Please be careful of online shops with a fake Trustmark!

Please Note:

Sep. 13, 2013

Lately we have verified the fact that there are EC sites with a fake mark and words suggesting they have been certificated―without our permission, without going through this company’s Trustmark (※1) examinations and certification.
Those shops that use the mark without our permission are likely to cause troubles such as ordered products not having been delivered.
Please check once again whether the online shop is trustworthy before transferring money for a product.

(※1) The third-party certification mark granted after examining and certifying the trustworthiness and reliability of online shops based on international EC guidelines and domestic laws

EC sites examined and certified by TradeSafe―

  1. Have a balloon with certification data which appears when you hover a cursor over the Trustmark displayed on the top page, product pages, etc.
  2. Have a certification page which appears when you click the Trustmark.

  • ※There are several ways of installing Trustmark in sites, and there are cases where the balloon and certification page are not displayed.
  • ※Please confirm whether the shop has been certified by Trustmark by referring to the page indicated below.

Proclivities of EC sites likely to cause many troubles

The following are common proclivities of EC cites reported to have caused troubles, such as “The product hasn’t been delivered although I made the deposit or payment” and “The wrong product has arrived but I can’t get it exchanged.”
If you have felt something is wrong, please check for your reference before shopping.

  • In many cases, “Notation Based on the Specified Commercial Transaction Act” or “Corporate Profile” cannot be found on the top page. Even if “Notation Based on the Specified Commercial Transaction Act” can be found, there may be omission of the shop name, the dealer’s name, the marketing manager’s name, the location, the phone number or the e-mail address.
  • The specified transfer destination is a single name or foreign name account that does not seem to have anything to do with an online shop
  • Even though the methods of payment include payment by credit card, you cannot proceed to settlement completion, and you are demanded that the payment be made by bank transfer. (Please check whether the term of validity of your credit card has expired.)
  • If you search the Internet for the phone number or e-mail address, you may find many troubles have been reported.

Besides the cases mentioned above, the number of trouble-making sites with various patterns is on the rise.
There may be little information on newly opened shops even if a search is done.
There are sites which look exactly like existent famous shops but whose e-mail address is fake. If a shop deals in abundant popular brand-name products, products that are out of stock at other shops, etc., we advise you to check the shop once again.

TradeSafe Inc. grants the examined and certified shops “Trustmark,” the mark which shows the shops’ trustworthiness and reliability, based on international EC guidelines and domestic laws, so that consumers can shop at those online shops without anxiety.