Reading a seller profile before you buy

Before you buy, spend two minutes on the seller's profile rather than the product. The profile shows how the store behaves over time, while a product page only shows how it presents itself on one good day.

Start with how long the store has been open and how many completed orders it shows. Age alone proves nothing, but a store that has been trading for a year with steady activity is a very different risk from one created last week with the same product photos.

Read the store's own description of its dispatch times and return rules, then check whether reviews mention those promises being kept. A seller who writes generous promises and keeps them is the pattern worth finding; the exact numbers matter less than the match.

Finally, look at how the seller responds to critical reviews. A calm, factual reply to a complaint is one of the strongest signals a profile can carry, because it shows how you will be treated if your order is the one that goes wrong.