We should all be concerned about losing money to fake wholesalers. The horror stories can definitely be discouraging especially to those who are just getting started. The trick is to spot the frauds and stop them before it’s too late!
In our experience, there are six certain indications that you may not be dealing with a true legitimate wholesaler:
- The fake wholesaler’s website displays no physical address or contact telephone number. Just be blunt and ask them for anaddress and telephone number. Ask them if it’s alright if you come in and have a look around their office. If they’re a legitimate company, they’ll have no problem at all.
- The fake wholesaler doesn’t sound business like or professional when answering the telephone. For example, he or she will answer with “Hello” or “Yes” without identifying him or herself or the business name.
- The fake wholesaler doesn’t ask for your sales tax ID or your business license during the initial contact. Most real wholesalers will require at least one of these.
- The fake wholesaler gets nervous when you ask for a product sample. Most real wholesalers are more than happy to offer you a sample of a product, but usually at a higher price.
- A fake wholesaler may claim they don’t have stock in currently, but still expects you to pay up front before it comes in. A legitimate wholesaler will not ask you for your money unless their stock is currently on hand.
- The fake wholesaler claims to take a secure form of payment like Paypal or credit and debit cards, but later turns around and says they only accept Western Union or wire transfer. Not all wholesalers that take wire transfer or Western Union are scammers, but this is the most common way fakes operate, and you should always be careful if you’re asked to pay by these methods when you’ve never dealt with them before.
Conclusion
Although these are not hard, fast rules, you still should be careful if one or more of the above six ways to spot a fake wholesaler apply to a new wholesale contact you’ve made.
Again, we should all be concerned about losing money to wholesalers who turn out to be fakes. So if you have any tips to add or past experiences, then we would like to hear from you. Your experiences are valuable to the SaleHoo Community, and we’re sure others would appreciate your input.
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