subject: How Not To Be Poor: Stop Your Online Business From Emptying Your Wallet! [print this page] Have you ever had an email from the recently bereaved widow of a King, a President or important government official? It's amazing how many people have. Usually the country is one you seem to have heard of but can't quite locate. The poor lady has a problem; she has a bank account full of money (usually many millions)but she can't access it unless someone outside the country helps her out. She's asking for your help. What do you do?
It's one of the most well known scams on the internet and it STILL works on the gullible, but there are plenty more, and while the wealthy widow scam is designed for anyone who can receive email, there are many, more specialized 'enterprises' designed to appeal to the budding entrepreneur and empty his or her pockets.
One area which is especially rich for scammers is the wholesale market. Once you've decided on a product to sell, you need to find a source, a drop shipper is the choice for most when getting started. The scammers know this, and they make it easy for you. In many cases they sit between you and the genuine drop shipping company, marking up prices and passing them on to you without adding value in any way. Paying more than you need to will not make your store competitive - you may end up with no profit at all, so how can you spot these fake 'drop shippers'?
Genuine wholesalers and drop shippers do not go out of their way to make themselves available to small e-businesses, largely because they don't see them as significant sources of income. They will usually do business with you if you can find them, but they will ask for your tax ID and business details for their records. If a drop shipper doesn't ask for this information it is more than likely that he or she is a fake, but there are other signs.
Some drop shippers or wholesalers ask you to register with them and pay a membership or account setup fee. Genuine drop shippers don't do this. Most of the businesses that do, are offering products at prices which are far too high to be competitive, or they are simply taking money from you and passing your personal detail on to other companies, selling your name and address to businesses who will then try to sell you websites, search engine optimization and other e-business related services.
Still others appear to offer free lists of suppliers when all they are trying to do is attract traffic in large numbers so they can sell advertising. Their lists are not kept up to date, and while you might think that at least it doesn't cost you anything to follow up the leads on these sites, time is precious. Most people can't support an online business which makes no money for a long time. Every day you spend chasing leads which don't work out is a day you have to carry your business, a day when you get no nearer to your dream.
Perhaps worst of all, are the companies who prey on your uncertainty and promise you a website ready filled with products which they will drop ship for you. There's nothing to do other than collect the profit, or so you'd think, but these turnkey sites have high prices and very low profit margins. You'll work hard to make sales, but make very little money.
There are so many sites on the interwebz, all aimed at the aspiring internet entrepreneur. Many are glossy, important, expensive looking sites, but their aim is simply to empty your wallet. You need to apply a considerable degree of skepticism to everything you read online and remember that when it seems too good to be true, it is usually because it is.
Keep that in mind and you'll have learned how not to be poor; your foot will be on the first rung of the ladder to internet riches.
