How do you tell the difference between the 3.

To Me,

1) A manufacturer will state his address, tel, fax, email.

They will either have their own building or business location at an Industrial area.

2) Trading Companies. Most of them will claim that they are a direct manufacturer whereas they are not. If you look at their address carefully you will notice the difference.

The will state their, email Tel, Fax whatsoever accordingly, but, twhen you look at their address line you can tell the difference. #, Room number. These are definitely trading companies.

The other thing is when they show you around their so called said factory, you will notice that they will stick to you like a leech; fearing the real owner will shaft his name card your way.

3) Scammers: They will state their email, telephone and fax number only.

Address they never give away their address.

Anyone outhere with more info, please share

2) Trading Companies. Most of them will claim that they are a direct manufacturer whereas they are not. If you look at their address carefully you will notice the difference.

The will state their, email Tel, Fax whatsoever accordingly, but, twhen you look at their address line you can tell the difference. #, Room number. These are definitely trading companies.

The other thing is when they show you around their so called said factory, you will notice that they will stick to you like a leech; fearing the real owner will shaft his name card your way.

For me the funny thing about trading companies is that they feel the need to lie about this. I would deal with trading companies in many cases provided that they were honest from the start but too often they are not.

So trading company employees reading this my advice is just to be upfront about your role. If the customer does not want to deal through a trading company then you will lose them but it is better for you to have customers with whom you can exercise full disclosure. In many cases though the customer may be happy to deal with you provided that what you are offering - price, quality, and service wise - is a benefit for them. If your role adds a value then customers will appreciate this!

As a general rule, what you wrote might be right. But remember that there are always exceptions to the rule. That's why "Due Diligence" will never be "outdated".

For example, I don't use a fax anymore. Unless you have a model for high volume, it is noisy, awkward to use, has a low resolution, is slow... I detest faxes! I produce all my documents on the computer, send them out via internet and ask my clients to do the same (or to scan in the document and send it as an attachment to an e-mail - much higher quality!).

Also I have seen companies that are about to move and therefore are a little reluctant to give out their present address. The simple reason is that they want to avoid confusions. No "monkey business" involved! So the lack of an address doesn't necessarily tell you anything. Ask!

Last of all, not in every country will you find that all businesses - not even all manufacturers - are in an industrial area. Here in Mexico you'll find them about everywhere, even in pretty high level residential areas. In fact, I'm living in a residential area and have my office at home (a "bedroom office"). Why would I lose hours every day in the commute? Does this kind of reasoning make me a scammer?

Bottom line, don't prejudge - one way or the other. There is no substitute for positive knowledge. If something looks odd, by all means go ahead and find out what's going on, but don't pretend you know the answer.

Addendum: I also don't like company e-mail addresses. Free servers are much easier to use, especially when I'm on a trip. And that's another subject where people like to prejudge.

Common sense still rules!

Quoting from [bigbrother2]:

How do you tell the difference between the 3.

To Me,

1) A manufacturer will state his address, tel, fax, email.

They will either have their own building or business location at an Industrial area.

2) Trading Companies. Most of them will claim that they are a direct manufacturer whereas they are not. If you look at their address carefully you will notice the difference.

The will state their, email Tel, Fax whatsoever accordingly, but, twhen you look at their address line you can tell the difference. #, Room number. These are definitely trading companies.

The other thing is when they show you around their so called said factory, you will notice that they will stick to you like a leech; fearing the real owner will shaft his name card your way.

3) Scammers: They will state their email, telephone and fax number only.

Address they never give away their address.

Anyone outhere with more info, please share

Quoting from [bigbrother2]:

How do you tell the difference between the 3.

To Me,

1) A manufacturer will state his address, tel, fax, email.

They will either have their own building or business location at an Industrial area.

2) Trading Companies. Most of them will claim that they are a direct manufacturer whereas they are not. If you look at their address carefully you will notice the difference.

The will state their, email Tel, Fax whatsoever accordingly, but, twhen you look at their address line you can tell the difference. #, Room number. These are definitely trading companies.

The other thing is when they show you around their so called said factory, you will notice that they will stick to you like a leech; fearing the real owner will shaft his name card your way.

3) Scammers: They will state their email, telephone and fax number only.

Address they never give away their address.

Anyone outhere with more info, please share

Hi,My friend,

It seems that you must be a manufacturer and disapointed with trading company.

To our local people we are familiar that trading company always compare the prices and squeeze the profit of manufacturers,i hate that too.

But sure not all the trading company are annoying,be a trading company ,the focus should be better integrate the sources,help factories to expand their market and provide services to customers: good quality,on time delivery. Trading company should gain the certain profit of services or developing but not just squeeze factories profit.

We are manufacturer but for better serving our customers with fast communication,setting a office in more convient location is our choice,and providing more production for our customers.

I think all the chinese trading company should search a better way for survive and re-gain the reputation from both factories and customers!

Quoting from [germex]:

As a general rule, what you wrote might be right. But remember that there are always exceptions to the rule. That's why "Due Diligence" will never be "outdated".

For example, I don't use a fax anymore. Unless you have a model for high volume, it is noisy, awkward to use, has a low resolution, is slow... I detest faxes! I produce all my documents on the computer, send them out via internet and ask my clients to do the same (or to scan in the document and send it as an attachment to an e-mail - much higher quality!).

Also I have seen companies that are about to move and therefore are a little reluctant to give out their present address. The simple reason is that they want to avoid confusions. No "monkey business" involved! So the lack of an address doesn't necessarily tell you anything. Ask!

Last of all, not in every country will you find that all businesses - not even all manufacturers - are in an industrial area. Here in Mexico you'll find them about everywhere, even in pretty high level residential areas. In fact, I'm living in a residential area and have my office at home (a "bedroom office"). Why would I lose hours every day in the commute? Does this kind of reasoning make me a scammer?

Bottom line, don't prejudge - one way or the other. There is no substitute for positive knowledge. If something looks odd, by all means go ahead and find out what's going on, but don't pretend you know the answer.

Addendum: I also don't like company e-mail addresses. Free servers are much easier to use, especially when I'm on a trip. And that's another subject where people like to prejudge.

Common sense still rules!

Great, I agree with you.We are factory,but our office are not same adress as factory.We are foreign trade department.I also detest faxes,it is very noisy and some times have a lot rubbish accept.It's waste my time to check the fax.I alway send the documents by e-mail, it will be more clear and save money.

Quoting from [wulianxun]:Great, I agree with you.We are factory,but our office are not same adress as factory.We are foreign trade department.I also detest faxes,it is very noisy and some times have a lot rubbish accept.It's waste my time to check the fax.I alway send the documents by e-mail, it will be more clear and save money.

The worst part of these simplistic approaches like, "if they don't have a fax they are not a serious company" is that they are projecting themselves as newbies without any experience. And who do you think scammers will go after first?

It's very hard to say, who is factory and who is trading, Also scammers are very active and they are everywhere, even they play with you, 4 or 5 times even I cooperate with one of them, their price and their quality was very good, but one day the cheating me and sent plastic instead of products.

Quoting from [bigbrother2]:

How do you tell the difference between the 3.

To Me,

1) A manufacturer will state his address, tel, fax, email.

They will either have their own building or business location at an Industrial area.

2) Trading Companies. Most of them will claim that they are a direct manufacturer whereas they are not. If you look at their address carefully you will notice the difference.

The will state their, email Tel, Fax whatsoever accordingly, but, twhen you look at their address line you can tell the difference. #, Room number. These are definitely trading companies.

The other thing is when they show you around their so called said factory, you will notice that they will stick to you like a leech; fearing the real owner will shaft his name card your way.

3) Scammers: They will state their email, telephone and fax number only.

Address they never give away their address.

Anyone outhere with more info, please share

Dear All:

 I somehow agree here that scammers do not disclose their address. Currently myself running a trading company in Malaysia. Few weeks ago I was negotiating a deal with a Indonesia company. They were so reluctant to disclose their business address.

 Guess what, they dissapear when I told them I going to Indonesia to look for them. By the way, what's wrong with trading company? As long we can supply what our customers need and they are happy with our pricing and is a legal deal, what's wrong here?

Nice to meet you.I am mushe from shanghai of China.

I work for SHANGHAI STRONG CARGO SOLUTION CO.LTD,AND

TIANJIN NEW STRENGTH PROTECTION ARTICLES CO,LTD.At 

the same time of the agent of coir product in India.

If you need some help,let me know.cotact me

MSN: mushe@live.cn

TEL:8621-5522-7281

fax:8621-5522-7283

I have read this all and I'de like to invite you to investigate "Afrocil Consultant & Marketing Group"...

I have been contacted for these guys, some Samuel Okuwa, and after beeing asked for a proforma invoice of a certain quantity of my products (YES, I'M A REAL MANUFACTURER!), a problem arrived from their part that turned impossible to deal because of some authorization required. They presented me a solution: I should contact their attourneys to resolve (and possibly pay) this problem.

I sent a contact to the Chamber of Comerce and Industry of Benin and......... this company doesn't exist!!!!

Last week I received a mail from them (Afrocil) with a very strange conversation saying that they have a big amout of funds in Ghana and I (yes, me) shall pay some "premium" to have my transfer of the proforma invoice made....

This is like the Nigeria scam letter, with the exception that these guys wright better the english language, and start with an almost convincing subject.

Beware these people!!!

Jose Ferreira