Alex, having browsed through some mini importation websites, and finding Samsung Galaxy S4 for unbelievably $80 and make over N40,000 profit per piece, quickly reached for his purse, picked his UBA Africard, made payment and eventually placed order for 10 pieces of the phone, without looking back.
The 3-week delivery period (on free shipping) looks like a decade, day dreaming his profits and how he will spend the proceeds.
Unfortunately, the phones never arrived.
All efforts to reach the seller failed. The phone lines on the websites did not go through; neither did he get any response for all the mails he sent.
Has Alex’s experience answered the question:
Why do I need to check if a mini importation website is genuine?
If you take mini importation business serious you will know that your supplier can make or break your business. You want to be certain that you’re building your business on a handful of reliable suppliers and not businesses that do not exist.
One of the most common online frauds revolves around credit cards. The victim is deceived, by a seemingly genuine website into giving their credit card details like the card number, card PIN and card security code in exchange for what they believe to be goods or services.
It doesn’t stop there, once your credit card information is known, the perpetrator may also use the information to continuously obtain cash from your credit card or make purchases with it.
If you're new to mini importation business, purchasing a quality and exhaustive mini importation guide that puts you through how to start mini importation business from the scratch will save you a lot of stress and cut the long journey short.
There are several ways to verify the legitimacy of the mini importation websites before you do any purchasing from them. This post will take you through 4 proven ways to spot scam-free mini importation websites.
1. Check The Mini Importation Website With Scamadviser Tool
Scamadviser is a trusted tool to check if a website is genuine or scam. It gives you 99% accurate information like trust rating, summary of reports, site owner details, site administrator details, technical contact details, server and its name servers, whois etc. regarding the website.
In fact, the tool does all the detective findings for you.
Scamadviser rates websites based on over 150 different criteria of which you have the following factors:
- Buyers’ reviews and feedback
- The popularity of the mini importation website through google page rank and Alexa rank
- Does the mini importation website setup involve countries known to be high risk?
- Is the website operating from a high risk country?
How to use Scamadviser to detect fake mini importation websites
Enter the website URL, say www.amazon.com and click the “Check it now” button
Scamadviser will spit out what it knows to do best.
Amazon.com is reported SAFE and of HIGH TRUST RATING (100%). Other possible results are:
- Low Trust Rating
- Suspicious etc.
Scroll down to look through other useful information this tool gathers about the site and don’t forget to read through the report.
It is very crucial that you read the buyers reviews as you scroll down
You should take these reviews seriously because if the existing customers are dissatisfied you may not get anything different.
Don’t forget that some give irrelevant negative reviews or comments. Sift through and ignore all negative reviews based on buyers’ problems. A good seller will respond to negative reviews when necessary.
However, too many negative reviews and comments is a red flag. FLEE FOR YOUR LIFE MONEY
What do I do if Scamadviser reports the site I trust as suspicious or low rating?
Scamadviser tool gives a professional and exhaustive report but may sometimes require your discretion.
For example, both www.alibaba.com and www.aliexpress.com are owned by the same person, Timothy Alexander Steinert but while scamadviser gives alibaba.com a high trust rating, aliexpress.com is said to be of a low trust rating.
It’s up to you. If you insist on going ahead to transact business with sites reported to be suspicious then tread cautiously.
2. Visit The Website You Intend To Import Goods From
Open your internet browser and type in the Website URL E.g. “www.amazon.com,”
Visit the mini importation sites and skim through the pages, noting buyers reviews and feedback. This information is very vital to your decision making.
Another way to gather information about your proposed suppliers is to search for reviews on google.
- · website URL + review (e.g. www.amazon.com + review)
There is the possibility that people have used the services of this mini importation website, they will be in related forums and other social media sites to express their satisfaction and displeasure on the sellers’ products and services.
3. Genuine Mini Importation Websites Use Escrow
You’ll be taking a great risk if you compromise this step.
Does their payment method allow you to get your money back if things go sour? In other words, do the mini importation websites use Escrow system?
You may wonder what escrow really means.
Escrow.com acts as a trusted third-party that receives your payment and will only release the fund to your seller when you acknowledge the receipt of your ordered goods and express satisfaction, provided you give the feedback within the stipulated period. This means your money is 100% safe and secure in case the transaction goes sour.
Check the image below (from www.escrow.com) for a better understanding of escrow’s 5-stage process.
Using escrow reduces the risk of being scammed when purchasing product or services online.
How To Check If The Mini Importation Websites Use Escrow
Checking if the mini importation sites use escrow requires looking for where the websites in question mention escrow on their websites by using google site:search operator.
Go to www.google.com and type “site: website URL escrow”. i.e. “site: aliexpress.com escrow” Click “Search”
4. Contact The customer Support of the mini importation sites You Intend To Import Goods From
Most good mini importation websites have receptive customer support you can easily reach through online chat. Contact them. Check if you can easily reach their customer support by phone, email or via online chat.
What is their response like? Do they sound friendly? Or are they hard to reach? Feel free to ask their representative any question you deem necessary.
If you get an automated voice messaging system or the number is not responding during regular business hours, the website may not be legitimate.
CONCLUSION
I am sure you are convinced
this is a worthwhile process. Don’t just throw your hard-earned money out to
scammers. Follow these 4 foolproof ways diligently and avoid being ripped-off.
All The Best
Your
Thoughts
I am very careful where I make my purchases online. I actually
have a list of mini importation websites I've screened with the following
procedures and I buy products from them regularly without hitch.
It's your turn. How do you verify the legitimacy of your mini
importation suppliers? What's your take on this? Drop your comments.
Check out this easy-to-understand and thorough mini importation course. I have heard many people testify of the course. You can check it out and sign up if it suits you.
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