How to Avoid Getting Burned by a Web Designer — Questions to Ask First
Hiring someone online to build the public face of your business means trusting a stranger before you’ve seen anything. Most bad outcomes in this industry share a small set of avoidable patterns.
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Most bad experiences hiring a web designer trace back to the same handful of avoidable mistakes — paying before seeing anything, no written scope, no way to verify who you’re actually dealing with. None of this requires expertise to catch. It requires asking a few direct questions before any money changes hands.
Red flags to watch for
- Full payment requested before showing any design — the single most common pattern behind bad outcomes.
- No real, verifiable business behind them — just a personal account and no registered company or address.
- No written scope — a vague promise to “build you something nice” with nothing specific in writing.
- Pressure to decide immediately — “this price is only good today” is a sales tactic, not a real constraint.
- A portfolio you can’t verify — no way to confirm the examples shown are actually their work.
- Unwillingness to commit to a delivery date in writing.
Questions to ask before you pay anything
- Can I see a real design before I pay anything? Not a generic portfolio — something built for my actual business.
- What exactly is included, and what costs extra? Get the full scope in writing, not a verbal summary.
- What’s the delivery date — in writing? A real date, not “soon” or “a few weeks.”
- Who owns the domain and the files when it’s finished? This should be you, clearly, with no ambiguity.
- What happens if I’m not happy with the result? Ask for the actual refund or revision policy, not a reassurance.
- Is there a real company behind this, with a verifiable address?
- How do I pay, and is there buyer protection? Covered in more detail below.
Why “100% upfront, nothing to see first” is the biggest risk
Almost every bad outcome in this industry starts the same way: the client pays before seeing any real work. Once payment has happened, all the leverage shifts to the person who was paid — there’s no incentive left to deliver quickly, or well, or at all. A design preview before any money changes hands removes that risk entirely: if the work isn’t good, you’ve lost nothing but the time it took to ask.
What a legitimate business should be able to show you
- A registered legal entity, with a real, published address — not just a name on a website.
- Written terms — scope, price, delivery date, refund conditions — published openly, not sent only on request.
- A payment processor with real receipts, such as Stripe or a similarly established provider, rather than an informal personal payment method.
- A refund policy with actual numbers in it — specific timeframes and conditions, not a vague promise to “consider requests.”
Is it safe to pay a web designer online?
Payment through an established processor like Stripe or a major card network gives you a real paper trail and dispute options if something goes wrong. Requests to pay by wire transfer, cryptocurrency, or gift cards are a well-known red flag across almost every kind of online transaction — these methods are hard to trace and nearly impossible to reverse, which is exactly why they’re a common request in scams generally, not specific to web design. A legitimate business has no reason to avoid a traceable, reversible payment method.
Frequently asked questions
What questions should I ask a web designer before hiring them?
Ask to see a real design before paying, get the full scope and delivery date in writing, confirm who owns the domain and files when finished, and ask directly about their refund policy and whether there’s a real, verifiable business behind the offer.
How do I know if a web designer is legitimate?
Look for a registered legal entity with a real address, published written terms, an established payment processor like Stripe, and a specific refund policy. A legitimate business can show you all of this without hesitation.
Is it normal to pay 100% before work starts?
It’s common, but it’s the single riskiest pattern in this industry when there’s nothing backing it up. Look for a written scope, a fixed price and delivery date, revisions included, and a published refund policy that actually pays out if you cancel early or you’re not happy after your revisions — that’s what removes the risk, not the payment structure itself.
What payment methods should I avoid when hiring a web designer?
Wire transfers, cryptocurrency, and gift cards are hard to trace and nearly impossible to reverse — a well-known red flag across online transactions generally. Payment through an established processor like Stripe gives you a real paper trail and dispute options.
What should I do if I already paid and I’m not getting what was promised?
Check the payment method’s dispute process first — card payments and platforms like Stripe or PayPal typically offer buyer protection with a formal dispute process. Keep all written communication as evidence of what was actually promised.
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Published by Union Web Studio, a trading name of Infivion LLC. This article is general guidance, not legal or financial advice. See our own Terms of Service and Refund Policy for how these principles apply to our own packages.