There are currently about 20 not-really-well-known online shops which I am aware of and probably 200 shops I've never heard of. As for the 20 or something shops that I scrolled through so far, I've only shopped in 3 of them, but that's okay because this post will not be a review of these shops. This is just a summary of some tips and advice on how to tell if a shop is legitimate or not. So read this if you don't want to end up in one of those "Online shopping fail"  YouTube videos.  

1. Check their social media

Online shops will usually have the link to their social media profiles somewhere on the site and I'm sure you won't have to look long to find them. If they have a website all set up, there's little chance that the shop doesn't exist at all and you're just throwing your money away on nothing. Still, you'll want to check their Instagram, Facebook and Twitter profile. For a regular online shop they should have probably more that 10k followers on social media, for a store from sites like Store Envy their social media could have anywhere between 200 and 20 000 followers.  

2. Did other people like it?

When you search the internet for any store reviews the first results that pop up will be those from popular bloggers. This is not the best source for honest opinions. Some bloggers will intentionally say only good things about a store because they are getting paid  and are not ready to lose a good sponsorship because they told the truth. A better way to check for honest reviews is to check the comments people leave on the social profiles of the store. For example, this comment will probably make you re-think ordering from an online shop: Just to be clear, most of these sites will ship you your clothes, the only thing you should worry about is the time it will take and the quality of the clothes.  

3. Who took that picture?

Are you scrolling through a site and noticing all the photos are different? Almost like they just took the photos from random Instagram models or other shops? Well, that's probably because they are. A lot of these shops just copy brands like Zara, Mango and H&M, and will take their photos. Unfortunately their copy will probably not turn out the way you are hoping. The best option is to look for sites who hire their own models and photograph their own clothes. This doesn't mean you shouldn't shop at sites who don't have this, some of them will even have their models for some clothes and not for other. If this is the case, better pick the clothes they actually photographed.

4. What is it made of?

You don't want to buy a skinny skirt made out of a fabric with no stretch, so always check the material. Cotton or cotton blends are the safest bet, but you can buy something with polyester too, if there is a detailed photo where you can still see that the item doesn't look bad.   These are some things I look out for when shopping online. Have fun and stay safe, bye.