How to verify the trustworthiness of a sex shop
Verifying a website is quick and easy. Address the following points, and you can quickly check for yourself whether the company you plan to make a purchase from is trustworthy.
Always check the following points to ensure your purchase meets expectations and you won't be scammed.
If something goes wrong, you want to be heard, be able to point fingers, or visit a physical location to resolve the issue.
Check company details
You should always find the following information in the terms and conditions, an about us page, contact page, or other page.
- Valid Dutch address
- Chamber of Commerce (KVK) number
- Email and/or phone number
If you don't find any information, you don't need to check the rest; then this party is not trustworthy.
Beware of fake information
It may happen that you come across a website that has all the above information listed. It is then important to compare the information and investigate further by asking yourself the questions below.
- Is the contact address on the website the same as the KVK address?
- Is the KVK address "stolen" from another website? In other words, does the KVK sector match the webshop in question?
- Is the (visiting) address a legitimate address and not, for example, a vacant building, sports center, or shopping mall?
- In short, if something is wrong, can you go to a location where staff are present to help you? We sometimes see addresses being 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 elements in this series are incorrect or information does not match, it may be that you are dealing with a foreign seller who is not registered with the Chamber of Commerce in the Netherlands or does not have a company at all.
It could well be that the seller or owner of the webshop lives in China and displays 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 would often be ashamed if they were scammed. Reporting internet fraud to the police when it concerns the purchase of a sex doll or large sex toy is a taboo for many, meaning scammers often hear little to nothing from the victims. Also, often little to nothing is done about it.
Check shipping and return conditions
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. A return period of less than 14 days is not permitted by law.
You always have a minimum return period of 14 days from the moment of delivery. If a website uses a shorter return period, you are likely dealing with a scammer or someone trying to circumvent Dutch law.
Products may be returned if they are in their original state. Hygiene-sensitive products like sex dolls are more nuanced: if you keep the sealed packaging intact, the product can be returned; only when the sealed packaging is broken can the product be excluded from return.
An international shipment, import taxes and surcharges
If a shipping period of more than 3 days is used, the products are likely being shipped to the Netherlands from abroad. Sometimes this can involve Germany, Poland, or another EU country. But for shipments of 10-14 days, there is a high chance that the country of dispatch is outside Europe.
Be aware that you may then have to pay additional taxes or import costs after your order because you are importing goods from abroad. This can amount to up to 50% of the order value.
Suppose you buy 300 euros worth of goods from abroad (for example, China or America); then 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 webshop owner
It may be that you can no longer find an address, KVK, or phone number. If you only realize you've been scammed after your purchase, you can still uncover the webshop owner's identity this way.
Go to the website https://who.is/ to find out the owner of a website. You will often find a postal address, name, email address, or other details of the owner.
It may be that the owner set up the website through a provider; then 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 website hosting. 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, please note: these are not always equally thorough in checking the reliability or origin of the website.
- https://fraud-detector.nl/
- https://www.scamadviser.com/
If you see information that shows the website owner is located abroad, for example China, be aware that you will not be able to easily make contact if something goes wrong with your purchase.
Reviews of a sex doll webshop
Reviews of a webshop are a good general indicator 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 thus determine the average score.
If the website scores an average of 8 out of 10, you can assume that your purchase and experience will also be an 8 out of 10.
Integrity of reviews
Sometimes websites have few reviews, in which case the score is not reliable, and you should not be guided by it. 6 reviews do not significantly establish reliability and also indicate that the website has not been around for long, whether these are 6 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 thus pretend to have many satisfied customers or that everyone is satisfied.
If the webshop claims to have thousands of reviews but they can't be found anywhere, or tens of thousands of customers but only 18 reviews, you know something is wrong.
Currently, Monica Moments has 108 reviews with 5000+ customers, so you know roughly what a realistic ratio is. Since sex toy webshops receive reviews less frequently due to discretion, the ratio of reviews to customers is somewhat lower than for other websites that sell, for example, furniture.
View the products
Take a look at the products the website sells and see what your gut tells you. Are the images informative, clear, crisp, and easy to understand? Do the photos match, or does it seem like different products are shown in the pictures? Is there sufficient information about the composition, dimensions, and weight, how to use the product, perhaps videos, or other essential information?
Quality and guarantees
If the website offers no quality or factory warranty, or is unclear about it, these are often red flags. However, this is a difficult pillar to assess, because if a website promises a 12-month warranty, but is ultimately unreachable for service or repairs because they do not have a valid KVK, then you have no way to claim that warranty.
In short, if they offer a warranty, can you actually enforce it when the time comes? Or will they then simply disappear?
Check social media
A company nowadays is nothing without its social media, so check how active they are on social media such as 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 trustworthy or they haven't been around for very 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 put their own image at stake when working with an unreliable party. See collaborations as a sign of trustworthiness, but don't let it be a decisive factor.
Be aware that AI and computer-generated photos look increasingly real; this can also influence the profile and make it seem as if there are collaborations.
AI can make models and influencers so good, you'd think the lady below is real, but she is AI-generated.
Check their expertise
Does the website demonstrate their knowledge? Do they have a knowledge base or blog section that covers various aspects of their own experience with sex dolls or toys? If so, you know they have experience with the products and know what they're talking about.
Advertising and Advertisements
There's a misconception here. The fact that a website advertises does not automatically mean they are trustworthy; anyone can buy advertisements. Advertising does not equate to reliability.
What feeling does the sex doll website evoke?
Look at the website, scroll through it. What feeling does the website evoke? Do you feel trust, or are you actively searching for signs of trustworthiness because you actually don't trust it? After checking all the points above, try to decide for yourself whether you can safely make a purchase.
The last thing you want is to be scammed or to receive a sex doll that doesn't match the photos on the website.
Do they employ other strange antics in their return policy, such as withholding 10% of the purchase amount for cancellations due to transaction costs?
Then you should certainly be careful when ordering. Pay close attention and scan the conditions (shipping, returns, refunds, etc.) and practices of the website, then you will quickly know if it is trustworthy.
Need help checking?
Still unsure whether the website is trustworthy after checking all the points above? Send us the details and we'll check it for you.
