How to tell if I'm looking at a scam website

[zero_deficit]

Tell-tale signs of a scam site

Genuine Pictures
No replica is 1:1, using a genuine picture that an authorised dealer would use is only a sure sign that the site is misrepresenting what they're selling.
Adding their own little watermark to genuine pictures does not fix this either.


Replicas being made in Switzerland or Japan
Or any other country that isn't China is complete rubbish, if they're going to lie to you about this, it's likely they're going to lie to you about what they will be doing with your money


Movement description
No replica (bar a few exceptions) are going to have the same movement as what you find in the genuine (HUB4100, Calibre 2121, 3187, other in-house movements etc).
And if they're going to describe the movement as just "Automatic" or anything along the lines of that's just no good.
You'll find some of the more common movements that are used in reps in the Resource Centre:
http://www.rwgforum.net/forum/208-resource-center/

 

Price
A simple automatic (21J) or Quartz will be in the $100 range
A clone of a Swiss movement will be in the $200-$300 range
A working mechanical chronograph (7750/7753) are $300+
Of course this is just a very general overview of price, but if it's too good to be true, it most likely is, and if it's too anything like $1000+, it's most likely a scam, you're not getting better quality or anything closer to gen by paying that much more.


Testimonials
With the full weight of four massive replica forums with tens of thousands of members each, a proper replica dealer will not need bullsh*t testimonials (probably written by them) to sell their watches.
The same goes for 'Review' sites of those webpages (again probably written by them as well) - you have an enormous repository of information here written by thousands upon thousands of members, everything else shouldn't be trusted


Other Ridiculous claims:
1:1 quality
AAA+
Swiss made
Waterproof to same as gen
Ability to fool authorised dealers
Working minute repeaters, perpetual calendars, automatic tourbillons, solid gold (or other precious metals)
Some more outrageous claims are expanded on here
http://www.rwgforum.net/topic/119955-the-top-10-lies-about-replica-watches/

Ultimately however, these are all just indicators of a scam site, even if a website does not show signs of above, it doesn't mean it's safe to shop there. But, there is one super easy way to tell if a website/dealer is trusted - and that's if they're on here:

 

TRUSTED DEALERS



Common (silly) reasons people want to shop at any other sites
1) They have a watch that the other TDs don't have
There are many reasons for this and does not mean a trusted dealer can't get it for you. It may just not be popular enough or repped well enough to be put on their sites or section, or it might just not be repped at all.
Find a dealer (after lots of research) and send them a photo of what you want. They'll be able to tell if they're able to get it for you.


2) They have a better price
Scam website's supposedly better price will most likely be at the expense of quality of features, that or it's purposely placed low to draw you away from the trusted dealers so they can take your money.


3) They ship from the same country I live in
Only a handful of dealers ship from outside East Asia (eg. Narikaa) where they will personally travel to those countries and bring them back,
otherwise, if they claim to ship from the US or UK etc, they most likely will not be - anyone can get a .uk or .us domain name.

Edited June 11, 2013 by zero_deficit