Replying to [tschneid]: If you want someone that will better fit your budget:http://www.esi-int.com/ddbb.html If you want references contact the local branch of the FBI in San Diego. Doing due diligence in this way can become expensive. The other company suggested does do due dillegence but they are employed by the likes of Goldman Sachs, Lehman Bros, ect in the course of mergers and aquisitions. If you let me know for what country you want a report I may be able to refer you to someone in country which would be cheaper still.

Best regards,

Ranger

"Are you kidding me?!! Right there, price too good to be true, only receive western union. This is the point where you walk away and don't look back."

Dear Cali : We are a Chinese exporter corporation of MP3 ,MP4 player, we do business by credit. However, we only receive the payment through T/T and west union. Not only our corporation, to my knowledge,main of mp3 factories in China will only accept T/T and west union payment ,(few will accept L/C at sight).Is there something wrong with west union payment?If you suppose west union is not a safe payment approach to your buyer,then what kind of payment approach you suppose is safe?I wish you will kindly respond my query and help to consolidate our knowledge to each party.
your sincerely
John

Replying to [man310110]:

W/U payment is unsafe because there is no way to track it, there is no guarantee that the party picking up the payment is who they say they are, and there is no paper trail. When you send money through W/U, the money is picked up and POOF it's gone.

Although it's not the best option, T/T is much better than W/U. I don't have a problem with T/T, you just need to really do your homework on the company you are dealing with. The company I work for does quite a bit of business with payments through T/T.

T/T at least involves your banks. W/U isn't even a bank, you may as well send cash through the mail if you are using W/U.

Most people that only accept payment through W/U do not have bank accounts and they make the payment untraceable by giving a false name for the payment. W/U is the least safe method of payment. If you must then at least go with T/T so that the banks can provide a paper trail.

Replying to [Cali Rugger]: Your topic/ subject was not neccessary. There are other sites solely dedicated rants. There are those that may not have the ability or supreme knowlege as you present yourself as having and need a little help in how to move forward. The problem with people today is instead of helping, they complain about being asked for help. This site is to be used as a network of like minded, not lazy, individuals. There is nothing wrong with seeking advise from experts in your field. It is done every day. Doing due diligence is learning from others and asking questions so that you won't make the same mistakes. I guess you have never had to ask for help or direction. It must be nice to be all -knowing.

Replying to [rosered]:

I am far from all-knowing, infact I am a huge advicate of this site for all of the help that individuals get here. Sure part of due diligence is asking others questions.

However, this site has become flooded with generalized, non-specific, questions that dilute it's content.

If you look on this site you will see that I have not asked any questions. This is not because I am all knowing, infact I am far from it, I probably need more help than most. The difference is that I put in the effort to find the information. A simple search of forum topics can usually point you in the right direction and get you the information you need, without having to ask the question again, and again, and again. The answers are there, you just need to look for them.

If you reread my posting you will see that I don't suggest that members stop asking questions, I mearly say that the questions asked should be more specific and used for when help is needed. Nobody should need help finding names of freight forwarders in their country, that can be found in any search engine on the internet, and if they are on Alibaba.com they are on the internet. The question asked should be specific and based on research already performed. For instance, "I have narrowed my search of freight forwarders to XYZ Inc. and ABC Co., has anyone dealt with them in the past?" This would be a specific question and is at a point that anyone should be able to reach on their own.

Thank you for your opinion, have a nice day.

Quoting from [rosered]:


Replying to [Cali Rugger]: Your topic/ subject was not neccessary. There are other sites solely dedicated rants. There are those that may not have the ability or supreme knowlege as you present yourself as having and need a little help in how to move forward. The problem with people today is instead of helping, they complain about being asked for help. This site is to be used as a network of like minded, not lazy, individuals. There is nothing wrong with seeking advise from experts in your field. It is done every day. Doing due diligence is learning from others and asking questions so that you won't make the same mistakes. I guess you have never had to ask for help or direction. It must be nice to be all -knowing.

I disagree with you rosered.

This subject IS necessary.   There are many questions supplier reliability and others like myself have taken the time to post self-help articles.  Take a look around, you'll see many redundent questions repeated throughout these forums. 

Nobody here is complaining about being asked for help.  That's why we're here.   Cali, Aussie, myself and others just want people to learn how to help themselves.

If one does not learn how to be resourceful and dilligent in trade, they are setting themselves on a path to failure.  Doing Due Dilligence is about learning from others like you said, but it's not about having someone do the work for you.

 

Replying to [Cali Rugger]: good

Replying to [Cali Rugger]:
hi dude,

its a excellent reply.... honestly i total agree with you. pretty well said.

best wishes
mag web

Replying to [Cali Rugger]: Your out line of "Due Diligence" was a pleasure to read. Thank you for a wonderful insight. Everyone should read it!

Replying to [Cali Rugger]:

Great post, Cali, although it is unfortunate that some members of this forum still managed to take offence at what most of us clearly saw as honest and welcome advice. I must commend the maturity and restraint evident in your responses, because the merits of your post could so easily have become lost in these exchanges.

Regarding companies that can conduct due diligence enquiries on behalf of traders, I would suggest that members of this forum find and contact local business law firms in the country concerned for that purpose. Lawyers do a fair amount of due diligence investigations on behalf of their clients, and the fees involved can often be negotiated and agreed in advance. Search Engines like Google (my personal favourite) are a great resource for finding established business lawyers in any given country for this purpose.

I am myself a qualified business lawyer in a reputable law firm in Nigeria, and not only do we receive numerous requests for such services from all over the world, we have also been successful in preventing our clients from falling victim to fraudulent and fictitious companies on several occassions.

One of the posts on this forum commented (somewhat sarcastically, in my view) that people might not have huge funds to spend on due diligence firms, but I can confirm that the costs involved (for Nigeria at least) are not as high as people might think. In anycase, shouldn't a serious business man be willing to invest sufficient funds in establishing the genuineness of his potential business partner? Everyone knows that there are unavoidable costs to doing business the correct way, and the costs of proper due diligence ought to be factored into every transaction by serious businessmen anywhere in the world.

Helpful as the free posts on this forum might be to most of us, they cannot be expected to replace actual professional advice from qualified individuals and firms set up specifically to service serious business enquiries. One might as well rely entirely on the free, non-obligatory advice given at any medical forum on the internet as a means of avoiding paying bills to "expensive" qualified medical doctors!

Myself and other professional colleagues recently launched a website dedicated exclusively to due diligence enquiries about Nigerian companies, but I believe it would be construed as self-serving and against the rules of this forum to post the url out here for all to see. So I guess members in need of that service may need to rely on good old Google in their efforts to find it and others like it in other parts of the world.

Once again, thank you Cali, and everyoneelse who has contributed to the richness of this forum.

Due Diligence. Don't do business without it.