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With online shops marooning everywhere, it can become an uphill task to keep up with the legit ones. So, when a site appears as one of the most searched sites on ScamAdviser, we are intrigued to find out more about it.
Ouku is an online shop that sells lots of items in many different categories ranging from clothes to accessories. We went on a deep dive to ascertain whether Ouku.com is a legit site or a fraud.
Any website's start date is vital as it explains a lot about a site. According to Whois.com, Ouku.com was registered way back in 2004.
The site has been on and off for many years with hardly any consistency. According to Archive.org, the site was inactive for two consecutive years, apart from breaks lasting months before they got back up.
This does very little in trying to win users' confidence, as most dubious websites will use old domains to try and win users' confidence. They have figured that old domains will come off as legit sites. But the gaps in the businesses’ operations are unexplained. Were they out of business? Were they facing any legal challenges? There are so many unanswered questions.
Checking the customer’s reviews is always a good way to get a firsthand account of the online store. Sadly, when we checked Ouku.com reviews, they were not favourable. The store has 1.9 stars on Trustpilot and 1 star on ScamAdviser.
Most of the customers are complaining that the quality of the goods purchased does not match up to the description. Most people say the clothes are poorly made and don’t come close to what is advertised.
Most people also complained that reaching the company was an uphill task, and one must pay for the return costs of the items.
Usually, when a customer gets a wrong or defective product, the online store makes it easy for them to return the product. But most dubious websites will make it as hard for users to return the products as possible.
This is the case with Ouku.com, which demands that users pay for the return costs. Some customers have complained that the cost of returning the products is usually higher than what they paid for the item.
This is a common theme with most Chinese scam webshops which sell substandard products and make it impossible for the customers to return the products.
Ouku claims to be in Singapore and has listed their address as;
738 BEDOK RESERVOIR ROAD #02-33 WATERFRONT ISLE SINGAPORE
But upon further investigations, the address is a Leasehold property with many residentials.
Again, this is a common trick by scammers to use dubious addresses that don’t relate to the business just to seem legit.
Overall, there are many red flags that cannot be ignored. Ouku.com does seem to deliver its products, albeit substandard. Most customers complain of products being nearly impossible to return, which harbors the idea of getting stuck with a product you don’t want.
There are a lot of characteristics that overlap with what we see with other scams. Caution is advised while shopping with Ouku.com.
This article has been written by a scam fighter volunteer. If you believe the article above contains inaccuracies or is missing relevant information, please contact ScamAdviser.com using this form.
