Do an extensive check on a gold selling website.

[DrLecter]

How to do an extensive check on an online seller:

I feel digging up my old thread (How to do an extensive check on an online vendor (such as gold selling websites)) would be a bit pointless. So much has changed.

Help yourself from being scammed.
This is mainly for gold selling websites / power-leveling and the likes.
It's not limited to WoW, but I will be focusing on mainly WoW.

DISCLAIMER - Freshleveling is an EXAMPLE only. The below insight is from a NEUTRAL PERSPECTIVE only.
I may seem harsh, but whenever I do business with a new website that caters to RMT and game codes and such. I typically follow a few principles, which in the guide you will find out. While some of the below methods work for all sorts of businesses not related to RMT/Games this is mainly for RMT/Games.

I'm going to go ahead, like last time and use an example. I'll use FreshLeveling for this review (The Best Game Currency and Item Service).
I found their website on a popular trading forum not affiliated with OwnedCore (it's censored, but there's 2 prominent trading forums that aren't affiliated with OwnedCore. I'm sure you'll figure it out). I'll follow up on that a bit later.

Part 1 - initial look
At the time of this review, their logo looks like it still follows the holiday season (green and red). Either they're into the colours of a dead frog, or they simply haven't updated their website.
They offer customer satisfaction, and have live chat. 7x24 online. Typically it's 24x7 but we can let that pass.
Their Contact Us offers AIM, Skype and e-mail. Their e-mail is hotmail. It is a bit odd for a company to have a hotmail as their main email contact.
Their design follows a fairly standard template among such websites. It's similar to IGXE, and almost identical to Wowguys.com aside from some colours.
Does their website have any spelling mistakes? My quick look says no. However under their "introduction" side bit, some text is cut off while viewing in google chrome, specifically the line "Thank you for your support.freshleveling "
Any awards? They have a registered store logo in their footer, links to their website. Not sure where that came from.

Part 2 - investigation
A few websites are in my arsenal.
One would be MMOBux there's no review or listing there for this example. However it is handy.
Lets look on OwnedCore, they're contributors, have a premium seller badge, and some feedback. 89% positive, 11% negative. 17/2. Status is "Not good trader". Not a bad sign, but you may be unsatisfied. Link - their thread.
Their feedback thread in gold seller reviews.
They're also on the above trading forum, Simply find them their, check their feedback. And do a search on that website. Their feedback over there is 100% positive with 219 trades done.

Part 3 - doing some digging
Their website contact us has no address or phone number. Still displays hotmail email. How odd.
WHOIS lookup. If it's hidden, it's generally a bad sign. See FreshLeveling.com WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info - DomainTools
WHOIS server is paycenter.com.cn. Never heard of that place but it may be a conglomerate of some sort.
Looks like their company is a registered LLC judging by the administrator contact name. An address in Beijing - an actual address is a good sign.
They seem to be offering 2 partial addresses. One in Beijing and one in California. Very strange.
Phone number too, looks like it will work.

Part 4 - finishing up
Sign-up has no SSL, so any information you submit is insecure.
Powerleveling buying also has no SSL, they ask for your game account login and password via a form with no SSL. This could potentially allow a hacker to obtain your username/password after submitting the info. I'm not sure how they store their username/password database, this would require inside knowledge.

I tried to make this neutral. But from the above I'd personally go to one of my usual gold shops. Their reviews here are mixed. Reviews on a popular RMT forum are not mixed - they're positive.
But as someone who works in the web hosting industry, no SSL and no definitive contact as well as a hotmail email for support gives me a bad gut feeling. I certainly do not trust their website.

Some additional websites you can look at for general site reviews:
TrustLink - https://www.trustlink.org/Home.aspx
McAfee SiteAdvisor - McAfee SiteAdvisor Software ? Website Safety Ratings and Secure Search
Complaints board - Complaints Board - Consumer Complaints, Reviews, Information
Ripoff report (down at time of writing) - Ripoff Report | Scams, reviews, complaints, lawsuits and frauds. File a report, post your review. Consumers educating consumers.
And finally, a good Google can help.

OwnedCore Members Rescources:

I don't know if it would help in cases like these, but I like running websites through BuiltWith Technology Lookup and see what they used to determine how secure / professional their work is.

Additional Information:
An SSL is a standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a server and a client—typically a web server (website) and a browser; or a mail server and a mail client (e.g., Outlook).Basically this protects your information being sent over a website, or email. More specifically, SSL is a security protocol. Protocols describe how algorithms should be used; in this case, the SSL protocol determines variables of the encryption for both the link and the data being transmitted.
Further information on SSL - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_Layer_Security

If you have anything to add, I'd be more than willing to add it to this post. Check out my old post for some other tips. However as mentioned, it is old and may not be 100% accurate.
​I hope this has helped in some way.

[Parog]

Great guide Lecter! Long time no see.

The only constructive criticism I can offer you is that most people don't know what SSL does, let alone verifying it. If you have your own way of checking, include it in there.

I don't know if it would help in cases like these, but I like running websites through BuiltWith Technology Lookup and see what they used to determine how secure / professional their work is.

Great work, +10 for helping people stay alert and not get scammed!

Edit: 12, welcome to contrib!

[DrLecter]

Great guide Lecter! Long time no see.

The only constructive criticism I can offer you is that most people don't know what SSL does, let alone verifying it. If you have your own way of checking, include it in there.

I don't know if it would help in cases like these, but I like running websites through BuiltWith Technology Lookup and see what they used to determine how secure / professional their work is.

Great work, +10 for helping people stay alert and not get scammed!

Edit: 12, welcome to contrib!

Hi Parog!
Thanks for the rep and feedback.
I've added some information on SSL's to the original post. As well as adding your BuiltWith Technology Lookup under "OwnedCore Members Rescources" as a quote.

Thanks!

[Freshleveling]

Thanks for checking on our website ,we need to make some changes on our website, besides ,we can ensure that our website is safe ,if you have any problems for our website ,we can discuss .

[Freshleveling]

Thanks for checking on our website ,we need to make some changes on our website, besides ,we can ensure that our website is safe ,if you have any problems for our website ,we can discuss .
1. Nearly all of gold selling don't have SSL,you can go to check other websites.
2.Sometimes we can refuse some trades that we thought we couldn't trade ,that's why we got a bad positive feedback! we have 100% feedback on other forums
http://www.*******.com/itrader.php?u=177620 ,please check here
3.you mentioned mmobux, Did they hire you to write this guide?
4.WHOIS Provider usually protect the owner for registered here .
"They have a registered store logo in their footer, links to their website. Not sure where that came from " fixed ,it's linked witth registed page!
"They seem to be offering 2 partial addresses. One in Beijing and one in California. Very strange."
Phone number too, looks like it will work. we are located in China , The domain provider is in Beijing , To open website quickly ,our web host provider is located in California ,that makes sense.

[DrLecter]

Thanks for checking on our website ,we need to make some changes on our website, besides ,we can ensure that our website is safe ,if you have any problems for our website ,we can discuss .
1. Nearly all of gold selling don't have SSL,you can go to check other websites.
2.Sometimes we can refuse some trades that we thought we couldn't trade ,that's why we got a bad positive feedback! we have 100% feedback on other forums
http://www.*******.com/itrader.php?u=177620 ,please check here
3.you mentioned mmobux, Did they hire you to write this guide?
4.WHOIS Provider usually protect the owner for registered here .
"They have a registered store logo in their footer, links to their website. Not sure where that came from " fixed ,it's linked witth registed page!
"They seem to be offering 2 partial addresses. One in Beijing and one in California. Very strange."
Phone number too, looks like it will work. we are located in China , The domain provider is in Beijing , To open website quickly ,our web host provider is located in California ,that makes sense.

1) I'd highly suggest getting an SSL.
2) I only chose FreshLeveling as an EXAMPLE.
3) No.
4) They do, indeed. But I'd suggest not using it. Having some form of a postal address is good.

[Freshleveling]

1) I'd highly suggest getting an SSL.
2) I only chose FreshLeveling as an EXAMPLE.
3) No.
4) They do, indeed. But I'd suggest not using it. Having some form of a postal address is good.

we 've already got a SSL ,you can open https: our website address.Thanks for your good advice!
we will add a postal address!