How To Avoid Fraud When Trading Online.

July 5, 2010

businessyellowpages Business Risk, Online Trade , 5 Comments

Trading Online is becoming a regular phenomenon among businesses looking for a large market of Suppliers, Buyers and Distributors on the World Wide Web. Online Trading Portals allow an easy and fast way of conducting business over the internet by bringing companies closer and making transactions easier. But with each process, there are pros and cons and Online Trading is not an exception. Internet is full of people looking forward to make a quick buck out of spamming people and in a B2B marketplace such frauds cause substantial loss of money and trust. Since you cannot meet the person that you are trading with, you should be a smart dealer and strategically avoid such frauds by taking precautionary measures.

Premium Buyers/Suppliers

Free Suppliers or Suppliers who claim to offer their products at the lowest prices in the market should always sound an alarm. Premium Buyers and Suppliers are graded by B2B portals and sometimes they even have a quality stamp marked on their website/listing. Dealing with such companies assures that you will have successful deals and a promise of credibility.

Examine The Profile

Reputable Traders have complete information on their website, which tells details about their company, products and services. Request for samples if you are still not convinced about their credibility so that you can have a clear idea of what you are getting into. Suppliers in turn, should ask for a nominal payment for the samples being provided by them, so that they are not shortchanged.

References

You can definitely ask for references of the clients that the Supplier has dealt with in the past or ask for references of his current clients. After that how you can contact these references to get an exact idea about the company before you deal with them.

Contact The B2B Portal

A B2B Portal with Buyer or Supplier listings has a fraud department from where you can get information as well as help in checking the reliability of the business. Checking business forums and conducting a background check of the company is another good option.

Establish A Contract

A contract legally binds both parties to work according to certain agreed terms failing which; legal action can be initiated against them. Having a contract saves you from lot of trouble and also establishes the trustworthiness of the Supplier. Contracts usually contain the following:

  • Sales conditions
  • Arbitration clause
  • Payment method

Payment Mode

A Letter of Credit or LC is the safest payment mode when dealing online. Do not send direct payments as these are not reliable but paying through third party services is safe. T/T payment should be avoided because in most cases it is difficult to retrieve the products from the buyer if they have received the products without paying for them.

The key to avoid frauds also lies in making small transactions with a supplier instead of ordering a substantial amount. Avoiding Online Fraud may involve safety measures that involve spending money on your part but they are worth the risk of losing your hard-earned money to scammers.

How to Retain Customers to enhance your business?

March 24, 2010

businessyellowpages Business Growth, Business Risk Leave a comment

In today’s competitive market everyone wants to get an edge over their competitors. Entrepreneurs wish to create a brand image that can attract more and more customers towards their business. Enhancing your customer retention techniques is the only way that aims at reducing the chances of customer defections. In the current scenario, customer is the king and it becomes really difficult to grab their attention until you are loyally serving them. Improvement in your business processes will not only increase the satisfaction of your potential customer, but will also help in establishing long term relationships.

Through the below mentioned ways, we are making an effort to make you understand, how you can improvise your business techniques and accomplish the tough task of retaining customer satisfaction.

Market your product rather than selling it :-  It is always advisable to manufacture products that can meet the exact needs of the customers rather than selling the product that may match the customers’ demands. This one factor creates a huge difference in customer retention that results in a huge gap between the customer’s expectation and your perception. If you manufacture products as per consumer’s perspective they will feel that you actually understand their needs. The expectations emerged out of this will turn into their desire for your product or service.

Personal Touch :-  Buyer’s today appreciate the personal touch of a manufacturer instead of their commercial conduct. They purchase product as their own property and your conduct matters a lot in retaining or detaining them. The personal attention given by you will not only increase the value of your business but also add new customers to your list. The whole responsibility of attaining this resides on the shoulders of your executives who directly interact with the customers. Every business should illustrate the personal touch through all modes of communication, which are used for the growth of the business.

Categorization :-  Categorizing the customers according to the percentage of revenue they are adding to your business will help a lot. It’s better to channelize your resources as well as energy in retaining those customers that will yield good financial outcomes for your business. Spending your valuable time and money on those who are not profitable is a complete waste.

Feedback :-  Dual interaction with customers will assist in retaining the customers for long and also strengthen the bonding between the parties. You should give equal chance to the customers, so that they can also express their feelings and views about your products and services. Through this you can also get a scope to make improvement in your offerings as per the suggestions given by them. Complaints like appreciation should be taken in a positive manner

Following these simple ways, will not only retain customers, but also provides a chance of making improvements in business structure as well as offerings. Making your process beneficial for customers will definitely lead you to have high financial outcomes and not to forget long term relation with the consumers.

Managing Risk in Your Online Business

March 7, 2010

businessyellowpages Business Risk , Leave a comment

People engaged in online business activities set objectives for themselves of earning high financial gains. But if you are completely relying on your online pursuits, it becomes necessary to understand the risks involved in online business. Various online and offline points of failure can make you compromise with your ability to carry on online business venture. Once you understand this, it will become easier to minimize the risk, while at the same time help you in formulating plans of recovery if any such situation comes up.

As internet marketing is based on high-end technology, you may face various technical challenges that can adversely impact your earnings. Through this, we are trying to make you explain how to cope up with these challenges without hampering your income.

Web Hosting Problems :-  One of the most devastating web hosting problems is when you see ‘Account Suspended’ web page on the space where your website used to exist. The major reason for this problem is that, you might have exceeded the limit of your resource allocation. It’s better to maintain two or more separate accounts that too with different service providers. With this you can easily switch over to the other host until the problem with the previous one is resolved. The other worst thing that can happen to your website is getting de-indexed by the search engines. The best way to avoid this problem is to use white hat SEO techniques for the promotion of your website. Driving more traffic with the help of social networking sites or managing a subscriber lists will also save you from the search engine ban.

Site hacked :-  If you are new to the online business, then you should beware of fraudulent individuals engaged in the hijacking of others website for their own good. Though, it’s a tough task to stop professional hackers from targeting your website, but you can discourage the possibility of such attacks by developing effective security around the confidential login details of your website.

Loss of communications :-  Computer and internet connection also plays vital role in the technical sequence of your online business. It is advisable to maintain back up of all your data and also formulate a back up plan that can be activated easily at a short notice for coping with any critical downtime situation.

You can easily address these challenges if you maintain diversity in your business. There is nothing complicated that can not be understood, the only thing it require is to learn from the experiences not necessarily yours but from others as well. This will reduce your tension regarding online business risks and is obviously less painful than bearing the actual loss.

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