Are You Dealing with a Real Wholesale Supplier?

One of the risks that you will be facing in doing business online is if you will find a legitimate wholesale supplier or not. We always hear horror stories about people falling victims on scammers and end up losing their money. So how can you avoid this? As long as you are aware of the warning signs you need to spot you can avoid being a victim of these scam wholesalers.

Here are some tips on how you can figure which of the various wholesale suppliers that you may come across in your online dealings are real.

The first thing that you need to check is the wholesale supplier's website. Check if the website is professional looking. Does the website looks that it is being updated regularly? Check for the contact information and verify if the phone number and address exist. Try calling them or sending them an email and see if there is someone available to assist you. You may also want to verify if the address and business name provided is registered in the country it is located.

You also need to check the date the site was registered and the expiration of the website through by doing a whois search. Check how long they have the website on the web and when is the domain set to expire, if there is. Be careful dealing with suppliers who just recently registered their domain name online, and it is set to expire for a short period, this may be a sign that the site is not completely legitimate. It is possible that they are just setting up temporary shop in order to swindle unsuspecting clients.

Be wary of the payment method they require. Scammers use payment methods that are hard to trace like wire transfer or bank deposit. Once you send money through these methods, it is likely that you will be swindled. Deal with wholesale suppliers that use PayPal or electronic fund transfer like credit card. Through these methods, you could file a dispute in case of fraudulent transactions.

If you are starting in the wholesale business, it is best to deal with registered and well-established wholesale suppliers. In order to find them, try contacting your local industry trade organization. Most established suppliers register their company on these organizations. You may also want to attend trade shows in order to personally meet suppliers instead of dealing with them online. Joining wholesale forums also gives you opportunity to meet legitimate suppliers that can provide you quality service and merchandise.

Be wary with suppliers who use names of well-know wholesale suppliers. They will contact you via email giving your false information and provide you payment instruction to send money to them. Before dealing with them, contact the company first to make sure that the email came from them. Well-known Wholesale suppliers rarely send emails unless you have contacted them for inquiry.

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If you’re finding it hard to nail down reliable wholesale suppliers to work with, a resource that would come recommended is the UK Wholesaler Forum. It features a massive catalogue of supplier reviews, unbiased experiences and advice to assist you with new supplier due-diligence. It’s also free to join.