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Domain Due Diligence
Report for Rockauto.com

Report Date October 6, 2025
Recommendation
Caution
Overall Summary
Suspicious
Why we think so

RockAuto (rockauto.com) is a large, long-running online auto-parts retailer with very high traffic (~23 million visits/month) and a domain created around 1999. ✅ Technical signals are strong — HTTPS, CDN (Google Cloud), stable DNS and standard e‑commerce stack — and safety checks (Google Safe Browsing, crypto blacklists) show no active malware or phishing. ⚠️ However, repeated customer complaints (BBB, forums, reviews), a low Google Places rating (2.2/55), and a recent Arizona tax lawsuit make this a cautionary purchase: legitimate business but with known service and returns problems that can cost shoppers time or money.

Confidence Score
78%

Risk Insights

🛒

High-traffic legitimate e‑commerce site

About 23M monthly visits and strong US share (~75%).
Uses mainstream hosting, CDN and TLS.
Unlikely to be a throwaway phishing site.
⚠️

Customer service & returns are common pain points

Multiple independent complaint sources report wrong/defective parts and difficult returns.
Low local rating on Google Places (2.2/55).
Consider payment protection and careful checking before purchase.

Contradictory Signals

Site is operational and widely used but has recurring service/quality problems that make purchases riskier.

Signal A: Very high traffic, professional infra and no malware flags (indicates legitimate business)

Signal B: Many consumer complaints and low local rating (indicates poor reliability for buyers)

Category Scores

Identity 85/100
Reputation 55/100
Technical 90/100
Content 80/100
Legal 60/100
Business Validity 75/100

Red Flags & Warnings

  • Numerous consumer complaints about incorrect/defective parts, returns that may require customer-paid shipping, and slow or limited customer service responses.
  • Low Google Places rating (2.2/55) indicating recurring negative experiences from local customers.
  • High-profile Arizona tax lawsuit and related legal attention; may lead to operational changes or restrictions in affected states.

🔎 Detailed Checks & Analysis

Identity check — domain age / ownership signals

Score: 85/100
Passed

"WHOIS and DNS data show a stable setup (GoDaddy registrar, multiple NS at DNS Made Easy, SPF/MX entries). Certificate is valid (Sectigo) and covers *.rockauto.com, which fits a mature retailer."

Reason: Domain is long‑standing, registered through a major registrar, and has standard MX/SPF records and named authoritative DNS servers.

Reputation check — consumer complaints and reviews

Score: 55/100
Failed

"Multiple complaint threads and BBB pages describe similar failure modes: wrong/defective parts, slow responses, and customers sometimes paying return costs — a repeated pattern that impacts buyer risk."

Reason: Significant volume of complaints about fulfillment, returns and customer service across BBB and forums; these lower trust for customer-facing transactions.

Technical check — hosting, TLS, DNS, blacklist status

Score: 90/100
Passed

"Site uses modern web infrastructure and shows no active phishing or malware detections in our checks; that reduces the likelihood of the site being a short-lived scam farm."

Reason: Professional infrastructure: CDN (Google Cloud), nginx, DNS Made Easy, valid TLS and no Safe Browsing/crypto blacklist matches.

Content/commerce check — product catalog, contact channels

Score: 80/100
Passed

"Site presents large catalog content and public contact points (newsletter emails, marketing address, phone listed in help) which support business legitimacy but do not guarantee good post-sale support."

Reason: Comprehensive parts catalog and visible contact channels (emails, phone, social) point to a functional e-commerce operation, though policy/returns complaints persist.

Legal & regulatory check

Score: 60/100
Failed

"Recent news coverage documents an ongoing fight over state sales tax nexus and multi-million dollar assessments; the case is appealed and could affect where or how the company ships."

Reason: Active legal/tax dispute in Arizona introduces operational and reputational risk; outcome may change shipping/tax practices for affected customers.

Business validity — overall risk of fraud vs. poor service

Score: 75/100
Passed

"High traffic, long history, payment integrations and no blacklist hits support business validity. However, consistent consumer complaints justify caution when buying high-value items."

Reason: Evidence points to an operational, legitimate business rather than fraud, but with systemic customer service and quality control problems that increase consumer risk.

Your Next Steps

  • 1
    If you plan to order, prefer payment methods with buyer protection (credit card or PayPal) so you can dispute charges if fulfillment fails.
  • 2
    Check the exact part number and supplier details before purchase, and keep order records and photos of received items for returns.
  • 3
    For high-cost purchases, compare prices and return policies with local or better-reviewed vendors to reduce risk.
  • 4
    If you encounter a problem, escalate with documented requests (timestamps, photos) and consider chargeback or small-claims options if unresolved.
  • 5
    Monitor the Arizona tax/legal news only if you live in or ship to Arizona — it may affect shipping or taxes but not general site safety.

Evidence & Citations

🕵🏻 Keep investigating

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