Today, we're looking at how websites selling fake Rolex watches attempt to establish themselves as trustworthy through their websites. This niche of replica watches is particularly interesting because some websites selling fake Rolex's actually manage to overcome the initial barrier of selling a questionable product and appear to be trustworthy!

Buying fake Rolex watches online

I was surprised to learn that there are hundreds of websites selling fake Rolex watches over the internet. The quality of these websites range from poor to actually pretty good.

Understanding how customers think

Entering into the mindset of the customer, we can try to understand how a potential customer thinks... The fake Rolex market is a powerful example of how despite having a product which is dodgy, by using several approaches, replica watch websites selling brands like Rolex have been able to encourage customers to trust their businesses.

How fake Rolex websites communicate they are trustworthy

In scouring the web for examples of websites selling fake Rolexes, I came across a number of techniques being used to build trust. I didn't find one particular website using all of the methods outlined below, however these 'trust builders' were present on a number of different websites:

1. Good looking and professional website - No broken links, no careless spelling mistakes. Great first impressions.
2. Phone number and email address displayed on every page - Some websites even had free-phone numbers open 24 hours a day.
3. Upfront pricing - Prices shown are prices paid. Having free delivery makes pricing even more transparent.
4. Shipping methods - Next day delivery and particularly payment on delivery are effective ways of building trust in the product.
5. Photos and videos of actual products - Because of the nature of fake Rolex watches this is particularly important in this sector. This website is an example of a website using images and videos to sell their watches. Searching google for sevenwatch.com you can see they have their videos indexed on more-a-less every video sharing site around!
6. Evidence of secure payment - SSL, "Secured by thawte" and "McAfee Hacker Safe" logos all communicate the website can be trusted for taking payment.
7. Use of familiar and trustworthy logos - Use of logos like Visa, Amex, Fedex, DHL and USPS subliminally help the user trust the website.
8. Testimonials/Product reviews - From a customer's point of view, onsite testimonials are difficult to really trust. Nevertheless, lots of fake watch websites have customer testimonials, or the ability to rate each watch (example). If testimonials are on other websites, the testimonials carry a lot more weight. (This has led to some fake Rolex websites creating their own "independent" fake Rolex review websites! "Oh what a tangled web we weave...")
9. Professional, regularly updated blog - This is a great way to keep content updated and show users that the website is still maintained and that the business up to date with watch industry news. (This site does this well)
10. High prices - This is cunning and very worrying, but some websites are able to persuade their customers that they produce "top end fakes" by simply charging more! In reality this might mean a customer pays $1000 for something which costs $100 elsewhere. This may seem strange, but a premium priced product is one of the most convincing ways, if used in conjunction with the above points, to persuade users the fake watches are of highest quality.

Reason to be concerned?

I hope this post has demonstrated that using the above  'trust builders', a website selling fake Rolex watches can effectively persuade a user that they are offering a service which can be trusted.

It's worth saying that anyone choosing to buy a fake rolex takes a risk. Why? They run the risk of getting ripped off by a dishonest company that doesn't ship products or customs blocking the delivery. Essentially though, if users can find evidence of good customer service and evidence that they ship watches (e.g. SevenWatch and PureTimeWatch) on external sites they reduce the risk of falling for a scam.

Conclusion

Eoghan Mccabe says that building trust online comes down to honesty and transparency. I would argue that the cornerstone to building trust online is having a product which can be trusted. This article shows that it isn't too difficult to create a website which looks trustworthy, but the key is actually selling a product which can be trusted. Fake Rolex websites will always have the stigma of selling fake products!

If your business sells trustworthy products, keep a look out for our trust-builders checklist which we will be making available soon.

Feedback

How do you think businesses operating online can communicate trust?

Steve | Hannisdal Express July 11, 2008 Votes: +1	David - very interesting article! I've been going through this question myself, "How do I communicate that I'm trustworthy?" I think you've mentioned a bunch of them but I'll add my 2 cents. One item that strikes me as important is 3rd party verification. This can come in different forms - whether it is the brand name SSL they have, which means they paid lots of money, or word of mouth from friends or contacts. We've found that a lot of our business in the video/web design arena has come from word of mouth (or word of email/forum). I think people are increasingly wary of things/sites on the internet, and are slow to adopt something new simply because they aren't sure if it is safe or not. So instead, they rely on experiences of people they know. Even if someone has a good product, I know that personally I'd rather deal with someone with a slightly worse product or service if I KNOW from a friend's experience that it will be great doing business with this person. With all this in mind, I guess for me it comes down to building a brand one customer at a time through the honesty and transparency. Obviously someone has to make that first step, but hopefully they'll love your service/product so much that they tell all their friends about it. report abuse vote down vote up
David T July 12, 2008 Votes: +0	Steve thanks for your input there. You're spot on that 3rd party verification is a must. Referrals that come from a trusted friend/business partner are really valuable yeah. I'll try and incorporate what you've said in the more general post I make about trust. report abuse vote down vote up
Anne July 12, 2008 Votes: +0	I found the videos amusing since they were nothing more than watching the second hand move. OK..they had background music. The forums were interesting on some of these sites. report abuse vote down vote up
David T July 14, 2008 Votes: +0	Hi Anne, The videos aren't very dynamic but they do show the movement of the watch which is something consumers will be interested in (to check if the watches have sweeping hands for example). But you make a good point that the videos could be improved by showing more of the watches or reviewing them for example. Thanks for your input! report abuse vote down vote up
J November 28, 2008 Votes: +1	Hi I was thinking about starting a site but have seen some sites have been closed down before however there are still thousands operating and some sites have been going for years selling these items, does anyone know why some sites are closed but others keep going with these sort of products? report abuse vote down vote up
Bill Heller January 21, 2009 Votes: +1	The website bluefakes.com is a con website selling what they claim to be top end rolex copies for $500-$750 and send you cheap $100 model. They make you think your getting a "top end" "swiss movement" copy. They request a COD and most people are excited to get the great watch and learn after its too late they got ripped off. They ignore calls and suddenly can't be reached. Mike Tsyuman is who they ask the COD to be written to. Google the names and you will see the complaints. I wish I did before I threw $560 away! report abuse vote down vote up