Is Shopify Legit? How to Avoid Scam as A Customer
By Sam Nguyen
Shopify is a legitimate business starting in 2006. But many to-be online sellers still wonder “Is Shopify legit?” and hesitate to open stores. We help you understand if there are any risks with using Shopify.
Key Takeaways
- Shopify has a widespread reputation as a legitimate and trustworthy solution for businesses seeking to establish an online store.
- To ensure the security of your eCommerce website, you need to check five essential criteria, including credit card data, customer data, fraud protection, SSQ, and admin security.
- Shoppers on Shopify need to take action, such as checking for contact details of the shop, surfing the Customer Feedback Section, or using Whois Lookup to protect themselves from potential fraud.
- There are numerous legitimate themes and apps on Shopify that cater to your needs, both free and paid.
Is Shopify Legit?
Shopify is a top ecommerce platform known for its security, versatility, and features. Being a publicly traded company with Better Business Bureau accreditation, it upholds strict consumer and seller standards.
The platform boasts vast resources, a strong developer community, and excellent customer support via Shopify assistance. While it offers outstanding built-in security, users can further enhance safety with additional plugins.
Even though Shopify can’t solve every online store issue, such as data breaches or customer complaints, it dramatically simplifies starting a business. With tools for payments, content, and online visibility, your store’s success depends on your efforts.
Is Shopify a Safe Platform?
To ensure eCommerce website security, you must consider five critical criteria detailing their protection on Shopify. Further insights on each point are available in the following sections:
Credit Card Data
Primarily, focus on payment security, especially related to credit card information. While customers usually provide their card details for transactions, certain gateways like Tokenized don’t retain this on your server. Conversely, some do, demanding a PCI-compliant server for secure transactions, ensuring both operational efficiency and customer trust.
Shopify is designed with PCI level 1 compliance for credit card processing, ensuring the highest server and payment processing standards. This security is guaranteed before you launch your business, allowing secure payment processing without worries.
However, adding code to the checkout process can compromise security and lead to data breaches. To prevent this, Shopify limits extensive customization of the checkout process despite potential inconvenience to some users.
Customer Data
When customers check out, merchants collect essential details like names, addresses, and purchases. It’s crucial for store owners to protect this data and follow each country’s rules about data safety.
Over time, Shopify has added many safety features, helping store owners collect and keep customer information securely. For example, Shopify limits login attempts and carefully checks app developer access. Because of these strong measures, many trust the data security offered by Shopify.
Fraud Protection
Undetected orders can result in financial losses as fraudsters target weak spots in business systems. Once they see a business as an easy mark, they quickly strike, often focusing on specific industries more than others.
To combat this, businesses need strong measures to spot and handle suspicious orders. For instance, Shopify has a robust fraud prevention system. It flags potentially fraudulent orders, allowing business owners to check them before processing.
With Shopify, you can choose how to fulfill orders, either manually or automatically. When suspicious activity is detected, like address mismatches or multiple payment card attempts, the order undergoes a detailed check.
In short, Shopify’s system protects against fraud, helping businesses stay safe and maintain honest transactions.
SSL
SSL, or Secure Sockets Layer, is essential for online businesses today. It ensures your website content is securely delivered, protecting payment processes and preventing harmful external attacks.
Moreover, every Shopify store comes with built-in SSL encryption. So, with a few clicks, you can activate it across your store, steering clear of insecure scripts. Plus, the SSL certificate cost is already included in Shopify’s monthly fee.
Admin Security
Store owners need to approach the following two questions carefully:
1. Is the administrative area of your website effectively safeguarded?
2. Have you implemented preventive measures to counteract brute force attacks?
As your online business becomes more successful and visible, it might attract hackers. Unfortunately, if they access your admin account, they can take control, jeopardizing your website.
For transaction security on Shopify, especially in the admin section, Shopify has a strong backend system. It lets owners give different access levels to staff. Using authentication and access limits is essential to keep the admin area safe.
These steps block unwanted access and protect all accounts. So, by using these safeguards, Shopify creates a secure space for merchants and their activities.
Transparent Pricing Plans With No Hidden Fees
Shopify stands out for its transparent pricing plans, making it a trustworthy platform. These transparent plans allow merchants to budget accurately and cater to businesses ranging from small startups to large corporations.
Furthermore, Shopify offers its own payment solution, Shopify Payments. This in-house system removes transaction fees, helping merchants save on costs and streamline financial operations.
However, Shopify ensures transparency for those using external payment gateways by clearly communicating any associated fees.
Shopify Payments is Highly Secure
Shopify provides an integrated payment solution, Shopify Payments, ensuring a smooth and secure checkout for customers. Powered by the reputable Stripe, it lets merchants accept credit card payments directly, simplifying the buyer’s journey.
All transactions via Shopify Payments are safeguarded with top-tier security measures, such as SSL encryption and PCI DSS compliance.
Shopify is Legit, but it’s Still Possible to Get Scammed
Despite Shopify’s robust security, the intricate nature of the internet means some risks remain. While Shopify does its best to protect merchants, there are still vulnerabilities like:
Shopping Fraud
There are many tricks to watch out for, like people pretending to be someone else, using fake payment information, lying about not getting a package (when they did), sending a package to a different address that’s not theirs, or just stealing packages from doorsteps. To prevent fraud and chargebacks, use Shopify’s tools to stop this and be careful when you accept orders.
Website Hacks and Malware
Hacks often result from breached login systems. Thus, you should use a password manager to create and save strong passwords for your team. It is crucial to ensure everyone has secure passwords, as a single weak one can invite an attack.
Furthermore, let’s enhance security by enabling two-factor authentication and concealing login pages.
Direct Client Scheme
In the direct client scheme, individuals reach out, pretending to be customers or bulk buyers wanting large orders or partnerships.
However, their true aim is to get free items or trick sellers into giving discounts, only to disappear without buying. So, when dealing with new clients, you need to always check them out and use clear payment rules.
Transactional Data Theft
Data theft occurs when a bot or person intercepts data between a merchant and a customer. Often, the goal is capturing transactional details, but sometimes, it’s about accessing business data.
For example, hackers may aim for large businesses to access extensive customer databases, and if they get credit card information, they might misuse it. However, Shopify fortifies its platform with features like TLS and PCI compliance to minimize these risks.
Triangulation Schemes
In triangulation schemes, fraudsters pose as sellers on legit online marketplaces like Shopify and list items at very low prices. When someone places an order, they use a stolen credit card to order from another site and ship directly to the buyer. The buyer gets the item, not knowing about the fraud behind it.
To stay safe, store owners need to buy from reputable sellers, research the store before purchasing, and watch out for low prices.
Fake Purchase Orders
Scammers often send fake orders to suppliers or dropshipping businesses, pretending to be legitimate customers. They provide order details and push for quick shipping. Yet, their payments, like bad checks or stolen card details, don’t go through.
To guard against these scams, checking the customer’s credibility, ensuring payment is received before shipping and being cautious of urgent or substantial orders is crucial.
How to Avoid Scam on Shopify Store
This section will provide swift tips that you can implement to steer clear of scams and ensure your safety while shopping on Shopify.
Check for Contact Detail
Authentic online stores usually offer reliable contact details to address any uncertainties. It’s advisable to verify the provided contact information by reaching out to confirm their authenticity.
To verify the legitimacy of a store, check its website for contact details. If it only shows a web form without an address, email, or phone number, proceed cautiously since it might signal fraud.
Look at Customer Feedback
The Customer Feedback section helps assess a website through users’ comments about products and the company. You can type the website name and keywords like “scam“ or “fake” in the search bar. The resulting information will swiftly indicate any negative experiences associated with the store, assisting you in making an informed decision and building trust.
Using two-factor authentication
Shopify professionals and store owners can easily use multi-factor authentication to reduce the risk of third parties accessing their accounts. Moreover, it is used to secure customer accounts.
Whois Lookup
Usually, when operating a website, store owners provide registration details to the organizations overseeing their domain name. You can enter the online store’s website address into the search bar after visiting the following link: https://www.whois.com/whois/
By checking, you can identify who registered the website in question. If these details match the site’s contact information, the brand might be more reliable for online shopping.
Use Fraud Protection
Most Shopify plans offer the “Shopify Protect” feature, which helps shield your store from fraudulent chargebacks, reducing potential risks.
Overall Look and Feel
When visiting a website, analyzing its appearance is important to confirm its authenticity. You need to check for professional design elements, such as a well-structured layout and high-quality images.
Additionally, assess whether the language has grammar and spelling errors. Use these guidelines by comparing them with websites you already trust, distinguishing any potential disparities.
FAQs
Conclusion
While Shopify has several weak points in cybersecurity, it is a big YES to the question “Is Shopify legit?”. It is always well-known for offering high-quality tools for developing e-commerce websites.
