There are many tools which will help you figure out if an item you are interested in is legitimate and you should use as many of them as you can.

If the person selling the item has supplied a web address, do the following:

• Enter the address of the website in question into Google. If there are no or very few results, the website in question is probably very new and is probably not getting many hits.
• Use http://www.adsbay.co.uk/PRchecker.php to check the page rank of the website in question, check if it is what the seller says it is. If it is low and the seller states that they are getting many visitors ask for proof. But also remember that a low page rank does not necessarily mean the website is not getting many visitors.
• Go to http://www.alexa.com and do a search on the website in question. The lower the traffic rank the more traffic the site is getting. Be cautious of people offering links, etc on websites claiming that it is receiving tons of traffic, if the Alexa Rank is high.
• Finally go to the website and have a look around, see if you can tell if there is much activity, maybe there is a counter on the site. See if there are any other big names advertising on the site, if there are this is probably a very good indication. Although be aware that scammers could just put fake advertising on their site.

If they have not supplied a web address and the auction is for advertising on their site ask them for it. If they refuse to supply it do not bid for the item!

If the advertising product is off line, things get a bit harder to check, but there are still things you can do:

• Ask the seller to provide you with testimonials of previous clients who advertised with them and if possible contact these people and ask if the testimonials are true.
• Ask the seller if they have any statistics, received during a previous ad campaign, which you could look at.

If a service is being offered, there are various options to you:

• Ask for examples of previous work done
• Ask for testimonials and if possible check if they are real.
• If they have a website, check that it is established. Make sure it is not a fly by night company, which will disappear once you have paid your money. This can be done by doing a whios look up and checking the date it was registered. Also use the methods mentioned above, if a website has been supplied.

If the company in question does not have a website also be cautious.

We are in the process of gathering some great resources for all our members. There are only a few at the moment but as time goes on more will be added, so keep checking for updates. Go to the Resource Area and have a look at what is currently available. Remember you have to be logged in to download the resources/tools.