Shipping and Handling: If you buy a lot of stuff on the internet, you've run into it.  You don't really know what the shipping charges are and you can't seem to find anything on their site.  It's a favorite trick of the boiler-room internet scams described above.  But, you move ahead, place the order and still don't see anything about shipping until you get your credit card statement, or see a charge online for your card that doesn't match the price you thought you paid.  In fact, with the shipping charges included, the total price is higher than at least a half-dozen sites that you could have received free shipping from.  When you complain, the company says you can return it, but there's a 15% re-stocking charge.  When you figure out the return shipping charges plus the re-stocking charge, it isn't worth it, but you feel like you have been taken.  It's not a good feeling.

Where are they?  Quite often if the price is so low, it's because the website is located in a foreign country.  That's not to say a website located outside the U.S. is not legitimate.  There are plenty of fine retailers located in Canada, Europe and other locations.  But, the key here is price.  If the price is so good it's hard to resist, that's because it's probably a scam, most likely involving stolen goods or counterfeits made from cheap components.  And, here's the bad part.  The warranty is NOT honored by the manufacturer if you didn't buy it from an authorized retailer in the U.S. and it's certainly not going to be honored by the manufacturer if it's a fake.  

An example is the product line from Orient Watch of Japan.  Consumers can buy an Orient watch from a number of worldwide locations.  Some are legitimate dealers, some are not.  Fake watches are a big business, and though not well known in the U.S., Orient is a very well-respected brand in Asia and Europe and it's not uncommon for counterfeit Orient watches to show up in the market with non-jeweled cloned movements that might last six months, if you're lucky.  This is not uncommon with high-end eyewear as well.  If you depend on eyewear to protect your eyes, counterfeits will not do the job in every respect from simple UVA/UVB ultraviolet rays protection to meeting ballistic requirements.

Sometimes it is very difficult to discern whether the retailer is located in the U.S.  That's why it is very important to KNOW where they are and HOW to contact them.  In our research we have found many retailers that look like legitimate U.S. retailers, but the tell-tale signs when looking at their site, determining where the URL is hosted, and all the other details that most consumers either don't have the time to research or the tools to make a final determination, give them away.   They are often located in Malaysia, Indonesia, or other locations where they operate freely without recourse for consumers that have been scammed.