Replying to [Cali Rugger]: plz lets have a thaught for the beginners, if god came down and told them a product was ok with all these people getting "stiffed". you would still ask.

Replying to [Cali Rugger]:

Cali your really a person should be appriciated!

After watching your posting I am also want to share my experise with you all.

I had an bad experinse with more than 15 buyers from west africa in many business portals, They will ask you to transfer the money from western union in the personal name. from the countries , bennin, togo,etc all west african countris has the largest scammers in the world , I never transfer money to them , I was my luck. please be ware.

Replying to [Cali Rugger]:
I am anew worker ,due to i greduated in july.After reading this article,i know what should i do.
I would try my bes to.

Replying to [Cali Rugger]:

I must agree with you some of the questions posted in Alibaba should not be posted at all. But then again we should realise that there are among us who must be new in international trading.

May I suggest Alibaba create a new forum specifically meant for 'apprentices'? (If not already done so). Something like "Import & Export 101", "Sales and Marketing 101", "Fraud 101" etceteta, etcetra, even "Due Dilligence 101".

This way those of us who think we dont have much more to learn in business may just skip all these "101" forums, and participate instead in other more 'advanced' business forums addressing and exchanging non-time-wasting topics.

Replying to [Cali Rugger]:
I think you have to look at it from a newbies point of view. Take me for instance, I havn't done anything yet apart from searches for products. Its people like me that havn't got a clue what we're doing that ask questions, that experienced people like yourself, find rather silly.

Its not untill someone comes out and says what you have, that we actually realise no buggers gonna run our business for us, and that we have to do it ourselves.

I totally agree with your reasons for having forums, You, Ranger and quite a few others are shining examples of what makes people successfull, and all us newbies should be thanking you all for your input.

Thanks.

Replying to [Cali Rugger]:
Calli offers some good advice in his original post, but a diplomat he is not ... no offense Cali.

The title and the body of the message are not in sink. The title is a fairly aggressive "stop asking stupid questions", yet the body of the message is sound advice.

Anyone who's read the post that was at such an early stage in their import/export venture that they would be inclined to ask such a question (such as "can anyone recommend a good freight forwarder") will hopefully now know how to narrow down their question(s) to where it is likely to be answered effectively (or at all).

Problem is, if I were such a person, I would never have read the original post because I would have expected from the title, to hear Calli tell me what a time-wasting * I was; and I would have "walked on by".

Perhaps a title such as "ADVICE FOR BEGINNERS! Narrowing down your questions in order to get accurate and effective answers on Alibaba", would have attracted a crowd that could really use the advice offered. As far as I can see, 95% of the responses are people who agree with Calli (and ironically do not need the advice he offered in the first place).

I would urge Calli (or the forum host) to repost it, periodically even, but with a title that’s a little more attractive to the target audience.

By the way, does anyone know of a good anger-management provider?

Replying to [WanderingBrit]:

Your suggestion for a more "friendly" title is a very good idea.

Perhaps the forum moderator can repost with your suggested title. I agree this would help the individuals that need the help to find it.

Thank you WanderingBrit.

Replying to [Cali Rugger]:Thank you!

Here a couple of simple things you can do to limit the number of bad companies that you might be tempted to contact. First look at the other products that the company is selling. If you are trying to buy socks, and the company has socks, but also sells fire engines, you are most likely not dealing with a sock factory. There are some huge companies such as in Hong Kong that do represent a lot of different small commodities, and these are fine, but most of these (selll you everything) postings are just small enterprises with access to goods, but do not own any. Their listings have 4 or five items in each of many categories. A better bet is a site which has a large variety of the same product, such as a sock company with hats and scarves, but not refrigerators. You can probably do much better with the factory. Secondly, look at their website. Some huge companies in China and India have horrible sites, but most have at least decent ones. Some are hosted in Europe or the US and are very fast which means that there is some money in their budget for this. There should be some detailed information about their production facilities. My main avenue is to look at the exhibitors in trade shows in that country. If a company has enough $ and staff to exhibit at an international trade show, there is a better chance that they are legit. If you Google the company's name, and if it does not show up as participating in any exhibitions for your type of product, I would be wary. And you can pay as little as $45 US to get a credit report from D&B,s partner in China. I don't even respond to companies that sell "brand names" as part of their inventory. Some trading sites such as EC plaza and EC 21 are littered with these counterfeiters. Too bad. The sites used to be useful. These are the cheapest and fastest ways I know to get some preliminary data on who you are dealing with. Good Luck.

Replying to [Cali Rugger]: