How do I verify the reliability of a sex shop?
Verifying a website is quick and easy; follow the points below and you can quickly check for yourself if the company you plan to buy from is trustworthy.
Always check the following points to be sure your purchase matches expectations and you won’t be scammed.
If something goes wrong, you want to be able to stand up for yourself, point to someone, or go somewhere to solve the problem.
Check the company details
In the terms of service, an about us page, contact page or other page, you should always find the following information.
- Valid Dutch address
- KVK number
- Email and/or phone number
If you find no information at all, then you really don’t need to check the rest; this party is not trustworthy.
Beware of false information
You may come across a website that has all the above information on the site. It is then important to compare the information and investigate further. You do this by asking yourself the questions below.
- Is the contact address on the website the same as the KVK address?
- Is the Chamber of Commerce (KVK) address "stolen" from another website? In other words, does the KVK industry match the webshop in question?
- Is the (visit) address a legitimate address and not, for example, a vacant building, sports center, or shopping mall?
- In short, if something goes wrong, can you go to a location where staff are available to help you? We sometimes see addresses used that do not exist or that a sports center or shopping mall with a generic name is used.
- Can you call the phone number or do you always get an answering machine?
If one or more parts in this series are incorrect or information does not match, it could be that you are dealing with a foreign seller who is not registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce or does not have a business at all.
It could be that the seller or owner of the webshop lives in China and provides incorrect information. Then it becomes difficult to seek recourse if you are scammed or dissatisfied.
The reason why sex doll or masturbator webshops get away with this is because people often feel ashamed if they get scammed. Reporting internet fraud to the police when it involves purchasing a sex doll or large sex toy is taboo for many, so scammers often hear little to nothing from the victims. Also, often little to nothing is done about it.
Check the shipping and return policies
The owner of a Dutch company must always comply with Dutch law; if the general terms and conditions state that a website has a return period of only two days, Dutch law always overrides this rule. Applying a return period of less than 14 days is not allowed by law.
You always have a minimum return period of 14 days from the moment of delivery. If a website applies a return period that is shorter, you are probably dealing with a scammer or someone trying to circumvent Dutch law.
Products may be returned if they are in their original condition; hygiene-sensitive products such as sex dolls are more nuanced: if you keep the sealed packaging intact, the product may be returned; only once the sealed packaging is broken may the product be excluded from return.
A foreign shipment, import taxes, and surcharges
If a shipping period of more than 3 days is applied, the products are probably shipped from abroad to the Netherlands. Sometimes this may involve Germany, Poland, or another EU country. But for shipments of 10-14 days, it is likely that the country of shipment is outside Europe.
Be aware that after your order you may have to pay additional taxes or import costs because you are importing goods from abroad. This can amount to up to 50% of the order value.
If you buy goods worth 300 euros from abroad (for example China or America), import duties, taxes, and surcharges can add another 150 euros. This percentage depends on the country from which the goods are shipped.
Check the domain and the webshop owner
It may be that you can no longer find an address, Chamber of Commerce number, or phone number. If you only find out after your purchase that you have been scammed, you can still unravel the identity of the webshop owner this way.
Go to the website https://who.is/ to find out the owner of a website. You will often find a mailing address, name, email address, or other details of the owner.
It may be that the owner set up the website through a provider, in which case the provider's information is often displayed, but you can still find traces of the owner's identity.
Examples of providers are Shopify or Godaddy. They provide hosting for websites. The address of Shopify or Godaddy is not the same as the website owner's address.
If who.is does not provide useful information, you can look for other options or search for domain lookup software via Google. Other websites to check the domain owner are.
- https://www.godaddy.com/nl/whois
- https://lookup.icann.org/en
For a quick scan, you can use the following websites, but note: they are not always thorough in checking the reliability or origin of the website.
- https://fraud-detector.nl/
- https://www.scamadviser.com/
If you see information indicating that the website owner is located abroad, for example in China, be aware that it may not be easy to contact them if something goes wrong with your purchase.
Reviews of a sex doll webshop
Reviews of a webshop are a good general measure to know if the website is trustworthy. Check all places with reviews about the website, for example Google reviews, Trustpilot reviews, klantenvertellen, or Tweakers, and determine the average score.
If the website scores an average of 8 on a scale of 10, you can assume that your purchase and experience will also be an 8 out of 10.
Integrity of the reviews
Sometimes websites have few reviews, then the score is not reliable and you should not be guided by this score. Six reviews do not make the reliability significant and also show that the website has not existed for long. Whether these are six very good or very bad reviews. From 30-50 genuine reviews, you can trust that they reflect a good reality.
Purchased (or self-written) reviews are unfortunately also a possibility. Buying reviews is often cheap, easy, and quick—just google it. There are plenty of websites where you can buy reviews and pretend you have many satisfied customers or that everyone is happy.
If the webshop claims to have thousands of reviews but they cannot be found anywhere, or tens of thousands of customers but only 18 reviews, you know something is wrong.
At the moment, Monica Moments has 108 reviews with 5000+ customers, so you get a sense of what ratio is realistic. Since sex toy webshops receive fewer reviews due to discretion, the ratio of reviews to customers is lower than on other websites that sell, for example, furniture.
View the products
Take a look at the products the website sells and see what your gut feeling says. Are the images informative, clear, bright, and easy to understand? Do the photos match or does it seem like different products are shown? Is there enough information about the composition, dimensions, and weight, how to use the product, perhaps videos or other essential information?
Quality and warranties
If the website does not offer quality or factory warranty or is unclear about it, these are often red flags. However, this is a difficult aspect to assess, because if a website promises 12 months warranty but is ultimately unreachable for service or repairs because they do not have a valid Chamber of Commerce registration, you have no way to enforce that warranty.
In short, if they offer a warranty, can you claim it when the time comes? Or do they then stop responding?
View the social media
A company nowadays is nothing without their social media, so see how active they are on social media like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Reddit or other channels. Do they have little to show on social media, few followers, or no extensive history of photos or videos online? Then this means the website is not very reliable or they haven’t been around for long. Consider their social media as a kind of diary where they show what they do and what they have.
Collaborations
Online collaborations with models or other influencers are often a sign of trustworthiness, as models risk their own image when working with an untrustworthy party. See collaborations as a sign of reliability, but don’t let it be a decisive factor.
Be aware that AI and computer-generated photos are becoming increasingly realistic; this can also affect the profile and make it seem like there are collaborations.
AI can create models and influencers so well, you would think the woman below is real, but she is AI-generated.
Check the expertise
Does the website show what knowledge they have? Do they have a knowledge base or blog section where multiple aspects of their own experience with sex dolls or toys are presented? Then you know they have experience with the products and know what they are talking about.
Advertising and ads
There is a misconception about this. Just because a website advertises does not automatically mean they are trustworthy; anyone can buy ads or advertising. Advertising does not equal reliability.
What feeling does the sex doll website give?
Look at the website, scroll through it. What feeling does the website give you, do you notice trust or do you try to look for signs of trust because you actually don’t trust it? Try to determine for yourself after checking all the above points whether you can safely make a purchase.
The last thing you want is to be scammed or to receive a sex doll that does not match the photos on the website.
Do they have other strange tricks in their return policy, such as withholding 10% of the purchase amount for cancellations due to transaction costs?
Then you definitely need to be careful when ordering. Pay close attention and scan the terms (shipping, returns, refunds, etc.) and procedures of the website, then you will quickly know if it is trustworthy.
Need help with checking?
Not sure after checking all the above points whether the website is trustworthy? Send us the details and we will check it for you.
