Fake websites? Should these be avoided

[Clearinguptheclutter]

I clicked on a link for a coat earlier this morning- usual “closing down” story, 80% off etc
https://olyndralondon.com/products/ela-lightweight-waterproof-jacket

now I’m getting bombarded with pictures of identical looking coats all from a similarly named brand eg Olivia London, Lucy London etc

the actual websites all look subtly different though. Not carbon copies.

wtf is going on and how can I tell what brands are “real” these days?

I won’t be buying. Not suggesting it’s a scam but I imagine some cheap Chinese made product that can’t be returned without paying a fortune

Where do these links come up? Is it ads? I never click on ads. Some of these drop sellers come up in the shopping links when I search for something, but you can always spot them because they're too cheap and have weird, AI generated images.

Avoid because they’ll want your payment details to scam you.

Yes ads on Facebook. Do I just need to learn to never click?

some ads are genuine though. What is a “drop seller”? I’m clearly a bit behind

As generating a fake store is almost zero cost these days and advertising is automated, you should assume that all adverts are scams. Never ever click on an advert online.

(In fact you should just block them all, as 100% of tech workers do)

Scammers, check out Trustpilot!
Bbc did a bit on this a few weeks ago, they try and fool you into thinking they are a UK based firm when in reality it's cheap shoddy rubbish being shipped from China.

Drop shipping is where someone sets up a website or social media, people order from them and then they order the goods from Shein or the like and get them shipped directly to the buyer.

I would say yes, you should not click any links from social media. Nearly everything on there is fake. From the shopping, to the news, to the influencers to the photo of Lucy from accounts on her holiday.

For example, all of these are from Shein. On this website they are £20 and on Shein they are £4.

The website is called The Collar Collection

https://thecollarcollection.com/collections/sale-💥

A drop seller/shipper is where you don't actually have any stock yourself, or make anything. When someone clicks to buy your "designer" jacket for £50, you buy one from Shein/Temu/AliExpress for £20 and send them that.

Either that or the site is just an out and out con site which is faking a well-known brand's sale/clearance site to get your money.

Of course you should avoid them for lots of reasons:

1. No guarantee you will get what you paid for or anything resembling what you paid for.
2. Despite the name, they will be based in China.
3. They will not do refunds or returns.
4. They will probably hack your card details.

Just agreeing with everyone else. At best these sites are drop shipping sites and you will eventually receive an item which you could have bought far more cheaply direct from Shein or Temu; at worst you'll get nothing.

Compared to these sites Shein and Temu are respectable. At least they're upfront about selling Chinese tat at realistic prices.

Really appreciate these pointers

basically if I want to buy cheap chinese stuff go straight to Shein and the like

never click on adverts

(yes dh suggests ad blocking and I’ve done this in the past but it means many websites, mumsnet included, don’t want to work properly as they say they rely on the ads to keep running)