Using T/T transfer for importing from china.

[GREEN LION]

Hi,has anybody ever used T/T (wire transfer) to import goods from china?

I've find a supplier in Alibaba witch accept payment only by T/T and minimum order value of £3000 ,(i had the supplier checked and i will check even more and im aware of the scamers in Alibaba)

so what i like to know is: Do i have any protection if i use T/T(wire transfer)?

[eternity4u]

I do not know, but i would not risk it for that amount.
Normally i had companies take bank transfer, western union and Paypal

After with some time, if i feel i can trust the seller, then i can send the payment method that has been requested.

Just be safe and try to send the payment where you can trace it.

[teedon]

Pay deposit firstly and then pay balance after inspect the goods.

[Elijah]

Ask them if you can make a small test order firstly, just to assess the quality of the goods, with the promise of buying more if it is of good quality. Every genuine supplier that I have asked has been fine with this and understood that I am just trying to look out for myself.

There is no protection for bank transfer/Western Union/Moneygram but this is why you should be absolutely certain that the supplier is legitimate before handing over such a large sum of money, and making a small test order is one way of doing this.

[GREEN LION]

Originally Posted by teedon

Pay deposit firstly and then pay balance after inspect the goods.

he accept 30% deposit on orders over £3000,and the rest after the goods has arrived.

[Elijah]

I would offer to pay in full for the small order. They should be more willing to accept that if genuine.

Also be aware of hundreds of other "suppliers" who decide to contact you after you send an inquiry to one supplier. These are just scammers literally falling over themselves to get your email address and take your money without sending goods. They come seemingly out of nowhere and instead of replying to your inquiry directly (which the real deal would have done), they start with a new message with no references to the previous one at all. The titles are also often entirely unrelated to your inquiry's title (for example, your inquiry might be "USB stick prices" and they might make a new message stating "cut out the middleman!" or "GOOD USB SUPPLIER". Yeah, right...). Oftentimes they even message you about completely unrelated items like laptops or CPUs, when you can never get such branded items from China anyway.

And if you ask them how the hell they got your email address when they have nothing to do with the real supplier that you contacted, they just send you some idiotic response like "we got it from our mailing company/Google/internet/ass". They really must think that people are dumb enough to believe that. I then tell them to FOCK OFF and that they will never get a penny out of me. They then take the hint and move on to the next unsuspecting victim, but I enjoy playing with them now I must say. I often get them all excited and play along until they think that they will soon get their cash, and they give me their payment details. Then they message me 2/3 times a day asking for an update, and I know that the suspense is killing them lol.

They also seemingly "forget" confirm every last detail with you (which a real supplier would do), and also forget to send you a pro forma invoice before requesting payment, which again every genuine supplier would do. It just goes to show you that they take advantage of people who have never dealt with a real supplier before, and who therefore do not know what to expect a supplier to do.

And in at least 90% of cases, they reuse the same email address over and over again to scam people. They will of course report their bad experience to others on the internet, so a quick Google search of their email address will reveal their history. Idiots.

[GREEN LION]

I have experience with alibaba but with smaller orders,

this supplier have a 6th year badge on Alibaba

i also have a chines friend whose going to call them for me and see if they are genuine or not.

the reason they don't accept small order is because i want to have my own Logo printed on the item.

[Gamefreak]

I use TT with 1 of my suppliers but it took me 2 years of ordering before I was confy with using wire TT. over that 2 years I order 10s of thousand of dollars worth of stuff never had a problem with them or US customs so I started paying them via TT. Never had a problem to this date.

Just remember TT is as bad as WU.

[Thankful]

If you are paying cash up front you are at 100% risk to be taken to the cleaners and definately will be at some point.

I have gold supplier (6 years) - and I have done T/T with them although we have built alot of trust of the years - not just through the pc/email/chat - but i've actually spoken to them over the phone and got to know my suppliers - trust and building relationship play abig role i think.

Not everyone is a scammer i'd say gold suppliers with a few years on them is pretty much safe - like i said though perhaps get to know first a little.

[moneyhustler88]

I wouldn't do a wire transfer. I'll tell you why. Firstly the UK Banking code does not protect fraud against bank transfers and secondly your bank can't get the funds back if it's a scam. Most genuine sellers will accept PayPal. thats the only way I would ever pay for anything using alibaba, either that or directly through my card. That way i'm protected against fraud/being scammed.

[rsot]

Always push for a credit card purchase in order to have cc company protection.

[Elijah]

Originally Posted by Schrib

I wouldn't do a wire transfer. I'll tell you why. Firstly the UK Banking code does not protect fraud against bank transfers and secondly your bank can't get the funds back if it's a scam. Most genuine sellers will accept PayPal. thats the only way I would ever pay for anything using alibaba, either that or directly through my card. That way i'm protected against fraud/being scammed.

That is the same as with Western Union/Moneygram, as I pointed out before. Many or perhaps even most suppliers will not accept PayPal, so I would not be put off just because they do not accept it. You can minimise the risk of being scammed if you know what to look out for (again, as my post explains).

[rsot]

WU/Moneygram is dangerous indeed.

[GREEN LION]

i asked the supplier to make a link in ALIEXPRESS witch has a better buyer protection than alibaba ,and he accept to give me smaller quantity for start.

[moneyhustler88]

Originally Posted by GREEN LION

i asked the supplier to make a link in ALIEXPRESS witch has a better buyer protection than alibaba ,and he accept to give me smaller quantity for start.

good idea..well i'd never do western union or moneygram..never have in my life and never will..dont care if theyre reputable or not

[Thankful]

Originally Posted by Schrib

good idea..well i'd never do western union or moneygram..never have in my life and never will..dont care if theyre reputable or not

I use WU to send money abroad to family, it's a solid method - unfortunately it's scammers that give western union a bad name not the actual service it's self.

[rsot]

Well - yes for family and folx you REALLY know well sure - for quick transfer of cash compared to bank transfer.

[Thankful]

I just came back home now actually, used WU on the high street just for family purposes arrived within mins :D

[Elijah]

I paid my supplier using Western Union yesterday while I was out in the West End. I intended to try bank transfer for once but then Barclays told me that I could not do such an international transfer with only a cash card/basic account, and the woman at the till had taken up my time just toi find out that it was not possible with such an account (after already depositing the £1000 in my account); by the time that I realised that I had a full current account with Halifax and it should therefore work with them, it was 5PM and all banks had closed. I was irritated as I would have to wait until the next day, but then I thought to myself "thank God for Western Union!".

I have made many orders with him in the past so I had no concerns, and the money reached him instantly. Shipped out my order this morning.

Avoiding anyone that does not allow anything other than the "big three" is just going to lock oput many genuine suppliers with good products. You just need to confirm that they are trustworthy first and place a small order of no more than about £100 preferably, then double up on that each time.

[rsot]

Where's my payment via WU Thankful?

[Callidus]

I pay my suppliers ALL 4 of them via T/T, I send them the proof of payment via email and the next day I will have a tracking number via DHL, none of this 4 days wait for funds to clear to them..

My goods are with me at my door in 3 days. THATS HOW BUSINESS IS DONE ON TRUST!

[moneyhustler88]

very true but if you've never dealt with a supplier thats difficult..