Forum

Payment method for wholesale stock
 

Hello, i have looked thru search results, but havnt found my exact answer im looking for. Thanks for your time.

I have a VISA debt card, and want to make a payment for some good from china. The seller is offering me Western Union or T/T. The seller has a good reputation on alibaba, 8 years gold membership checked and verified, so i dont think theres a huge chance of me being hustled, but i wana cover my bases.

With a VISA debt card, would i have some sort of buyer protection if i made the payment via western uninion, and the goods didnt show up. Or would i need a credit card for that?

-What in your opinion would be the best payment method, given that i dont have a credit card, and only a VISA debit card.

-Also if i was to get scamed, what processes would i have to go thru to get my money back?

Thanks alot guys

Re: Payment method for wholesale stock
 

I would either do the following:

As you only have a debit card you need to try and build some sort of trust with the seller, small orders but only spend what you can lose.

You may be wise to apply for a credit card and it does protect you from the bank if you do not receive your merchandise you can contact them and do a chargeback for the money. This can take some time.

Using a credit card is nice if you are purchasing stock as you can keep turning your stock over and paying it off as you go without touching personal money.

Just some ideas for you to chew over

Re: Payment method for wholesale stock
 

i agree with the above. I would be VERY cautious about using WU. I have always sued a debit card - the only downside is my bank [halifax] charges me for international payments. you can look into a Business Account as they charge a lot less. But ideally a credit card is most likely the best way.

Good question!

Re: Payment method for wholesale stock
 

Check with your bank as I recall hearing about debit cards being giving some buyer protection.
Not sure how much or the way it works so check with your bank.

Re: Payment method for wholesale stock
 

Thanks alot guys, guna ring my bank tomorrow to see if i get buyers protection, if not if not ill have to try get a credit card.

Ordering a sample tonight with my debit card, if it dosnt turn up, its not the end of the world.

Re: Payment method for wholesale stock
 

Both Visa and Mastercard have buyer protection programs that allow you to apply to 'chargeback' disputed transactions (for unauthorised transactions, goods not received, goods not as described etc. etc.). It doesn't matter if you are using a Visa credit card or a Visa debit card - if the transaction in processed via Visa then you are able to lodge a dispute.

Western Union and T/T do not offer any buyer protection whatsoever. Also, the fees that you have to pay for money transfers usually exceeds the 2.2% charged to the merchant for processing your credit card.

I have a number of trusted trading partners from China and I still checkout with Visa. Regardless of how much you trust your supplier it makes little sence to to pay extra fees for a transaction that does not offer any buyer protection.

If you check out using Visa or Mastercard on either the DHGate or AliExpress platforms then you have access to escrow with the added benefit of Visa buyer protection just in case.

Re: Payment method for wholesale stock
 

Just a note to the OP

I have been buying on China for sometime and the "Gold membership" means nothing, its a service the seller pays for, it does not in anyway prove they are not scammers. As you can not leave feedback for sellers on Alibaba you don't know how long or how many poeple have been scammed. Alibaba make no money from buyers so rarely do they ban the scammers, Alibaba just don't care. Look for sellers who offer a fair price, the cheapest are always the scammers, don't be fooled by the claims of super cheap stuff and remember if a deal seems to good to be true it is, I've been offer iphone 5's for $99 lol. Also don't be fooled by great websites, check the websites out, do a register check, most companies in china will claim to be 10 years old yet have a website 3 weeks old.

If you want to protect your mony there are sellers on Alibaba that will accept Paypal and will agree to payment via PayPal if you pay the 6% fee. This is a good way of getting a sample order to test product and quality and make your first few purchases. This said, many will accept Paypal for sample order, send you high quality goods then insist on TT/Western Union/MoneyGram for all full orders and then scam you with low quality rubbish.
A good seller will allow you to make orders with PayPal, its a pain as it increases you basic wholesale cost but once you have built up trust you can switch to TT/WU for furture orders.
You can also use the Aliexpress which does protect your funds but do read up and do small test orders to learn the ropes.

The most secure way is using a buying agent from china, a little google serach will pop some up, check then out on other wholesale forums to find the best and use them, they will find you the best price, deal with the factory, check you order and ship it to you. SOme will just check out the company your looking to deal with for a samll fee, this is a good option too. They usually charge about 5% of your order value but are really for large orders dealing with large amounts of cash. You can also travel to China to one of the major trade fairs and deal direct but this option is the experienced buyer.

When buying from China, research is your best tool. If you find a company google them, and the google them somemore. You will loose money, we all do learning but experience makes it easier and there are good, honest companies in china which you can make good money from, its just for every 1 good company there is proberly 100 scammers ready to take you money and run.

Re: Payment method for wholesale stock
 

Good info here thank you for sharing your experiences Forcefire.