Don't Get Taken by a Fake Distributor!Written by Chris Malta
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Oh, GetYerStuffHere.com DOES ship products they claim to. Of course they do. It’s just that when they get an order from you, they turn around and place your order with REAL wholesale drop shipper, and take a profit. By time YOUR price is calculated, you’re paying not only wholesale, you’re paying GetYerStuffHere.com’s extra markup of anywhere from 10% to 30%. In order for YOU to make a profit, you naturally have to mark up prices you get from GetYerStuffHere.com. By time you do that, you can’t compete on ‘Net. Your prices are just too high. At this point, you can do one of two things: You can lower your prices to point where you’re making mere pennies on your products in order to compete. You can bypass these jokers and go to REAL sources. I’ve been in Systems Engineering for 18 years. I’ve been involved in ECommerce since it began. In that time, I’ve seen this scenario played out over and over with companies I’ve done work for. The real sources can be hard to find. They don’t market themselves as Internet drop shippers. They are established wholesale companies who have been supplying big chains like Sears and Kmart for a very long time. Many of them are now realizing that a good part of their future lies in Internet sales, and they are establishing drop ship programs. There are even a few big name manufacturers who are beginning to drop ship right from their factories. That’s where YOU need to be. In direct contact with actual wholesale distributor or factory source. When you’re looking for a drop shipper, here are a couple of things to be careful of: Any company that tells you that they’ll set up your entire web site AND PROVIDE THE PRODUCTS FOR YOU will NOT make you rich. They’ll make THEMSELVES rich on your setup and hosting fees, and you’ll piddle along with thousands of other small sites all selling exactly same things at same prices. (NOTE: Don’t confuse this with companies who just offer to set up your ECommerce web site. There are a lot of great places out there that will build and host sites for you. It’s when they tell you that you HAVE to sell products that THEY provide that you should run for cover.) Any distributor who wants you to pay a “membership” or “setup” fee is probably not a true wholesale distributor. If it sounds too good to be true, it’s too good to be true. Chris Malta WorldWide Brands, Inc. For more information, visit http://www.YouCanDropship.com.
Chris Malta is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer. He has worked with computer Systems for 18 years. He's been involved in eCommerce systems, networking and site design for more than 6 years. He's taught college-level computer courses in Western NY. He developed The Drop Ship Source Directory, and he and his partners at Worldwide Brands, Inc., publish the Directory and run eCommerce sites of their own using Drop Shipping as their only business method.
| | When Your Customers StealWritten by Chris Malta
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Turns out that a woman in West Virginia had inadvertently left her credit card on a checkout counter at a large department store. A clerk at that store picked up card, and used it to make several online purchases. The clerk was having purchases delivered to a vacant house RIGHT NEXT DOOR to his own. This guy must have left his brain cell in ‘fridge that day. The above are both good examples of how WE, as Netrepreneurs, get “scammed”. Maybe I’ve been luckier than most, but it has not happened to me all that many times. We caught guy who was reselling our Directory on EBay. What we did was this: The person who purchased bootleg Directory was naturally very upset. I told him that if I were able to catch this person and confirm what had happened, I would see to it that his purchase was made good, and he would receive full access to our REAL Directory. He immediately sent me all information he had on auctioneer. Sure enough, auctioneer was a customer of ours. I notified EBay’s fraud department (SafeHarbor@EBay.com). I then contacted perpetrator and elaborated on penalties of copyright infringement. He pulled his auction listings immediately. We came to an agreement for restitution that I was satisfied with. I suggested to him that he refund other people to whom he had already sold bootlegs, before THEY came after him. The police in West Virginia caught store clerk. They set up surveillance at vacant house next door, and waited for more of his online purchases to arrive. After case was prosecuted, we got jewelry back. All we lost was a few dollars in shipping charges. If you’re in business, you’re a potential target. Protect yourself as best you can. Use an AVS system when you accept credit cards. Confirm large-dollar purchases before processing them. When people charge thousands of dollars to buy large-ticket items from my sites, I always contact that customer to verify purchase. I caught two stolen cards that way, BEFORE I got burned. Watch for multiple purchases of same item by same person. They’ll end up being re-sold out of trunk of a car, and you’ll be stuck paying REAL card owner back. Be aware of protection programs like EBay’s Safe Harbor. And if you think you’re being ripped off, don’t just wait around to hear from someone about it. Contact bank that issued card, and police in area you think perpetrator purchased from. They take credit card fraud very seriously. Who knows? Maybe someday, someone will write a news story about it. Chris Malta WorldWide Brands, Inc. For more information, visit http://www.YouCanDropship.com
Chris Malta is a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer. He has worked with computer Systems for 18 years. He's been involved in eCommerce systems, networking and site design for more than 6 years. He's taught college-level computer courses in Western NY. He developed The Drop Ship Source Directory, and he and his partners at Worldwide Brands, Inc., publish the Directory and run eCommerce sites of their own using Drop Shipping as their only business method.
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