Who sells, and from where

What you see

A footer that gives only the trading name, an e-mail address and a postal address in another country, a site in English, customer-service hours in a US time zone, sometimes European payment methods. By contrast, a French shop must display a company name and a registration number in its legal notice.

How to check

• Read the legal notice and the terms and conditions: is the company named there?
• Check the company in its country’s register. Some registers do not show the owner: only write what you read there.
• Look at the site language, the payment methods and the delivery countries: does the site target your country?

Takeaway

A seller established abroad makes remedies harder, without always ruling them out. Do not draw conclusions about how serious it is: note where it is established, and what its own pages say about it.