wholesale Yee Ha! My First Wholesale Opportunity

[Quentin]

I'm trying not to get too excited. I got this inquiry through the contact form on my website. I've never done a wholesale order and certainly not anything outside the United States. Here is a snip of the message I received. Would you be so kind to tell me if you see any red flags here? Please tell me what else I need to be concerned about. From the way I read it, he intends to pay up front and has some sort of freight consolidator that he works through in the U.S. 

I know that several of you work the wholesale end of the candle business. I could really use some guidance on how to work this deal.

[MilosCandles]

This seems like a BIG RED FLAG.   If it is not it might be too much of a hassle to deal with.  1st I would google his name/email address and phone number and see if you find anything.  

 

I would ask him who and where his freight forward is, I doubt they will come pick up from you.  See how big of an order he wants.  Name and address of his store.  Tell him you want to advertise that your candles are there.

 

Maybe you just start out with a small order to see how the process is and if it easy, worthwhile and not a scam.

 

 

 

 

[Quentin]

@MilosCandles All things to be concerned about. Plus, he could be using stolen cards. I've sent him an initial reply. I asked him which items he was specifically interested in and the sort of quantities. If he responds, I'll just keep asking for one more little bit of information and see if he gets spooked off.  

[Faerywren]

I agree with @MilosCandles. Every email like this I’ve received has been suspect. I don’t have a website anymore, but when I did, it was very “small potatoes”, the idea that some store in Asia wanted to carry my items set off alarm bells big time. Emails like this (which I still receive from time to time without an internet presence) go straight in the trash.

[Quentin]

I'll just have to wait till he responds to my reply. For all I know, he could be on this forum. If I hear back from him, I'll engage him in a friendly conversation and try to get more info out of him. He could be legit. He could be bogus. His phone area code turns out to be in extreme south Florida. Of course, area codes really can't tell you much anymore what with cell phone number portability. What I keep wondering is why would a store in the Bahamas (where the currency is worth less than ours) want to order from a small time seller in the United States?  I'll keep asking him for more details and see if he gets spooked off.

 

If he is on this forum, I just let out my plan and I won't hear from him again. 

[Candybee]

Sorry Quentin. Smells to high heaven of scam. Get these type of emails all the time and just delete. They mention they are a retailer but did they leave a clue to the store name, address, anything you can verify by looking online? If they left a name do a search on the name, you may find there are already complaints from others that have been scammed already.

[TallTayl]

Traditional looking Nigerian scam there. You’ll be out the money and product. I’ve never had a wholesaler want to buy a large initial order without first kicking the tires. 

 

 if you copy  and paste the text of the message into google you’ll often find the exact same form letter posted by others. 

[Trappeur]

I've seen posts like this before and to me it sounds great.   Why would this be a red flag?   All he has to do is send a check (no credit card) and you deposit the check into your account and see if it clears.   If he wants to pick up, then by all means, great.   One thing you don't have to do.   Sounds pretty good to me.

 

Trappeur

[pughaus]

Yep.  This is 100% a scam.  We get dozens of these every month. Delete and block the sender. 

 

If you want to see how this scam plays out, here's my friend's experience:

https://www.sevencolonial.com/seven-colonial-targeted-international-shipping-scam/

Edited February 21, 2019 by pughaus

[TallTayl]

58 minutes ago, Trappeur said:

I've seen posts like this before and to me it sounds great.   Why would this be a red flag?   All he has to do is send a check (no credit card) and you deposit the check into your account and see if it clears.   If he wants to pick up, then by all means, great.   One thing you don't have to do.   Sounds pretty good to me.

 

Trappeur

https://www.wired.com/story/nigerian-email-scammers-more-effective-than-ever/

A check can be stolen too, and leaves you on the hook for refunding the bank plus fines. 

[Quentin]

5 hours ago, Candybee said:

Sorry Quentin. Smells to high heaven of scam. Get these type of emails all the time and just delete. They mention they are a retailer but did they leave a clue to the store name, address, anything you can verify by looking online? If they left a name do a search on the name, you may find there are already complaints from others that have been scammed already.

He did include a phone number. I tried to find his name on Facebook. I found similar names but not his. I'll remain cautious. It's really curious that he asked if I took credit cards that are issued in the United States. Since he was on my website, he would have seen that I do. So far, he hasn't replied to my response to his inquiry from my site. Maybe I said something that spooked him off. 

[Quentin]

3 hours ago, TallTayl said:

 if you copy  and paste the text of the message into google you’ll often find the exact same form letter posted by others.

Whoa! Excellent idea! I'll do that for sure. I did get an email the other day from a lawyer in Africa. Turns out I'm the last remaining heir to a fortune of some rich prince! Nope. Not me. That one is older than the internet. The crazy thing is that people still fall for it. 

[Quentin]

3 hours ago, Trappeur said:

I've seen posts like this before and to me it sounds great.   Why would this be a red flag?   All he has to do is send a check (no credit card) and you deposit the check into your account and see if it clears.   If he wants to pick up, then by all means, great.   One thing you don't have to do.   Sounds pretty good to me.

 

Trappeur

It is possible that he's legit. That's why I'm waiting him out. If he does get back in touch, I'll press him for more information in a friendly sort of way. Like you mentioned, he did say he had a freight consolidator that would pick the merchandise up. Don't anyone worry. I won't do anything stupid when it comes to this guy. Purely speculation on my part, but I'd be willing to bet he's been in this forum snooping around. He may have seen where I joked several times about not making any money at this and figured I'd be an easy mark. I don't have anything to base that on. Just speculation on my part. 

[Quentin]

3 hours ago, pughaus said:

Yep.  This is 100% a scam.  We get dozens of these every month. Delete and block the sender. 

 

If you want to see how this scam plays out, here's my friend's experience:

https://www.sevencolonial.com/seven-colonial-targeted-international-shipping-scam/

I just read the story from the link. It does seem very similar. The reason I shared that guys correspondence with me was because I knew that if it was bogus that some of y'all had probably seen it before. The only thing I can't figure out is what it is he wants from me. Does he want the merchandise or will he come back to me with a story that the deal with his freight forwarder has fallen through, blah, blah, blah and we need to work the deal another way, blah, blah, blah? 

[moonshine]

Quentin it’s more than likely a scam, nothing wrong with waiting him out but probably not legit - this how these people get away with other people’s money 

my business account was just hacked for several thousand dollars, first time that has ever happened to me and it had to be from a debit sale online not secure but the stories the banker told me about what these people do is insane to get your money 

if they legit wanted to buy from you they would more likely have a rep from their company here in the US coming to you to purchase - a family member of mine does this overseas purchasing for her company-  they don’t email and not see and sample products before buying 

[TallTayl]

What does he want? Easy, you charge the card for everything, the real owner of the card challenges the fraudulent charges, you have to repay with penalties while he and his buddies laugh at us silly Americans as they spend their stolen money. 

[pughaus]

2 hours ago, Quentin said:

I just read the story from the link. It does seem very similar. The reason I shared that guys correspondence with me was because I knew that if it was bogus that some of y'all had probably seen it before. The only thing I can't figure out is what it is he wants from me. Does he want the merchandise or will he come back to me with a story that the deal with his freight forwarder has fallen through, blah, blah, blah and we need to work the deal another way, blah, blah, blah? 

If you read the link I included it tells you exactly what they want and how they get it from you. 

[Trappeur]

Thats why I said, let him pay with a check or cashiers check.

Trappeur..........................

 

You know what I would do to play along with this is have him give you the order and see what he wants.   Just tell him you have to check your inventory first, but at least have him give you an order and then you get with him and tell him the pricing.

[GoldieMN]

Unfortunately, cashiers checks are often no good anymore (in this day of scams).  If the bank takes in a fraudulent one then finds out it is no good, the person cashing it has to reimburse the bank.  My son is a taxidermist and has gotten a number of bogus orders.  Thank God his mother (wink) had heard of some of these scams and checked before he went any further.  We both thought a cashiers check had to be good, but googled it and found the information.  I guess getting a check, waiting for it to clear the bank, then sending product might work.

 

By the way, quite often scammers will say they are in the hospital and can't do this or that but want to buy something.  Or will say they will send  extra money for you to hold something and will have another person pick up item(s).  I don't know how this all works but all part of some scams.  I'm only saying this in general so others will be aware, not that that is what is happening here.

 

We just have to be smarter than the scammers.  There has to be information out there with steps to take to make sure it isn't a scam.

Good luck!

GoldieMN

[TallTayl]

A pitfall of “playing along” is computer viruses in those emails that record your keystrokes. This gives them passwords and every single one of your online dealings, such as bank account, credit card numbers, social security number, etc. anything that allows them to easily impersonate you and ruin your credit standing. 

 

Why waste the time? It’s their game, not yours. They are in a position to win. You are not. 

 

Why risk your financial security? 

[Quentin]

1 hour ago, TallTayl said:

A pitfall of “playing along” is computer viruses in those emails that record your keystrokes. This gives them passwords and every single one of your online dealings, such as bank account, credit card numbers, social security number, etc. anything that allows them to easily impersonate you and ruin your credit standing. 

 

Why waste the time? It’s their game, not yours. They are in a position to win. You are not. 

 

Why risk your financial security? 

VERY good point. That hadn't occurred to me. You're all right! Which brings up a scary thought. Since he hasn't replied again, he may have already gotten what he needs from me❗

[Quentin]

1 hour ago, TallTayl said:

This gives them passwords and every single one of your online dealings, such as bank account, credit card numbers, social security number, etc. anything that allows them to easily impersonate you and ruin your credit standing. 

So now what do I do other than ignore him? I've got every virus protection thing in the world as it is, or at least that I know of! I guess now I have no choice but to haul my computer to my repair guy and have him probe deep, deep down in there?  

[Quentin]

10 hours ago, pughaus said:

If you read the link I included it tells you exactly what they want and how they get it from you. 

Yes. In the report you sent, and which I read, the scammers were confusing the victim into paying money to "someone". I wouldn't pay someone to make a sale happen. The way selling works is that the customer pays me money.  I'll read it again. What did I miss? Just tell me. I assure you I won't be embarrassed to have it pointed out to me. Hit me hard! Slap me across the face if I'm not getting it. Be direct with me. I can handle it. Be like @TallTayl 

[Quentin]

17 hours ago, TallTayl said:

if you copy  and paste the text of the message into google you’ll often find the exact same form letter posted by others.

I did this last night. Unfortunately, it didn't turn up anything. But thanks for that tip. I'll use it when future incidents arise.

[Quentin]

8 hours ago, Trappeur said:

Just tell him you have to check your inventory first, but at least have him give you an order and then you get with him and tell him the pricing.

Thanks Trapp. That's almost exactly what I told him in my initial (and only) response. I asked him to get back to me and tell me specifically which items he was interested in so I could determine if I could handle his order in the first place. Other than being pleasant and courteous as I would with any prospect, I didn't even hint that I was eager and ready to get going on a deal with him.