Avoiding Scams: Finding the Right Alibaba Partner

A large part of avoiding fraud to begins with is finding the right partner in China.  Again, because the Alibaba.com site is a little unwieldy, I try to find articles and postings of interest from the forums that will help people.  Found one this morning, in fact.  Like many of the posts, the English is not great, my I don't speak Mandarin, so I try to put that in perspective

This forum posting deals with finding a reliable partner.  It's worth a read.

I would like you to give some tips on how to find a reliable partner in china. 

Good advice from a user on how to
avoid fraud on Alibaba.com

Like most of you am also just a simple man trying to find some cheap electronic products to sell them and make some money,i dont have a company just a regular folk.I have been scamed twice so far and finally i have found some lets say reliable partner in china.
First off all you must no that there is no original products like some well known brands for cellphones and laptops in china.If you want to buy original cellphone like nokia N95 8gb or something like that in China you can not get it for less than 400$ per pic.TRUST ME.
The things that they are selling in china and tell you that it is a original is actually high or bad quality copies.So the trust worthy supplier will tell you that at first place.I have seen some good tips on this forums so check them all out before you decide to do any shoping in china in case i forgot to write something down. 

Always try to talk to supplier that have web camera so they can show you the products via web camera,tell them to show you the batterie and to turn it on if possible.  Go on the official site of the brand that you are looking for to find out as many data as you can,you can even find the codes that you type in the cellphone on which you can know if it is original one. 

Always ask them for their business and export licence,phone number,web site etc... and call them and see if all the data matches what they have gave you. 

As far as i know there is no legal way to export copies of electronic products from China,because the company could get caught by their custom and get in serious trouble if caught exporting copy products.I found out that they have specialy arangment with some shiping companies who does not check out the products which they are shiping,and another way is that they first ship them to Hong-kong and then to you.And some thing abit that fraud companies that you complain to alibaba that he does not verified them enough,they are all legale registered companies with business licence to sell in China but what you need is company eho has export licenec issued by the Chinese department of foreign trade ministry. 

Google around the web on the forums to find out more about this company esspecialy on the forums like this one. 

When you are making an order ask them for sample to send you which you will pay for, but tel them that you will only pay 50% advance or even through paypal or something like that. 

And dont take that crap about not paying tax or custom fee that is up to luck they can not know that wheter your custom gonna charge some extra fee.The best thing that they can do is send you as gift-wrap,but if you want to import larger quantities of electronics you will pay custom fee and tax(ask them if they can split that large order in small one and send it on the name of your relatives or friends and also as gift-wrap)
Ok now lets talk about laptops. 

First you must know a difference between OEM/ODM (google it to find out what that means). 

There are some brands that uses oEM/ODM but some like IBM,APPLE does not use that and you can buy it only from cerftified dealers whic are very hard to find in china.If company says to you that they are certified dealer of some brand laptops ask them to send you "third party certificate" and then check out at the factory is that certificate valid.If you want to contact me and i will show you how does this certificate looks like. 

You can buy OEM/ODM laptops like Dell,Toshiba,HP. But you should always ask the supplier what is he selling you and ask them for warranty(for as i know only (OEM have internationaly waranty)the others have waranty given only by supplier.If he tells you that you have internationaly waranty tell him to give you serail number of laptop and warranty list so you can check it out on web or at the local supplier.I dont know if i have mentioned everything but this is basic if you have any question you acn contact me.I will answer to any question  and will recomend you some good companies. And dont forget it,you can make some money buying products from china but dont live in illusion taht you can get fillthy rich in just couple of month. 

I wish you luck. 

10 Signs of Online Fraud on Alibaba.com

As someone who spends WAY too much time on Alibaba.com, I can be the first person to tell you that it can be hard to find the information you are looking for to protect yourself from scams and fraud.  The information you may need is sort of all over the place.

So when I find something that I think is worth sharing, I'll post it here.

Today's entry is from one of the forums and the title speak for itself.  A good buyer on Alibaba is someone who is a good businessperson, but also someone with a well-honed B.S. detector.  And advice like this can help.  The English is not perfect, but you can get the meaning.

Top Ten Signs of Online Fraud on Alibaba.com

1. Too much marketing terms Home business opportunity: No experience required. No work involved. Earn $2000 in one week! It’s easy to spot these kinds of scams because they’re full of too good to be true promises. And, exclamation points, too. What job will earn you that much money in a week without having to have experience and NOT having to work at all? None. Nada. Zilch!

 2. Too friendly email I mean the intro part of the email. If an email from someone you don’t know starts with “Hello my friend”, “Dear friend”, and they weren’t filtered by your spam box, consider these emails not so trustworthy. This method of scamming is known as phishing or fishing for details or information that will put your financial security in danger.

 3. Money Matters It promises that you can make money online. But you have to pay that upfront, one-time fee first for some training materials. Shady!

 4. Assembled Jobs If a home based business opportunity requires you to assemble furniture or stuff envelops, these are generic but often overlooked signs of a true blue scam.

 5. Country Representative Job Offer Coupled with sign no. 2, if an email offers you a job as a payment receiver requiring you to deposit a check on their behalf or anything similar to that job description, you’re doomed if you reply.

 6. Job Offer that Requires Your Picture to Get Hired Unless you are applying as a model, which is not a form of online money making venture, someone who’s looking for, say, a virtual assistant and asks that she sends a picture is offering something suspicious. Lots of free job listing sites have these types of job posts. Be very, very careful.

 7. Employer has no online presence. If you are trying to win an online job but when you researched about the online presence of your would-be employer and there’s no trace of his name or his company, ask your employer about his company or his business first.

 8. Presence of Pressure Tactics. If the online business opportunity tells you that you will get a chance to win a anti-scam book if you sign up now or you can avail of an early bird discount, walk! Unless they’re coaching or consultancy services which are not direct ways to earn money online, you should not be subjected to these kinds of pressuring if the opportunity will really make you money.

 9. Request from Employer or Sponsor that You Keep the Offer a Secret Coupled with scam sign no. 2 and 5, if the email sender asks you to keep your transactions confidential just for any reason at all, red flag, red flag, red flag! They don’t want you to inform others that you are about to get scammed, of course.

 10. Emails from Someone in Nigeria Although many Nigerians who use Internet scamming as past time, have already figured out that lots of Westerners already know that they should not trust any email from someone in Nigeria, there are still those who are gullible enough to fall for these frauds. Educate your friends and family who love to use the Internet. They can still be too busy checking their emails or MySpace pages to know these signs.

Another Case Study on How to Avoid Alibaba.com Scams

Alibaba.com is a massive site, and to be honest, somewhat poorly organized when it comes to searching for information on how to prepare yourself:  to buy items while avoiding scams and fraud.

So from time to time, I'll sift through the site and pull out what I hope are some helpful nuggets of information that help you become a smarter buyer - or supplier - on the site and not have to use mediation, or at the end of the line, the Alibaba Fair Play Fund.

So here's another case study from Alibaba.com:

Description: 

Case study on how to avoid scams on Alibaba.com

This company cheated me out of $2000 USD. Our terms were $200 USD for shipping, $1000 USD once the tracking info was verified and the balance of $1460 USD paid once the package was received. This guy said that he was going to use a local courier. He gave the website and tracking number for checking. When it showed "package now on hold in London", I sent $1000 USD as per the agreement. After that the company demanded the balance right away. He said his superiors wanted payment in full due to something about an audit and not being allowed to give credit to people from the USA.   He said I needed to send at least $800 more and he'd take care of the rest.  So I scraped up $800 more and sent it.  Then he came with a new excuse.  Something about a death in the family and if I wanted my package I needed to go ahead and pay the last $660!  So basically, he's made up some fake business and website and is using it to con people into believing that there package is on the way.  Then he puts the package "on hold" and says "if you want your package, I'm going to need more money". 

Analysis:

• Avoiding use unknown shipping websites. It is a risky to allow unknown shipping websites to deliver your products. Before you accept this delivery method, do your own due diligence, including searching the shipping website on search engines to see what others have to say. Or you can go to http://www.whois.com/ to search for registered information of this website. Be wary if the domain of this website was created less than three months ago. 

• When your supplier is making excuses about the delivery (or lack thereof) of products and asking for additional payment, it is generally a trick. 

• Search the company name on the forum or search engine to find something useful to you. Or you can contact Alibaba's service team.

Avoid Scams: Check Out Alibaba.com Blacklisted Suppliers

This is a truncated version of a longer post on my other blog:

Part of any good preparation for buying and then reselling items from an e-commerce platform is research, research, research.  You really need to do your homework before you dive in.  In my past post, I addressed some tips of how to get started (the positive), but it’s also important to know about the bad guys (the negative).  In addition to providing access to the Alibaba Fair Play Fund if you are defrauded, Alibaba.com provides an explanation of their blacklisting policy on their Web site.  

Oh – and note to Alibaba.com – it’s helpful to provide a link to the most current list of blacklisted suppliers on the site.  I found it here.

And remember:  DO YOUR HOMEWORK so you can avoid scams, fraud and never, ever have to get compensation for a loss on Alibaba.com.

Video: Alibaba Explains Fair Play Fund, Scams and Fraud

This is cross-posted from my other blog, but if you want to understand how to buy and sell safely on Alibaba.com, take the time to watch this video.

Alizila Editor Jim Erickson interviews Alibaba.com's Global Marketing Director Linda Kozlowski explains the company's Alibaba Fair Play Fund, a program that partially compensates users who lose money due to online fraud and scams. This is EXACTLY the sort of information that people need to have to verify suppliers, avoid fraud and scams, and if not, get compensated. The video is eight minutes, but if you buy or sell on Alibaba.com, this is worth every second.


 

Another Way for Alibaba to Avoid Scams: Inspection Service

This is cross-posted from my other blog.

I followed Alifest pretty closely over the weekend.  I've mentioned it here before, but it's the company's annual Internet conference at its Hangzhou, China, campus.  And by the way, if you like cool architecture, check out Bloomberg's video tour of the Hangzhou campus. I can't imagine how it is possible with millions of members, but during Alifest, the Alibaba Group announced "...an ambitious program calling for on-site inspections of all Chinese manufacturers and distributors selling through Alibaba.com's international website to ensure they are legitimate. "We're taking the existing authentication and verification process, and we're adding another layer to it," said Linda Kozlowski, Alibaba.com's director of global marketing and customer experience.." What is the Order Inspection Service? Well, always one to get forgiveness before permission, I have posted an article from Alizila that describes the program.  I don't know how they are going to pull it off, but it will go a long way towards helping users avoid fraud and scams - and not have to use the Alibaba Fair Play Fund.

Alibaba launches order inspection service

Quality assurance is a big issue for any overseas company that buys from Chinese manufacturers. Based on personal experience as a quality inspector, Renaud Anjoran, a blogger at QualityInspection.org, estimates that about 20% of all goods manufactured in China are "seriously inadequate." The problem is even worse for buyers that place small orders. "With a small order, factories are more likely to cut corners," Anjoran said. "If they piss a customer off, it's not a lot of money to them. So you have to be very flexible if you order a small quantity in China. You don't have a lot of weight to negotiate with the buyer." 

The antidote for buyers large and small has been to hire on-the-ground inspectors to ensure goods are up to snuff before they are loaded into containers for overseas delivery. The problem for small buyers is cost and quality of service. "Local inspection firms' prices are all over the place," Anjoran said. "And their service and reliability are sometimes terrible."  

Enter Alibaba.com's newly launched Inspection Service, which is now in beta on the site. It's an online solution designed by the B2B e-commerce company to match small buyers with affordable and reliable inspection services. Alibaba hand-picked 20 China-based inspection companies, most of them based in the Pearl River Delta, China's manufacturing hub, to participate. "We vetted them by checking how many orders they handle per year, how many years they've been in the business and their experience dealing with foreigners," said Irina Gee, who runs the service for Alibaba.com. 

The companies are charging between $150 to $250 a day to carry out product inspections prior to shipping from the factories. Inspection Service is among a number of new measures Alibaba has introduced in the past 18 months to improve the experiences of small buyers using Alibaba.com and to curtail online fraud. All participating inspection companies are required to demonstrate their good faith by putting up a deposit which may be forfeited to buyers in the event of a dispute. 

Inspection complaints are handled by Alibaba's dispute-resolution team, which has the authority to pay up to $3,120 in compensation in the event of a faulty inspection. Alibaba also holds the buyers' payments for inspection services in an escrow account until they agree to release funds to the inspectors. Even with safety checks such as escrow, there's no guarantee that problems won't arise. Buyers and sellers do not always agree that the original product specifications have been met. 

"The spec of the product is very, very important," Anjoran said. "Sometimes buyers aren't very good at describing what they want." While no software can overcome that hurdle, Inspection Service includes a one-stop online communication system to improve transparency and make it easier to manage transactions. Buyers use this system to select inspectors and upload their requirements. Inspectors use the same system to upload their reports. Buyers then use the site to release funds to the inspectors. 

Memomark Inspection Services in Guangzhou was one of the first inspection companies selected for the new program. The company has eight full-time employees and caters to small and medium-sized buyers in Europe and North America. Jim Huang, the company's owner says he's already seen an uptick in business since the platform launched. He's landed two new clients and is negotiating with several others. Inspection Service currently covers only shipments from China, although Alibaba officials say they hope to expand to other countries in the future.

What's New With Alibaba: Steps to Continue Fighting Fraud and Scams

As I mentioned earlier in the week, last weekend was Alifest, the company's annual Internet conference at its Hangzhou, China, campus. By the way, I have a good video with an architect taking people through the amazing buildings on the Alibaba campus. It's amazing.

One of the more interesting articles I have read on Alizila mentioned Alibaba's ongoing efforts to fight fraud and scams - no easy taks considering that the site has more than 50 million users!

This is the article that appeared on Alizila:

Alibaba.com Unveils New Services, Programs For Safer Trading 

Alibaba.com introduces new steps to help combat fraud and scams

Alibaba.com today announced new initiatives and products designed to make the international business-to-business website safer and more valuable to small and medium-sized businesses that use the site to source products. Among the new programs announced at Alifest, the company's annual Internet conference at its Hangzhou, China, campus, is an ambitious program calling for on-site inspections of all Chinese manufacturers and distributors selling through Alibaba.com's international website to ensure they are legitimate. 

"We're taking the existing authentication and verification process, and we're adding another layer to it," said Linda Kozlowski, Alibaba.com's director of global marketing and customer experience. Next month, Alibaba.com employees will begin visiting some 112,000 of the e-commerce platform's paid China Gold Suppliers in person to physically confirm that the factories exist and conform with members' registration documents, a process that is expected to take up to a year, Kozlowski said. A third-party inspection service will also conduct random, unannounced checks on an ongoing basis to make sure the manufacturers remain compliant. 

Kozlowski said a recent increase in membership fees will cover the cost of the labor and time-intensive inspections. The company also announced an expanded escrow program; an online sourcing concierge service called Custom Sourcing; and elaborated on its new Inspection Service, an online solution that allows overseas buyers to hire inspectors in China to verify that goods ordered are shipped as promised. The announcements are part of a continuing campaign to combat fraud committed by Chinese sellers operating on Alibaba.com who were taking money from overseas buyers for a wide range of products without delivering any merchandise. The illegal activity came to a head in February when Alibaba.com CEO David Wei and COO Elvis Lee resigned in connection with an organized group of scammers that was discovered operating on the site, sometimes with the help of Alibaba employees. The executives were not involved but voluntarily stepped down to take responsibility for not being more aggressive in responding to fraud. 

About 100 of the website's workers were fired after the incident, and thousands of fraudulent sellers have been removed from the site. Alibaba.com has since taken many other steps to restore its reputation. Company officials said the measures appear to be getting results. According to Kozlowski, the monthly number of fraud complaints received by the website have fallen 77 percent since February. Customers have apparently not been deterred. Alibaba.com saw an 86 percent increase in monthly unique page views between July 2010 and June 2011. Another indication that the company’s campaign to clean house has been effective is that payouts from a special fund set up to compensate fraud victims have fallen 81% since the restitution program was introduced in March of 2010. When the company first created its Fair Play Fund to reimburse victims of fraud, the average monthly payout totaled $164,889. The most recent monthly payout totaled $32,049. "We're very happy with our progress," Kozlowski said.