit. They eventually refunded the money. Never before and never again. I’ve made hundreds of transactions, with only a handful of duds, on the web. If it sounds too good, then it is too good to be true ! Kits from legitimate venders and accessories from decent eBay stores from now on. Though, I do buy bare tools on eBay, as well!
Robert Sheridan
How are you able to get your money back or get credit from a credit card.
Robert
Call the card issuers fraud department if you can prove you got a case. Use debit cards it’s easier to fight fraud with that. Chase bank loves to fight for the customers so use them or any bank card issuer. I’ve found several sites doing power tools to me I had to call in the bombers to fix this issue. I won every time with this case info. They review site and info you give to build cases so don’t be afraid to ask banks for help.
Roosterman
JP morgan chase will also go after their customers all the same. Don’t put too much trust into them or one day you might find your funds locked and wondering who to call for help.
It’s like a parent/child relationship and you are the child. They can do whatever they please with your account and force you into lengthy, expensive and often fruitless legal action. It would be worth keeping that in mind.
Heb Wing
I’ve always thought credit cards were better than debit cards in terms of purchase protection. Isn’t it easier to have the credit card company assist with a charge back rather than trying to retrieve funds already released from debit cards?
NOUN
How safe are tool sample’s, I’ve had sights that get your information, and send droves of spam your way, endless phone calls with the next big deal.
Do any sights not do that or are we all at risk of manipulation bombardment.
Stuart
Depends on the brand or company. Don’t trust random websites that promise you things.
Jenifer Morgan
Just 2 nights ago , my boyfriend ordered a Milwaukee combo set from the website [redacted], we have reported it to bank for fraud site and also it was processed through PayPal and the set was $98.99 and yes I understand that if it’s too good to be true it is, he didn’t know and I just don’t want anyone else to have to go through that.
Flotsam
you summed this up PERFECTLY! If it sounds too good, then it is too good to be true !
I remember posting a warning of something similar on Garage Journal tool deals over a year ago about a Husky tool kit that was obviously a scam. I did it as a warning but strangely enough i think there were two people that wanted to go and buy and see what happened. they said they used PayPal so their money was protected. Sure enough they got nothing and eventually got their refund, but why go to the trouble in the first place?
fred
There seemed to be more of this in the past both on Amazon and eBay.
New sellers seemed to pop up offering good – sometimes seemingly too good to be true deals. Some “scammers” would ask you to call them to check on availability and quantity before ordering. I read that they would then ask for your credit card info – so that they could complete the “transaction”. These “deals” done outside of the “Amazon umbrella” would charge your credit card – but you would get nothing in return.
Even though I think Amazon has gotten better in shutting these guys down, my take is that you need to be wary of vendors who have just popped-up on Amazon or eBay – especially any that ask you to contact them.
Mike Rogers
Yeah they are the same fake sites associated with [redacted]
Doresoom
I’ve attempted Amazon purchases of too-good-to-be-true priced tools before, since I know they’re going to side with the customer rather than the third party vendor if there’s a dispute. However, I wouldn’t do so with a random website I’ve never heard of before.
The tricky thing for my Amazon purchase was that the vendor marked the item as shipped and gave me a fake tracking number that was in a perpetual state of “the label has been printed.” It was up to me to set a calendar reminder after the guaranteed arrival date to ask for a refund, which Amazon promptly provided. If I had forgotten about it for too long, I would have lost my money.
Steven
I took a chance , it cost me $60.00 and they sent me a pair of knockoff Ray-Ban sunglasses instead of my DEWALT 13 piece power tool set. I figured if it were true the tool set would probably be discontinued styles. at best. But what the heck.
That being said they should face some sort of penalty to make them stop.
Can’t I charge them with wire fraud?
Russell Callahan
Same deal here. Did you ever get any justice?
Gary
Had the exact same thing happen
Christine A Murphy
I was taken by this company for 138.00 I’ve heard from
The email support 1 time never again has been over a month still not tools or refund. Who can I contact and get monet back ans get them shut down so it doesn’t happen to anyone else from. This site atleast
Emilio Gonzalez
You thought for $60 you would get a 13 piece set of tools??
mfsergiob
My brother saw a post on facebook of some store selling a dewalt 20v combo for 100 bucks, and ask me to watch the deal.
Incredibly fake.
Brian Miller
I think one of my friend bought the same item. He received a drill bit set, a “Rolex” watch, and a pair of “Rayban” sunglasses.
Tiffany
Pretty sure this is just what happened to me… I responded to ad on ariat boots and was half asleep when ordering or I would have known better and caught that the website looked fishy before I purchased 3 pair of boots and 3 pair of shoes for Christmas for only $135 which Was a huge red flag I know lol…. but as
Soon as I ordered and got my confirmation email from a email that didn’t match ariat that stated I may see a different name other than ariat on my bank statement and the charge may be slightly different from my real total of $135 due to the foreign exchange policy…. I began to freak out and went back to the site to cancel and of course there was zero contact info on the website and the confirmation email did not except replies so we had to cancel the Card and sure enough the charge came through on our bank acct as Pakibaba so we disputed and got our money back and today I mysteriously I received a package addressed to me from Hong Kong with a nice pair of fake Ray Bans inside lol….. I guess I came out on top since I
Got the glasses and my money back but it did cause us a lot of trouble and there is no telling how many people they are getting over on esp around the holidays
Russ
Was it from redacted.com?
MFC
[redacted] [redacted] [redacted]
[Censored]
Stuart
I know you’re joking, but there are reasons why I don’t allow spam sites to be linked to in comments.
I originally missed one of the links in this post, and redacted it when I found it, but not before checking it first. It auto-redirected a few times with the landing page appearing to contain malware.
These spam stores are very short-lived, with new ones constantly taking their place. Thus, there is very little benefits and many risks in allowing these links and URLs to remain. Additionally, since I often include tips on how to identify scam stores, we don’t want them to be able to find their way here to learn how to avoid red flags to better trick people.
Lastly, I got hassled from someone who thought we had anything to do with ads to scam stores they were seeing by Facebook on Facebook. It’s safer to remove any scam store links and URLs to avoid any chance visitors might skip the conversation and think commentors’ linked-to stores are in any way real or vetted.
Thus, if a scam store URL or link provides no benefit and only the potential for problems for readers, it will to be removed.
J
Well done sir. Great explanation and thank you for the added protection.
Angela G Polite
My husband sent me a link for s 20 piece set of cordless tools for 99.0 now the page is unable to seen.
Pam
I ordered them and never received them either. What showed up on my credit card was HabitatpetNY. When you go there, nothing. If something seems too good to be true, it is. Never again.
Robert
My husband did same as yours n kow we r out 100$
Randy
Thank you so much we almost bought them.
Frank D
When looking for specific outdoor equipment repair parts or tools, there are always scam and opportunistic sites that come up, that are nothing more than referral or doorway pages, they get ranked top 10-20 by google, often list having the part in stock and / or offer the best price … and then when you click on it it connects through – directly or through multiple auto forwarding links – to amazon or other sites, where the product is listed msrp, if available, … total gaming of referral commission system.
The same thing with some “ top nn “ review sites for various things. Top listed sites, without a single review or comparison that is worth a look, just some quick grabs of mft data, amazon links, done.
Total BS too that google uppn repeated and verifiable complaint does not block or downrank some of these scam sites.
Jim Felt
This is why I always use PayPal through one of my bank credit cards.
Two levels of protection. Basically 100%.
And it truly helped when what eBay decided was a Russian URL posing as a US photographer selling a Hasselblad D series body for around $10K (years ago) and even actually mailed “something” but mislabeled the address to stall just long enough to collect the funds before I could prove it never arrived.
PayPal refunded me 100% within a week
Flotsam
If you are wondering about a particular seller why not post on Garage Journal or here if anyone has had any experience with the seller? I did a search on one seller i was interested on in thread history and found out they were reliable they just took a long time.
Buying on ebay is very reliable. If something is not right ebay forces the seller to accept a return.
Stuart
It takes me 5-10 seconds to red-flag a spammy site, 60 seconds to explain how I came to that conclusion.
5 minutes with Google and I can decide whether to order from a legitimate-looking but previously unfamiliar store.
Asking here or on a tool forum can be helpful, but the tips shared above can help beyond tools.
Jason
Is [redacted] legit?
Stuart
I can’t load the page right now (403 error), but since there’s no public reference for the website (despite the URL being registered for 20 years as seen via whois data), I’d say probably not.
Sam
Is [redacted].com legit?
Stuart
Created: 2020-05-04 11:46:44 UTC
Most of the front page links don’t work.
Social media links are fake/don’t work.
Seems fishy, I’d say it’s too risky.
Scott K
I recently read about a site that analyzes reviews. I’ve used it a few times and it provides some interesting info- fakespot.com paste a product link (I’ve only used Amazon’s) and it analyzes the reviews for suspicious patterns etc.
Jody G
https://www.scamadviser.com/
Stuart
All that and other services do is look at whois data.
Hang Fire
I have no problem with no-name, unknown tool stores. I simply don’t order from them. If I feel I must order from a new site, I check their rep on a web forum. Usually the good ones have a history of discussion to go on. If not, I ask.
My biggest problem is not too-good-to-be true scams. It is China based Amazon partners gaming the system. Twice in the past month I’ve ordered items that have 4-5 day delivery promises. Then a week goes by before I get a shipping notice, then the tracking number is from China, and delivery is now marked another 2-3 weeks away. As if I won’t notice my 4-5 day item takes almost a month to arrive?
The worst is one of these listings morphed into ships Prime… but also marked “ships ground” and when you go to order it, 4-5 days for delivery. I ordered it before the morph and more than 5 business later it finally shipped… slow boat from China. While getting my money back on that item, I repeatedly asked the customer rep via chat how it could be “Prime” and then when in Cart be 4-5 days. Finally he said “it’s 4-5 business days because it is out of stock” me: “Not marked as such.”
And again, I just ordered a Tekton tool last week that is now seen as shipping from China… I know they have tools made there, I’m 99.9% sure they have no drop shipping from there. We’ll see when I get it. If it is generic and not in Tekton packaging and marked with the Tekton tool number, I’ll be getting my money back.
There’s not much to do except only order from Amazonpartners that are known to me, or ships Prime from Amazon (without any weasel wording added), or direct from Amazon. That, and keep getting my money back when I get scammed. Which I always do. Maybe at some point, it will cost them enough money they’ll do something about it.
Tee
Been getting these type of offers in my Facebook market feed.
Not sure why Facebook does not catch these and delete the posts. The last one I opened was called “ToShopAgagin”. The name along sounds like a scam.
Every tool kit cost $163.55. Next matter how many tools or the type of tool. Every item.
I don’t trust Facebook market place anymore. If they allow a post for this scam. How do I tell the difference between real local people and a better scam with more realistic information and pricing.
Mike
Seeing a lot of low-ball buy it now on ebay from zero feedback sellers in both the US and overseas. Also, from inactive ebay accounts – assume they have been hacked.
For example, new Milwaukee M18 18-Volt Cordless Jig Saw for $13.88 with free shipping from Singapore. Five available – all sold.
Diamond Dave
Yes, seeing these scam deals pop up daily on Facebook! Avoid them like the plague!
Scam eBay sellers offering a tool or item much lower than others for the same tool! Mostly China sellers. Look at the feedback and you will see very few transactions with this seller AND take a look at shipping time estimate. The scam seller will give a estimate 4-6 weeks down the road so they can make a bunch of sales before eBay will even investigate. Three is no reason whatsoever that any reputable Seller from China cannot get the item to you within 10-14 business days. The good part is that ebay will refund you for the scam but as mentioned they won’t start investigation until the item has reached the sellers estimated shipping date posted on the item when you purchased it!
Framer joe
Just buy from acme…they price match, they usually have the latest tools first, no hassle returns, knowledgeable staff, legit tools….
ToolOfTheTrade
Amazon and eBay have far more illegitimate products and sellers on their sites than anyone else. There’s absolutely no discrepancy to what is being sold because all they care about is their cut. The fact that Amazon nor eBay doesn’t look into what is being sold is very evident. Case in point is the search results when looking for an item. You type in, ie, Dewalt impact driver, the results will not only be impact drivers, but impact wrench, circ saw, drill, and best of all, products from a different brand or a knockoff. Even worse when you type in an item and there’s over 10,000 results. Who on earth needs over 10,000 results to look through just to find one single item. I think the likelihood of getting scammed on Amazon and eBay is far greater than a hole in the wall site. And good luck trying to find something that is no longer being made or anything vintage on Amazon. I’ve mentioned before in a post somewhat related to this one that the author puts entirely too much emphasis on Amazon and how great it is as well as shopping for tools in general. Retail sites and tool reviews are completely unrelated and if you’re going to call it toolguyd.com, then talk about tools. Not where you buy them from. We can decide for ourselves where we want to buy our tools from and when we want to buy them. If you can’t, then we’ll pray for you. Like I said, too much emphasis.
fred
As a septuagenarian – most of my tool buying (except for gift giving) days are over. So I am generally less interested in where to buy than what’s new and interesting.
With the hype of Prime Day past, ToolGuyd content may settle back to a more even distribution of news about tools and “sales” that promote buying them. I’m guessing that Stuart knows his readership – and some of them like/want content that he categorizes under the “dealguyd” heading.
For some tools – brands like Husky, Ryobi and Ridgid small power tools (from TTI) – its hard to separate them from Home Depot. The same can be said for Lowes’ house brand Kobalt.
Looking back over the last 30 days of Toolguyd – I count something like 40 posts give or take a few. Of these, maybe 12 were related to tool sales – but that includes the 3 that were about Prime Day. Many of these posts about sales – got lots of traffic – if responses are any measure. That probably tells Stuart something about how he’s running his ToolGuyd business – and that some readers like the “where to buy” parts of the posts – and maybe the links as well.
Reader comments like yours and mine – may help him refine his business as well – but after all is said it is his business and he should run it as he sees fit. For my part, I find much of his content – and reader responses interesting enough to keep me coming back often – and I’m not offended by the sometimes commercial aspects of the content.
Stuart
Frankly, I stopped believing that Goodnight Johnbuy/Toolofthetrade is here for the trade.
Regarding deals posts, I don’t have any strategy there. I probably shouldn’t say that aloud, but it’s true. Sometimes a deal post is influenced by prior content, or planned content, but often loosely at best.
I figure that readers are like me – they plan out certain purchases, and others are impulse buys.
I took advantage of the Prime Day Wera deal, and ordered the precision screwdriver set, and the insulated screwdriver set. I wanted to order another bit and socket BitCheck, but the second time I checked, it was sold out, and the third time I checked, it was listed again, but no longer eligible for the 20% off promo discount.
Most deals are posted about because there’s a perceived interest. If I don’t post about a deal of the day that would otherwise pass the high-interest filter, readers emailing in about it will change my mind.
Also, as bad as it might sound from a business standpoint, I don’t pay much attention to retailer links or affiliate links, or anything of the sort. It’s a distraction. I’d rather focus on the tools, my opinions, and how to best share information and insights clearly.
From a technical standpoint, Amazon is easy to link to, and from a retailer standpoint, it’s fair to have them as a “standard.” If I’m talking about a certain product and am curious about current pricing and think it’d be interesting, I’ll add a $xyz via Amazon link. I coded a script in ToolGuyd’s back end, where I just need an ASIN and 5 seconds or less. There, an inline link.
For other affiliate retailers, I have to open a connection to my server, add a URL web address to the database, and shortcut text, and then add it as I would an Amazon link. It takes at least 10X longer. (The reason I created a database was because retailers change their structuring and break links. One retailer changed things again recently. If I didn’t do things the way I do it, I would have to have changed 1200 links across 10 years of content.)
I’m guessing 9 our of 10 people use Amazon as a pricing reference. And linking to other retailers takes 10X the time, when I’m interested in getting on with a post discussion.
If a particular retailer is more relevant, I’ll put in the time and effort to create the link.
Only a handful of people have complained or questioned the practice over the years – some of the being affiliated with other retailers. I’m open to alternative ways of doing things, but so far I haven’t received any suggestions or advice.
As it is, I get a lot of inquiries from people who want to buy tools from ToolGuyd directly. Sorry, we don’t ship anywhere, let alone out of the country, no we cannot set up NET30 credit line, sorry, there’s nothing I can do about pricing or availability information from a post published 6 years ago.
So, links are added in a manner I consider sufficient to be helpful, but also in moderation so as to not be distracting to myself or readers.
There are times when I’d rather not post about something – maybe a deal of the day that I don’t find particularly appealing – but such deals are often heavily promoted by the retailer or media sites that have become too pushy with affiliate links, and I feel compelled to make my opinion known.
A lot of these things have become instinctually automatic. When I’m writer, fact checker, image and photo editor, and editor, things like when to link, and to where, it becomes an automatic process. If a link seems appropriate, in it goes. If not, I keep writing. Most of the time, “appropriate” means a link goes where I’d benefit from a link. If I look up a price, others might want to look at the price. If I mention a competing or antecedent product, someone unfamiliar might want a link to a prior post or current listing.
Nearly 10 years of ToolGuyd, and some experience before that, has instilled me with a subconscious flowchart.
I always try my best to provide a transparent explanation, but the answer isn’t always at the surface.
Stuart
“We can decide for ourselves where we want to buy our tools from and when we want to buy them.”
I receive questions about retailers fairly regularly, sometimes about stores I’m familiar with, other times about stores I’ve heard about but not frequented, and occasionally about scam sites.
Every now and then I stray off topic because I want to. But with loosely connected topics like this, it’s because I noticed a repeated type of a question, and it’s beneficial to answer it thoroughly in a post, rather than quickly in email after email.
When a reader emails in, I can tell them whether a retailer looks legit or not. But with this post, my goal is to educate and inform readers, so that they can be better equipped to investigate unfamiliar retailers themselves.
I picked up a few tips along the way, and added my own based on observational trends.
Amazon is one of my most-frequented tool suppliers, and I know I’m not the only one. I focus on the top-of-mind retailer in a post, and sometimes two, less frequently three, and it’s extremely rare for me to link to more than that. The links are there for convenience. Yes, we have affiliate relationships with a number of retailers, and there are many more who we could partner with. I can either focus on 1-3 or so retailers, I can make things look like a shopping engine with many multiple links, or I can automate things with a pre-packaged shopping engine, full of broken links and slow code. Or I can not link anywhere, and face many more “where can I buy this?” questions in emails and elsewhere.
There are different rules for assessing or vetting unfamiliar 3rd party sellers on Amazon. For the most part, if I buy tools from 3rd party sellers on Amazon, it’s through Fulfilled by Prime listings. Sometimes I order from other sellers, but ones with separately established storefronts and some that I’ve ordered from in the past with good experiences.
firefly
I think it’s unfair to suggest that Amazon or ebay doesn’t care about the vetting process any less than other market place. They are two of the most popular and probably oldest market place online. So it’s only natural that both attract the most vendors (good and bad). Both of them do a decent job of protecting the consumer when something goes awry. I have ordered from questionable seller on Amazon before because I wanted to take a chance and I know that Amazon got my back as they should.
Jonathan
One of the biggest issues an exploitation that takes place on Amazon, is with FBA sellers, then provided counterfeit goods package with high quality packaging down to barcodes, and then offer for sale via FBA 10% lower than legit products and the get listed at the top because of lowest price, and the screen printing without maginifction looks authentic, but UPC scans same as legit.
Examples: popsockets, otterbox phone cases, Samsung , Apple accessories, Memory card, SSD, etc Function outside of 30 days window but you only learn when trying to submit a warranty for service or replacement Sandisk, Samsung etc.
So vendors that pay for promotion as well as the manufacturers of legit items are harmed as they look like they are manufacturing subpar goods, to those that never bother with warranty ect. Then worse the negative reviews later from bad goods sold by bad actors lumped with legit items and legit sellers.
So I now shy away from name brand electronics etc on Amazon, I do buy electronics and cables, etc from Aukey, Ankey, Huawei, etc and other ROC OEM manufacturers, less market for knock offs of Chinese goods.
The other issue is ROC subcontractors of Name brand goods that have molds and tooling, for the goods they produce to manufacture specs then after contract fulfillment, the restart and use subpar materials or electronics and then resell.
Stuart
Yep. There are certain things I won’t buy from Amazon anymore, such as Sandisk memory cards.
Amazon has said they’ve taken steps to prevent cross-mingling of counterfeit products with directly purchased products, but I’m still a little wary.
This Milwaukee M18 Fuel impact wrench is sold and shipped directly by Amazon. But Amazon is not an authorized dealer. So where are they getting these tools from?
For the most part, not a lot of tools are sold by 3rd party sellers on Amazon. The margins on a lot of power tools are slim, and so only larger retailers can afford to participate in their 3rd party marketplace. I hadn’t heard of any counterfeit power tools, hand tools, or tool storage on Amazon yet, and so I tend to buy those with confidence.
fred
Based on a significant number of reviews with very high percentage rating them 5 – star – I bought 2 pairs of a name brand bandage scissors on Amazon – about 1 year ago. Mine came and they had roughly finished handles. Nothing that a wee bit of abrasive cloth did not fix – but it prompted me to say something in a review. I got a response from the manufacturer. They asked to swap my pairs for ones they sent me in exchange. The new pairs were better finished all around. I was later asked to provide the vendor with an electronic copy of my (“fulfilled by Amazon”) order – as they told me that what I had received were counterfeits. I can’t say that this has happened to me before or after – at least not to my knowledge. I did not hear anything further, so have no clue what went on between Amazon and the manufacturer.
Robin
I’ve noticed my Facebook feed flooded with these offers lately.
I figure if someone is listing a $1700 toolbox online for $125.00 it has to be too good to be true.
Other things I’ve noticed:
1. Some of the “About Us” pages are word-for-word copies of The Home Depot About Us Page. That begs the question, how are these companies affiliated with The Home Depot? Answer: they’re not. Another Red Flag.
B. I will read the comments. The original post will say there’s 30+ comments but when I open the comments up most if not all are deleted. What are they hiding? Red Flag.
@. Free Global Shipping. The Facebook pages that actually leave their messages up and actually interact with posters tout free shipping all over the world!!! Is it really cost effective to ship worldwide if I buy one of your cordless tools priced at $25? I’m sure it would take a few weeks and/or months. I did joke and asked one page “how much to ship to URANUS?” ?
I was shocked when they told me free shipping!! Red Flag..
Brian M
A lot of those issues apply to Sears website and I agree, they should be avoided.
Redcastle
This could be a geographical issue but in the last six months the timeliness of Amazon deliveries in the UK has in my experience and those of other users I know fallen off a cliff, firstly it was same day deliveries being three days plus and then it became Friday equals Tuesday. It does not seem to matter whether it is supplied direct by Amazon or a third party and Amazon customer services other than apologising clearly do not care. Having read some of the comments on here (particularly about the SanDisk memory cards -thank you Stuart) I am going to be warier of ordering from them in future. We are lucky in that there are three specialist tool retailers providing products at prices as good as or not much more expensive than Amazon who provide a good alternative. A pity because I have been a customer of Amazon since they commenced business in the UK. I gave up on eBay a long time ago as they provide a major outlet for counterfeit goods and items being “recycled” without the owners knowledge.
Perry Gonsalves
Does anyone still have the website name for the company promoting the Old Milwaukee power tool package referenced in this thread? Please email it to [redacted]. Thanks!
Todd S.
[redacted] is a scam and will not refund your money do not do business with [redacted] they are a big rip off
Stuart
Please don’t give stores like that any publicity. Even negative publicity can help them.
I took a look, and it absolutely screams “too good to be true and lacks credibility.”
George Luck
Yup ordered the Milwaukee set never has arrived money gone what a sucker .Dam I wanted those tools.
Frederich Beahm
I found a similar offer from [redacted]. I immediately regretted the purchase and found several red flags, like no direct contact, SSL link and security link not clickable. I called my back and someone had tried to open up a Paypal account linked to my card. Needless to say, I had to cancel the card.
Richardson
SPKO….anyone know about this company? Has a good sale on Dewalt 14 piece set.
I don’t get on here much so please email [redacted]
Thanks!
Stuart
Have you followed the advice of the post?
Is there a phone number to call?
Do the social media links work?
How old is the website?
I’m sorry, but if you want advice, you have to do some legwork first.
Danny Malone
I ordered a Traeger pellet grill from [redacted] web site and never received anything. How can I get a refund from this scam of a website.
Stuart
Credit card dispute?
John
Same store as many others here, Order a DeWalt cordless Tool kit Oct 19, from Tool On Store Got Email back stating it was shipped Dec 19, nothing ever comes in, so I started trying to contact them through all there contact sources, but never got a reply or anything, been sending emails and on there web site messages since Jan of this year, maybe over 50-60, but nothing. So probably lost my money. Buyers beware this site is a rip off site now. I have purchased in the past with them with no problems but this time nothing. Site: [redacted]
Very good prices to suck you in then take your money and never give it back with out ever shipping anything out. Can’t get money back now, waited too long to do a credit card dispute I think.
James
I’m curious about [redacted]
Theres big red flags all over the site, from 1500.00$ products for 99.99 to spelling errors and broken english.
Just wondering if anyone has seen this site? Or could agree or disagree about it being fake.
Thanks
Stuart
Right now, that URL doesn’t even work.
I can’t take a look, but $1500 products for $100 is almost always guaranteed to be illegitimate.
Jason Miller
Hello all, I purchased a Makita cordless band saw for around $90.00 , which is about $200.00 less than what they normally run, yes it shouldve been a red flag, but since 5hey had a PayPal button on the site, I figured I would be protected, after a month or so I realized, even if coming from china in should be arriving any day, so I wrote the company who charged my PayPal account, Robert Manning Inc, in which was not the name of website site I purchased it from. they wrote back saying that it mustve been miss3d and to send them the website and order # , well it turns out , I never received a email with the confirmation of my order and dont recall the exact name of the site, but believe it started with a K? I wrote paypal telling them I believe this to be a scam, they opened , then closed the investigation based on a tracking number this guy sent, I never recieved my tool, but did receive a package with children’s stickers in it( I had no idea of where this came from or why) and PayPal is taking the word of a overseas seller, that is obviously a scammer. There is another site with same exact item for same price, I believe it to be the same or similar scam company , beware of [redacted], do I need to tell paypal I will order this item again to prove it is a scam to get both orders refunded to me?
Stuart
Are you able to do a credit card dispute?
Perhaps ask PayPal to forward your inquiry/issue to their fraud department? Take a photo of the stickers. Check back at the tracking number and see if there are any weights. Do you still have the package with the tracking number on it, hopefully matching what they said they received?
Josh H
Has anyone used [redacted] ?
They are selling a Milw M18tool combo (2695-15), originally 699 for $69
Stuart
Doesn’t look even remotely legitimate, sorry.
Chris
This is a verified fraud your card doesn’t go through and they charge you through a fake company [redacted]. Call your bank and see if they’ll dispute it if you feel for this. I’m wearing my dunce cap today.
Christopher Brown
I’ve found this site call the dewalt store online with prices that are to low have anybody Hurd of this site
Cliff
Unfortunately! I purchased something on April 10 and haven’t heard anything since. They basically just stole my money. I’m currently going through the dispute process with Paypal now. Stay away!
Stefan
I was checking for a combo Ryobi tool set, that I bought from home depot and these two websites came up with half the price: watch out. [redacted] ( actually selling clothing) and [redacted] , I’ve been redirected to PayPal for payment, crazy.
Stuart
Believe it or not, linking to these stores can benefit them, hence the redaction.
Nicole
Did it try and make u pay thru PayPal? My husband likes Milwaukee tools, I found some online that was cheaper that I wanted to get him for Father’s Day, but when I go to try and pay, it will only accept PayPal. That was a red flag by itself bc a real Milwaukee site or retailer would take all forms of payment, or I think it would. I thought about just ordering it bc PayPal was always supposed to be good about refunds and buyers protection… but I started looking for contact number and there isn’t one and the website less than a month old. And that’s on top of it being super cheap items…. so.. It has me thinking that PayPal is not as safe as it used to be….? Have u or anyone ran into this issue with other sites or with MILWAUKEE KITS (dot) SHOP? I don’t want it redacted, so I’m spelling it out.
MFC
Yep, don’t do it. If that little red flag is going off, run. Paypal is easier for a scammer to use, less traceable and easily burned with little repercussion to them. However, Paypal is a safer way to pay than just with your CC, because Paypal doesn’t give them your CC #.
If you did use a CC or DC, then you would need to immediately freeze the account and cancel the cards.
Chip
I ordered a socket set back at the beginning of the month for $60, thought that it was a reasonable price, the site seemed to be fairly decently done with a paypal link, other items for sale etc. I get the “shipping” email and I check the USPS tracking number and it says that it was delivered to my city (doesn’t give an exact address) 3 weeks before I even ordered and paid for the item??? How the heck did they get a tracking # for a package that was already deliver to my city?? Haven’t got an email answered yet just opened up a dispute with paypal.
Fred
Use PayPal you can get your money back
Ben Newfield
Well sadly I fell for that 20 piece Dewalt comb set. It was buy this set for as low as $99.99. I was like wow thats an amazing deal maybe its a whole sell price or something. And from what I saw and could find I thought it was legit. I came across it on the FB market place site. There was FB, Twitter and another link below. Then there was there terms of service and pic done by this artist. Now I had my doubts of course but I was like hey I could use some new tools so why not take a leap of faith if you will. So I ended up paying 134 because of the Canadian exchange. I got a digital receipt I got a tracking number and a link to a customer service support team and all that. The tracking info said it was coming from California USA. Then after three or so days I get an email saying the store you ordered from is closed due to a violation of the terms. I quickly sent an email to there support team and got bac a message saying due to covid-19 we are experiencing higher then usual delays a representative should respond back at the soonest moment possible. At this point I think I just fell to a scam and from here on will only be ordering from Amazon. At least with them you know your getting what you ordered. It sure would be nice if Dewalt had a way to help customers from falling into a scam. Some kinda site or warning this product in not fully indorsed by Dewalt. A way to protect people who are just simply trying to buy there products. Instead people are being ripped off and possibly saying thats the last time I try to buy Dewalt tool. Oh well live and learn huh. Like I said from here on I’m staying with Amazon.
MFC
Wholesalers know the price of goods they have, otherwise they wouldn’t be in business for long. You can get tools for 50% off from a wholesaler, but you generally have to buy a couple thousand dollars worth of stuff to get that kind of a discount.
Franklin Jackson
I found a Ryobi website it’s [redacted]. Is this website a scam. 9 piece combo kit. 8 tools for 98.00 it say it’s 81 % off which is right but it sounds to good to be true anyone know anything about this?
Stuart
Looks like a scam to me.
To start off, Ryobi wouldn’t misspell battery as “battrty” on the front page of their website.
Let’s look at https://lookup.icann.org/ . “Created: 2021-07-05 01:31:19 UTC”
This domain and the entire website didn’t exist 3 days ago.
There’s no phone number, no social links. They’re impersonating Ryobi Tools’ website, and very badly at that.
Lena A. Conwill
I ordered from the fake Ryobi site and felt uncomfortable from the start – I used my paypal to order just in case – they sent a tracking number which delivered to my city
but not my address… and no one has answered an email .. the email is a jank gmail acct.. don’t do it.. paypal is getting my money back but it just takes time and it was stupid of me to think that was anything but a scam…
Stuart
I’m sorry to hear that, and I hope it works out well for you!
I posted a new warning about the Ryobi scam store here: https://toolguyd.com/ryobi-tools-scam-store/
JoeM
I believe, strangely, that there is a song by TLC that seems appropriate at this point. TLC’s “Waterfalls”… The most efficient quote from it:
Don’t go chasing Waterfalls. Please stick to the Rivers and the Lakes that you’re used to.
Pretty much, in line with the fake or scam sites: If you don’t know them, and trust them already, don’t go there. They can’t scam anyone if there isn’t anyone to scam.
I’m guilty of not listening to this, so… This is where I’m at now.
James "Jamie" Davis
When I think about scammers and hackers, it pisses me off so badly. I work as a porter at a regional shopping center for 13.00 per hour. Sure, I could have done better, but it is a legitimate job. I earn my little piece of the pie.I was the first commenter on this thread. I did get my money back, after threatening with a lawyer…. which was untrue. I got my money back…. from them! I pulled it off! An honest job, for honest pay! The bastards that do this should harvest garbage for a few months…. or years, and earn an honest living. BASTARDS!
Ted Bell
This must be another case: [redacted]/collections/husky-tool-cabinets
Husky rolling tool cabinets for $50 ???
Stuart
Definitely a scam site, and they’re imitating Wayfair.
MFC
First thing I do when I don’t know much about a product I’m buying, especially if it’s a gift, is I go to Ebay and see what is a normal price for used/new on the item. If I find it anywhere cheaper I do my due diligence and verify the site via google searches.
I will only pay through paypal on an unknown site because they will refund in the case of a fraudulent item. Also, on marketplace you have to use the facebook specific payment in order to be protected against bad goods sold their as well.
Always know your marketplace and policies.
Bruce
How about [redacted]??? 7 weeks old!!!
Dates
Registry Expiration: 2022-08-27 08:02:00 UTC
Created: 2021-08-27 08:02:00 UTC
Stuart
Yep, that’s definitely a fake store.
Robert
Don’t put too much faith in Banks to get your money back before you get your money back you’ll find your account locked up and before long you won’t be able to get a bank account. Do not trust Banks it happened to me I can’t even get a bank account now I have to wait 5 years. And I didn’t do anything wrong all I ask them was to investigate.
WD
What do you think about tools equipments supply?
Stuart
The only one I found is based in Indonesia. Their site is a bit incomplete. Generally, I wouldn’t order equipment from overseas retailers unless there’s good reason.
This company has a piece of Grizzle equipment listed at $800. Grizzly’s USA store has it for $2,025 and $189 freight. Something’s fishy.
WD
Thank you my thoughts too but like other opinions.
A. J. Smith
I’m looking at Ultimate Tool Store (Malaysia; ****) because they have compressors at unbelievable prices. Any information or thoughts on this company would be most greatly appreciated. They offer free shipping to the USA.
Stuart
The prices look incredibly suspect. You’re not getting a $600 Dewalt miter saw for $153 and free shipping.
The store doesn’t have as many red flags as others, but the price seem unreal. Their website was created in mid-2021, which contradicts what they say about their store having been around since 2012.
I’d say it’s a bad idea, but that’s my gut feeling. There are fewer hard indicators than other retailers offering unreal prices.
I’d say pass and don’t look back. But you’re welcome to do research. The only other information I found online was a Reddit thread where someone asked similar, if the store is a scam or not.
A. J. Smith
Thanks. I was looking at the Quincy wheelbarrow compressor, which is listed $1,000 below retail.
B
Can you help me with a online tool store.
Just wondering if it’s a scam? It’s called austools supply
Stuart
It has some red flags, but nothing conclusive either way. I can’t find any reviews or recommendations for the retailer.