Liam T.

So after careful review, countless hours searching trustpilot and other ratings sites, I decided to go ahead and make a purchase on pursevalley.cn using my Amex card, one of the two credit card payment methods offered by pursevalley.

The benefit with a credit card over any other form of payment is that you, the buyer, have security in that you can request a chargeback should you not receive what you ordered, or not receive anything at all. Paying by any other method is relying on the site to not only send you what you ordered, but also to provide a quality item (as they describe) and to honour their refund policy. That's a lot of trust given to a company based in China that makes its money by illegally copying bags.

The site tries to convince you that moneygram, westernunion, and other cash based payment options are better as they allow faster processing. They even offer discounts to encourage you to use these methods, with no discount for credit cards.
If you factor in the fees associated with a moneygram/westernunion transfer, even with the discount, the pricing is within a few % of the credit card price, except with credit card payments you get all the extra security.

After placing my order, with card details being accepted by the site, I received a confirmation email and everything seemed fine. The next day, I'd received 2 more emails, both claiming that there are issues with my credit card and that they've been trying to process the payment, but my card isn't working. Little do they know that I work for the issuing bank that my card came from, and actually work in card payments. There was absolutely nothing wrong with my card, plenty of limit available, no region or MCC blocks, absolutely nothing that would stop them from completing the transaction. I even pulled the authorisation logs to see if any attempts were made on the card, and surprise surprise, there were none.
The email continued on to say that I've now chosen to proceed by moneygram payment, and provided instructions on how to send cash via moneygram, even adjusting the price to include the "discount" as an incentive.

So essentially I'd been lied to three times, before my order was even completed. 1/ they advertise that Amex and Visa are acceptable payment methods. This is a lie.
2/ they send automated emails telling you that you've chosen moneygram as your payment option. This is a lie
3/ they tell you that your card isn't working. This is a lie.

The aim of the company appears to be luring you in with a variety of options, including credit card payments, to give you a false sense of security. Once you complete the order, they're hoping that there is some emotional attachment to the purchase and that this will now overcome your common sense, and you will agree to send them cash with absolutely no security and no recourse should you be completely ripped off.

As per many of the independent review sites, many many purchasers were not happy with their items once received and confirm that their reviews were not posted on the site. It seems that they also doctor their reviews, or are very selective as to which negative reviews they post to give the impression of balance, without causing damage to themselves.

Stay away. Completely dodgy and shady dealings.