It's been 3 years since i am actively doing international trading business. In terms of income generated from this activity, not bad at all. In terms of experience gathered, i could say that it is more than the money income itself. It is far even bigger knowledge&skill i got compared if i just learned it from schools (university).

Here i give you one very valuable lesson i got when i was just a roockie in international trading world. I was so naive, that i thought by entering the international trading business, i could get rich in a night. The problem was, I simply didn't have any knowledge at all of how the international trading (in my case it is mainly export) is done.

The good thing is that i am a 'willing to learn and try' kind of person. I bought as many books regarding the export-import subjects, and the most exciting part was i went to the bank consulting the international transaction section, acting as a big businessman wanting to start export business.

It worked! At least i got my first order. It was 2 x 40" fresh coconut order to Thailand. The thing that made me proud was that i was the only person (even as a company) ever exported fresh mature coconut from Indonesia. Unfortunately, since i was the first one to do such thing, i did not have any refference at all of how the coconut export should be done. What's the best packing method. The answer to this question was not available that time that my fisrt export stopped after the first shipment. 18% of the coconuts were rotten.

Anyway, I still think i got very valuable lesson from here. I was able to talk with many suppliers about this case and got many inputs from my suppliers of how the next shipmentshould be done if there is any.

After this first export, i started the whole thing all over from the beginning. I searched the whole web looking for new buying inquiry. I noticed one thing that in every trading portal, there are many african countries inquired food and beverages products.

Hmm,i tought"this is interesting..." I was esspecially interested in a mineral water inquiry from Benin (try search the same kind of inquiry and you will find bunch of them from those african countries). More interestingly, they offered 100% advanced payment!I tought i was lucky because there is amineral water bottling company in my neighbourhood and more luckily, the manager was my cousin.

This is how it started. I contacted the company and not to forget to check their website. It looked very bonafide. Some keypersons was a 'DR' degree holder.

At first, things ran smoothly. I was asked to send sample including analisys certificate from SGS (I sent 4 botlles of mineral water that cost me usd300 for the courier) and soon after they receive,they asked me to send Proforma Invoice.

Here is the most important point. I was told that they will pay 100% in advanced soon after getting the purchased contract signed by me, but in order to do that, they have to take care several things.

Here, i wasn't aware at all (see, i was so naive indeed) that what such buyer would pay 100% in advanced for the whole long term purchase commitment, esspecially since we just deal on the first time and we had never met at all before? But i thought that so far, i was not in any risky position at all. So we proceeded.

Next (this is the point that i want you beginner trader to pay attention well), i was referred to a link that buyer claimed as official website of the Benin Government. In there, as also I was told by buyer, that in order to transfer the full amount of money (that time the contract value was about usd350,000!) they have to acquire foreign exchange buying license to buy usd from the bank. Off course, the government, in order to issue this license, they must be sure what the usd will be used for. Now, in order to get that license, they must get a certificate from their food and drug certification agency.

The buyer was very neat in their procedure. They sent me all website links that contained this information. The conclusion was, i need to have my mineral water registered in Benin, and to do this, i must be represented by a local lawyer. Buyer also include a reccomendable lawyer that they said experienced in such matter (email, phone number all included). Also, i was told the name of officer in charge of this matter in the food and drug certification agency of Benin (including email address).

It was not for long that i got email from someone with subject 'product registration' in order to enter benin from their food and drug certification agency attached with application form. At this point, i did not think that there was anything suspicious. I even tried to call the number of the lawyer they reccomended. (again, how naive i was...hehehe ).

Everithing started to change when i read the application form from the food and drug certification agency mentioning the cost that i have to pay. For mineral water, it cost usd3,500/certificated. It said that to proceed with the certification, and also to proceed with the cash payment by my buyer, i have to TT the money to their specified account.

Here, i started to smell something fishy. As a beginner trader, i still hope so much that i can close the deal (man! who doesn't want to close usd350,000 with advanced payment deal....). But after talking with some people, i was told to be carefull.

I did! I started to review some facts. Here were the facts that I found:

1. I recheck the official benin government website. Instead of clicking the link they gave me, i used the search engine. Bingo! I founf it and it clearly mentioned there in their Department of Trade regulation that no cash basis transaction is allowed for import and that every import exceeds certain amount of usd (and i found out that mine qualified) should be done with pre-shipment inspection.
2. I recheck all email address of the government and bank officials provided to me by buyer . It was very clear that it was fishy because all those email address was free account. Such as xxxx@lawyer.com, xxx@banker.com, and so on. The bank name that they provide was ok, but after doing some serching using the search engine, i found the real bank website. Again, Bingo! The phone number and the fax number was totally different!
3. Another suspicious thing was that every time i called buyer, the phone connection was so bad that ilater thought that it was impossible if they were bonafide company with such modern and good facility as shown in their website.

I thank god that i finally realized that this buyer was a scammer. I can never forgot the lesson i got behind this. It's true that i regretted wasting my time dealing with such scammer, but then i thought that i was probably one lucky person to have such opportunity to experience one good lesson.

Here are my tips to the beginner trader (honestly those buy inquiries from many african countries are very sexy, since they are every where and they look just so real).

1. You should be suspicious when a buyer offers 100% advanced payment without ever meeting before. Even after meeting, 100% advanced payment for first time deal is very rare since buyer does not want to take very high risk. As far as I know, 30% advanced payment is the usual one, but still, very little buyer want this method unless they really need the product urgently and they are willing to take the risk of loosing their money.
2. For food and beverages products, it is natural that buyer ask for certification (such as HACCP, health and sanitary certificate, halal certificate, etc). But it is not normal when they ask you to provide certification in their country on your expense. Remember, they are the one who is buying so theiy are the one who has to comply with their local regulation providing that you have fulfill all generally internationally recognized certification that can be aquired in your home country.
3. Always trust your intelectual instinc. When you find out a fact that is bias according to the general principal of international trading, it is always beneficial to be coutious.
4. Instead of trusting any website link provided by buyer, it is always good to cross check using search engine. Trust me, it takes time searching but you will never regret the decition you take.

If you want to know whether or not this tips beneficial for you, try respond to those food and beverages inquiry from those african buyers....

Good luck and happy safe trading

ir1uno

 

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Thank u for your experience share.beneficial.

I run into this kind of trick also many years ago. They typically use Big Order to attract you. Luckly my manage is very experenced trader, Stop it in the very beginning when they ask for the proforma Invoice. :)

Quoting from [ganem]:

I run into this kind of trick also many years ago. They typically use Big Order to attract you. Luckly my manage is very experenced trader, Stop it in the very beginning when they ask for the proforma Invoice. :)

I contacted many african customers. Most of them ask Proforma Invoice. I dont know why they need a Proforma Invoice?

Faith

 

Quoting from [Faith J]:

Quoting from [ganem]:

I run into this kind of trick also many years ago. They typically use Big Order to attract you. Luckly my manage is very experenced trader, Stop it in the very beginning when they ask for the proforma Invoice. :)

I contacted many african customers. Most of them ask Proforma Invoice. I dont know why they need a Proforma Invoice?

Faith

 

Hi Faith,

Theoretically, buyer will ask for Proforma Invoice as soon as basic negotiation is finished. Proforma Invoice gives a comprehensive conclusion on all terms aggreed by both buyer and seller during sales and purchase negotiation.

When buyer asks for a Proforma Invoice, this should mean that buyer aggrees for seller's offering in principle.

In my opinion, Proforma Invoice should only be released (and also be approved by buyer) after making sure that all important terms and conditions are mutually aggreed. In case of food and beverages trading, when a buyer ask for a Proforma Invoice before evaluating the sample you sent, this is a very good indication that there is something fishy about the buyer. And therefore, it is always good to be cautious. However, as long as no material proove that you are being exposed to a potential risk, i suggest to just give your buyer the Proforma Invoice they want. There is no generic approach to tell that a buyer is real or not unless you have a real proove.

Hope you get what i mean. Good luck.

Happy safe trading

Such case happened to me, too.

The moment I quoted, the client placed the order to me, without asking price issue or anything else. Then he told me that because of some reason, they needed the goods urgently but had to make L/C to us. At that time, I was green, when I asked my manager if this was OK, he informed me lightly, " he is a lier. just ingore the deal".

Later, I got to know this guy has made such a trick to many people, even to several colleagues of mine.

 

sir,

Thanks for the article.

I M also heaving the same inquiry  from African  country regarding mineral water.

They are also asking for proforma invoice. But in my case They are saying they want it to get tender or something like that.

Sir, my question is how to find the buyer is genuine or not ??

90% of Cameroon,Nigeria,Benin,Niger,Mali,Togo,Ghana,Ivory Coast,Senegal,Liberia buying announcements are fake on this site.We already checked many of them.Whenever we contacted their embassy or Ministries we easily found that they are just basic scammers.I can add other African countries such as Sierra Leone,Guinea Bissau,Ghabon,Burkino Faso.These are the most dangerous scam operators.Of course there are also real companies in these countries but its not more than %2.


Plus except well known African countries such as Kenya,Libya,Algeria and some other there is no big business opportunity in Africa.Its a complete lie that Africa has a big business opportunity.Most Africans cant even afford to spend 200 USD so how can they establish a trade/business?

smyrnacsn wrote:

90% of Cameroon,Nigeria,Benin,Niger,Mali,Togo,Ghana,Ivory Coast,Senegal,Liberia buying announcements are fake on this site.We already checked many of them.Whenever we contacted their embassy or Ministries we easily found that they are just basic scammers.I can add other African countries such as Sierra Leone,Guinea Bissau,Ghabon,Burkino Faso.These are the most dangerous scam operators.Of course there are also real companies in these countries but its not more than %2.


Plus except well known African countries such as Kenya,Libya,Algeria and some other there is no big business opportunity in Africa.Its a complete lie that Africa has a big business opportunity.Most Africans cant even afford to spend 200 USD so how can they establish a trade/business?

this is the dumbest thing i have every read....how can you be so naive and stupid....i guess you are narrow minded..how dare you tallk about african countries like that?.... in every region,country this same kind of people exist,wat makes us so sure that you are not one of those scammer...

Thanks for sharing your precious experience~~