How to know if a website is legitimate?

[msegal3]

I placed an order yesterday for this item http://www.romancingdiamonds.com/item/detail.cfm?id=536
I have heard of Romancing Diamonds and their outstanding service, but now that I have spent this money I would love to know if anyone at this forum has had any experience with Romancing Diamonds.
Thanks!

 

[denverappraiser]

I apologize for a bit of a threadjack here but I have a question that comes to mind from your headline.

I’ve never heard of Romancing Diamonds so I’m not going to discuss their merits but I’ld love to hear from some of the more tech savvy folks out there on the topic of how you can tell if www.romancingdiamonds.com is really the same as the Romancing Diamonds company that someone has been recommended (or any similar sort of arrangement). It seems like it would be easy enough for a bad guy to knock off someone’s website with a slight permutation in the URL and then use it as a tool for ripping people off by a minor change in the phone number and address listed on the site while leaving everything else alone. I can imagine someone knocking off not just a product but a whole company! Is there a good procedure for authenticating websites?

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver

 

[Steel]

Date: 5/4/2009 2:28:20 PM
Author:msegal3
I placed an order yesterday for this item http://www.romancingdiamonds.com/item/detail.cfm?id=536
I have heard of Romancing Diamonds and their outstanding service, but now that I have spent this money I would love to know if anyone at this forum has had any experience with Romancing Diamonds.
Thanks!

Hmmm...

Why would you not ask for advice/recommendations BEFORE making a purchase?

 

[Garry H (Cut Nut)]

I would demand the ring be sent directly to an independant appraiser of your choice (need not be even near you).

This might improve the quality of the diamonds in the ring that is selected for you, and ensure the stones (which are presumably uncertified) are at least as close as possible to eye clean colorless appearing.

 

[patrick835]

A quick google search didn''t bring up anything.
So did Resellerratings and Better Business Bureau
i gottga go to gym, will search again, hehe

 

[swingirl]

I like to use Google Maps to see what a business looks like.

There is an MRS Corporation listed at that address. Phone 516-304-5693.
Also House of Tanzanite. Phone 516-466-0044.
Maybe one of those is the company you are inquiring about.

Did you talk to them on the phone before you ordered from them? What makes you suspicious?

 

[girlie-girl]

I've not ever heard of Romancing Diamonds.

In answer to Neil's question, I like to run a "whois" on the URL to see who the domain registrant is. You're also able to check to see how long the URL has been in existence, if there is a working website etc.

http://whois.domaintools.com/romancingdiamonds.com

Whois Record
Registrant:
Romancing Diamonds
ATTN: ROMANCINGDIAMONDS.COM
c/o Network Solutions
P.O. Box 447
Herndon, VA. 20172-0447

Domain Name: ROMANCINGDIAMONDS.COM
Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
Hakimian, Shawn ([email protected])
Romancing Diamonds
ATTN: ROMANCINGDIAMONDS.COM
c/o Network Solutions
P.O. Box 447
Herndon, VA 20172-0447
570-708-8780

Record expires on 27-Mar-2010.
Record created on 27-Mar-2007.
Database last updated on 5-May-2009 06:45:29 EDT.
Domain servers in listed order:

NS49.WORLDNIC.COM 205.178.190.25
NS50.WORLDNIC.COM 205.178.144.25

==========================

In this care you'll notice the email address for the registrant lists "networksolutions". They are a hosting company and often times HCs will register domain names on behalf of their clients and then field any queries that come in.

Next I did a reverse phone number search ( http://www.whitepages.com/reverse_phone ) and 10 results came up with different people's names, all at the same PO Box, so it looks like the contact information is all for the hosting company itself.

This isn't always a surefire way of knowing if a site is legit, but at least it gives additional information. I would use the whois look up in conjunction with the reverse phone number look up and other on line searches in order to make a determination. Lastly I always use the rule of thumb 'if it's too good to be true, it probably is' and my gut instincts before proceeding.

 

[denverappraiser]

Thanks Girlie Girl,

I’m still confused. What have we learned from the above that’s actually useful? The record for that URL was created in 2007, the name of their hosting company and that apparently they paid their registration bill. The date thing is indeed a good clue but the rest doesn’t seem all that helpful. The phone #, address and contact name are for the hosting company so they don’t match what’s shown on the site.

The reverse white pages thing using the phone # on the site does seem like a useful trick to see if it matches who they say they are although it costs $5 to look up the 877# with these folks. Not to sound cheap but is there a free way to do this?

Neil Beaty
GG(GIA) ICGA(AGS) NAJA
Professional Appraisals in Denver