How do I make my store look trustworthy so people know it isn't a scam?
By Dan BartleyUpdated 4 minute read
The short answer
Show the signs that a real business is behind the site: photos of the actual product, a clear returns policy, delivery costs and times up front, contact details with a person behind them, and genuine reviews. Shoppers who have never heard of you judge the store quickly, and anything that looks copied, vague or hidden makes them doubt it.
What do shoppers check before trusting a new store?
Whether a real business is behind it, and what happens if something goes wrong. They look at the photos, the returns policy, the delivery details, the contact page and the reviews.
| What they check | What reassures them | What worries them |
|---|---|---|
| Product photos | The actual product, from several angles, in the same style across the store | Supplier photos they have seen on other sites |
| Returns policy | A plain policy that says how a return works | No policy, or one that says no refunds |
| Delivery | Cost and timing before checkout, and where orders ship from | Costs that only appear at checkout |
| Contact details | A business name, an email address on your own domain and a phone number | A contact form and nothing else |
| Reviews | Recent reviews from real buyers, including some that are not perfect | Only five-star reviews with no detail |
| Payment | Payment options they already use | Bank transfer only, or methods they do not recognise |
What makes a store look like a scam?
Anything that suggests the seller is hiding something or copying someone else. Supplier or stock photos, prices far below everyone else, countdown timers that reset, no business details and reviews that all sound the same are the signs shoppers have learned to avoid.
AI images that change the product, or look obviously generated, raise the same doubt. Whether AI images can make customers feel misled covers how to use them without that risk.
Do product photos affect whether a store looks trustworthy?
Yes, because they are the first thing most visitors judge. Photos of the actual product, consistent across the store, show a real business with real stock; supplier photos that appear on other sites suggest a reseller who may never have held the product.
Consistency matters as much as quality. A collection page where every product is shot in the same light, at the same angle and on the same background looks like one business; a page of mixed supplier photos looks like several.
How do I get reviews when my store is new?
Ask every early customer by email once the order has arrived, and make leaving a review easy. Never write them yourself or ask friends to post them: under Australian Consumer Law, creating or arranging a fake or misleading review is illegal.
business.gov.au sets out what the ACCC treats as fake or misleading: reviews by people who have not used the product, reviews you remove or change after they are posted, reviews by staff or family that do not say so, and incentives offered only for positive reviews or not disclosed. This is general information, not legal advice.
Showing every review, including the critical ones, makes the good ones more believable. A reply to a complaint that fixes the problem reassures the next buyer more than a wall of five-star ratings.
How do I make shoppers trust my checkout?
Keep it familiar and predictable: the total cost shown before checkout, payment options buyers already use, and no surprises at the last step.
Baymard Institute asked US online shoppers why they abandoned a purchase. Leaving aside those who were only browsing, 19% said they did not trust the site with their credit card details. A standard checkout and payment methods buyers recognise, such as PayPal, Apple Pay or Afterpay, give them less to doubt.
What should a new store fix first to look trustworthy?
The things a visitor sees in the first minute: the product photos, the delivery and returns details beside the add to cart, and a contact page with a real business behind it.
- Replace supplier photos with photos of your actual product
- Add delivery cost, delivery time and returns in one line each beside the add to cart
- Put your business name, your ABN or NZBN, an email address on your own domain and a phone number on the contact page
- Turn on reviews and ask your first customers for them
- Remove pressure tactics, such as countdown timers that reset
Bartley Studio makes photos of your actual product from a couple of phone photos of each one, so a new store can show real frames from the first day. If a final image fails to match the product’s real dimensions, colour or materials, it is re-edited until it does, at no extra cost.
Other questions people ask about this
Do trust badges work?
Badges that mean something help, such as the payment methods you accept and a genuine review rating. Generic secure-checkout badges added by apps do little on their own, and a row of them can look like the store is trying too hard.
Should my store show where we are based?
Yes. Australian and New Zealand shoppers want to know where an order ships from and how long it will take, and a local address and phone number answer both.
Does an email address on my own domain matter?
It helps. An address on your store’s domain, rather than a free webmail account, is a small sign that a real business is behind the store.
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