GirlishAvenue.com is a site that came to us recently through our contact from. Recently we’ve written about sites that claim to have everything for free, you just need to pay for shipping, similar to what GirlishAvenue.com is doing.
Unfortunately, those sites that we took a look at were found to be fraudulent websites. And so, because of that, GirlishAvenue.com could also appear to be under the same scam. Our hope is that from the evidence we present in this article, you as the reader can decide for yourself whether they are just that – a scam.
Quick Review
- They claim to have a 24-hour sale that has lasted longer than 24-hours.
- They Privacy Policy errors and issues.
- We’ve emailed them, and they haven’t responded yet.
- They aren’t listed on the BBB, even though they claim they are.
- We’ve seen this type of scam before.
Is Anything Wrong With Free Products?
It does need to be said that nothing is wrong with free products. They are in fact part of advertising a site. For example, sometimes a site will give things away for ‘free’ but tack on a larger shipping fee, to help cover their costs. They do this so that they can get their business name out there much quicker.
Most people won’t realize that they’re probably getting the product at the same price with the higher shipping fee, since they thought that the product was ‘free’ (it works similarly to why companies will sell things for $29.99 instead of $30.)
So, we can’t immediately discount Girlish Avenue’s free products because of them being, well, free. This could be a potential advertising scheme in which Girlish Avenue is just trying to get their name out there.
Now, what exactly did we find wrong with Girlish Avenue?
Privacy Policy Errors
As you can see from the screenshot above, it doesn’t appear that Girlish Avenue’s Privacy Policy was completely set up. It still has places where the owner is supposed to ‘insert’ more information.
A Privacy Policy page on a website is all about what exactly they take from you (i.e. data), and how they keep it safe, and/or whether they use it/sell it.
Now, we’ve found some sites that have said they were going to sell and use the data that is on the site, though that isn’t typical. What is more typical is a site that says they won’t sell your data, and won’t keep the majority of it.
But with Girlish Avenue, you don’t even know what they are going to be keeping or sharing, since they haven’t specified in their Privacy Policy!
This means, for all we know, they could be keep your credit card and billing info, and use it for whatever they want. Hypothetically, under their Privacy Policy, they could be selling your info, and you would be ‘technically’ agreeing to it, if you chose to shop here!
(Okay, so it is illegal to sell credit-card info – if they are doing that, then they’re doing something wrong. Our point is that since they don’t exactly spell out what is in their Privacy Policy, and if you did agree to it, they have a lot of ‘play’ as to what the Privacy Policy says).
If we went to shop at a site like Girlish Avenue, and found the Privacy Policy the way that it is, we wouldn’t shop at it. Why? Because we just don’t know what they are doing with our data.
It’s not that we would immediately think that Girlish Avenue is a scam. But without a proper Privacy Policy, there isn’t a lot of trust on their end as to what they are doing with anyone’s data, which is never good.
Faulty Email And Customer Service
On their ‘important’ pages, Girlish Avenue lists an email to use in the case you need to contact them. GirlishAvenueStaff@gmail.com.
Nothing is overly wrong with using a free email, like Gmail. And it’s good that they had the beginning of the email sound similar to their site (some sites don’t do that.)
But what’s not nice is when you email them, and they don’t respond. That doesn’t look good for your business or for missing products (if you had any.)
We emailed them three days ago (as of writing this), asking whether or not everything was free. We thought it was a legitimate question and one that would be answered quickly.
So far, we haven’t actually received anything from them. No answer and no response.
So, what happens if we order something, and then don’t get a tracking number? Or if our product is damaged and we want a refund? Are they going to reply in that situation?
Customer service should be quick and efficient. If they don’t respond within 24-hours (unless they say explicitly that they may take a few days), then they’re not running a very good business.
Yes, there will be times when things come up, and you can’t get a response as immediately as you want. But we have to wait three days (and counting)? That’s just a turn off for us, if we had to choose to shop at Girlish Avenue.
BBB Accredited Or Not?
As you can see from the above screenshot, Girlish Avenue claims to be an Accredited Business with the BBB (Better Business Bureau).
However, this is completely false. We can’t find them anywhere on the BBB’s website, must less on the web! If they were BBB Accredited, you would think that other business would have spoken about them somewhere.
Additionally, Girlish Avenue claims to be PayPal verified. While this may be true, why don’t they then allow purchases to be made through PayPal?
Many times, scammers will have been banned from PayPal, and no longer allow it on their site (like, for example, Girlish Avenue). So to say that Girlish Avenue is PayPal verified, but not using PayPal is sort of strange.
And on top of all this, the total shipping charge doesn’t seem to change.
If this were a legit company, and if they were just trying to advertise their business through ‘free’ products, the shipping charge would be per item, and not per purchase.
We ‘ordered’ one item, and found that the shipping cost was $13.98. As you can see from the above screenshot, after we added a second thing to our cart, the shipping still stayed at $13.98.
So there is very little doubt within our mind that this site is clearly not telling the whole truth about themselves.
Is Girlish Avenue A Scam?
In our humble opinion, this site does appear to be a scam. Privacy Policy errors, Customer Service issues, and false accreditation claims all lead to us concluding that Girlish Avenue doesn’t appear to be as legit as they seem.
Additionally, if you do enough searching around online, it does appear that there are some negative reviews about Girlish Avenue. Some people claim that they were scammed out of their money by them.
We can’t verify this, but it does add in some way to the weight of our conclusion.
Hopefully, through this article, you, the reader, have been able to decide just what your thoughts are on Girlish Avenue. And hopefully the decision doesn’t leave you scammed.
Don’t Get Scammed Again!
We know what it’s like getting scammed – we’ve gotten scammed plenty of times. But because of this, we were able to find similarities between many scam websites.
We created a video course, How To Detect Online Scams, in which we explain these similarities and methods we use to check a website. And we’re happily able to offer it to you for a discounted price.
Unfortunately, we can’t really give you the money that you lost by being scammed (if you did get scammed). But we can give you our course for a cheaper and more affordable price.
Follow the link below and get our course for 50% off of its original price. It’s our way of trying to help out those who have been scammed before, and/or those who don’t have a lot of money to spend!
What are your thoughts on Girlish Avenue? Did you purchase something from them? We would love to know what your opinion is of Girlish Avenue! Make sure to leave your thoughts in the comments section below!
I ordered from girlish avenue and have yet to receive any product from them I never recieved a confirmation email or tracking number or receipt only proof that I made an order is on my card statement they are a scam just I do not know how to turn them in
Start by contacting the business that you paid through (Credit Card issuer, Bank, etc). They may also be able to give you alternative places to report them.
Girlish Avenue is a scam. I ordered from them a long time ago and didn’t receive anything. Also, THEY DELETED THE WEBSITE. I’m mad about it and the worst thing is I can’t do anything about it.
I purchased 2 orders and they deleted the sight
Hmm, it does indeed appear that they deleted the site – we’ll have to be on the watch out for their next site. Sorry to hear about your experience.
Yes they are a scam!! I ordered from that sight on May 5th and I still have yet to receive my order. I go back to the site to track my order and it says the site is no longer there as in it’s deleted. I also tried emailing them and I’ve waited days later and still received no response. I hate I didn’t research about them at first but as I read their privacy policy and stuff it seemed legit.
They are a scam abd I’m pissed they took my money
Sorry to hear about that Jade. Have you tried disputing it?
They r a scam, I ordered twice and haven’t received anything, they did send me a conformation number, but it was only 4 #’s and no tracking #.!! When I went to track the order, the site was gone and I was redirected to site error . However I will contact my back to let them know that this company is fraud and if any charges come to my account with this company to not clear it!!! Do I’ll advise anyone who’s ordered from them to clothe account they used to make purchase from them with!!! And thanks for helping us to see that this company is fraud and may God keep great people like u Around and bless u
I made a purchase May 1, received a confirmation and company tracking number. As of this writing I have sent three emails and gotten no response. I do believe they are connected with Fashion 4 Forever, but I received a refund from Fashion. Girlish Ave doesn’t answer emails.
Sorry to hear about that, Marguerite. We’ll have to look into Fashion 4 Forever.
I ordered from them may 1st and 3rd I got an email that said you can track package …its the 15th and havent received my purchases yet and i noticed when i went back to my email to track out of no where it pops up saying this shop is unavailable..i emailed no response so i called my bank and it didnt even take 24 hours for my claim to process and got credited back my money …it seems to me that it is a good scam this is why i made sure i didnt use a credit card i used my debit card so just in case it was a scam they won’t have my credit card info
I ordered at the beginning of May and have not received anything. One confirmation email that claims to track your package
But goes nowhere .so disappointed I will contact my bank tomorrow.
Yes me and my daughter and friend ordered some clothes still have not received them. I want to know how I can get a refund.
Hey Shannon,
You’re going to have to contact your bank/credit card issuer/etc about how to dispute, because Girlish Avenue probably isn’t going to give you a refund.
I ordered from them may 9th and havnt received anything yet..i found the site thru a Facebook ad ? I should have known…
SCAM! Has to be a scam. I ordered and have yet to receive anything. Just as others have stated when you follow the tracking link it doesn’t work- gives an error message. SMH
Same here I ordered on the first of may and still haven’t gotten me order yet
They are a scammer made two orders didn’t receive anything called a number from the web site they said they would have some one contact me but never did will be calling my bank I should have known better but I’m glad I won’t be out of hundreds of dollars just about 30$ I will never do this again should have known free meant free money for them I wish I knew how to report them
I purchased items a month ago and still have not recieved them yet its3 about to be a entire new montg coming in soon.. BS SCAMMMMMM
I ordered from.them.early may.recieved an email and all that but havent recieved any products yet. I used my debit so i have to gonto the bank and change my card
j ai commander fin avril toujours rien plusieurs mail sans réponse chui blazer pourtant le site avait l air correct j ai plus qu a aller a ma banque
Yup i ordered April 28 and it is now May 25 I havent recieved anythin either and yes the site is deleted…. On my way to the Bank!!!
La même chose pour moi j’ai commandé le 4 mai et toujours rien ils répond pas au email le site est supprimé :/ grrrr
If you voluntarily went to the site and entered your information for payment – scam or not – then your bank won’t be able to help you. Your financial institution cannot protect you from yourself. It’s no different if you meet some guy in the Walmart parking lot who is selling brand a new iPhone X and you hand him cash but when you get home, inside the box is a brick. Your bank isn’t going to give you more cash to cover the cash you gave away in a scam.
I ordered on May 10, 2019 and never received anything…this is so embarrassing because I pride myself on knowing what’s a scam and what’s not…I am so angry!!! I want my money back but I know it is a lesson learned. “If it’s sounds to good to be true, it usually is!!!”
Yes I placed an order in April and have yet to receive anything I’ve contacted them numerous times through email and now the website is gone