When it comes to Chinese replicas, paying becomes a headache. How to pay? Which are the safest methods? What to never do? Who to trust? This blog post is all about buying VERTU replicas online from different producers. Fraud, scam and cheating is a day-to-day thing when dealing with domestic and international online shopping. And the farther the seller is geographically the more probability that you will end up losing money. Protecting yourself is an easy thing to do. Here are some important tips when it comes to shopping for VERTU replicas online.
1. Never buy from sellers that do not have a website. The website should not be a free-hosted one. The domain name should look like WWW.sitename.COM (or NET, CN, ORG), if you see WWW.sitename.somethingelse.COM – you should think twice. Service like Who.Is will help you acquire some important information about the website, like who the registrar is, who the owner is, what the location is, and, more importantly, how old the domain is. If the website is a few months old – it could be a scam website. Look at the website itself. Is there ample information? Are there contact details? What about the terms and conditions? Are the pictures of the actual product? Does the website update regularly? Does it have dynamically built sections, which can be updated every day? Check out the Web Archive for the website to see how large it is and whether it grows with time or not.
2. Talk to the seller. E-mail is OK, but it’s recommended to talk to the seller live – by phone, Skype, or at least chat. Websites that have no live contact details are most probably hiding something. Call up at different times of the day, in order to find out how many different people are actually talking to you, and ask the same questions. Ask them about the company, the location, the management. If something is made up, different people will give you different information. IF there’s only one person – don’t expect anything but lousy support if you receive (if you actually receive) a defected phone. Ask about the VERTU phones in as much detail as possible. Get answers for each and every question. The more detail the seller’s answers contain – the higher the probability of good and honest business. Ask tricky questions, for example how close the replica is to the original (the answer is here: 9 Differences Between the Original VERTU and the VERTU replica. If you’re sending e-mails – allow not more than 24 hours for a reply from the seller, but expect a reply within 12 hours.
3. Search the web. Get Google to show you anything good or bad related to the company by typing “sitename”. Take your time to check out the different websites and forums that contain the website name of the company. It’s important to know who you’re dealing with and to avoid the mistakes others could have made. Add “scam” to your search to get the results filtered to complaints about the website. Do note, however, that VERTU replica companies tend to play war, especially the giants. Their rivlary leads them to posting up different pseudo-scam reports and complaints on different websites trying to break the reputation of one another. Real complains would contain contact details of the person complaining, otherwise they are, most probably, not real ones. Also check out the bright side of the company, if it has one. Add “+thank you” to the site name, and see how many people thanked the company.
4. Contact the people that bought from the seller. Make sure that they are legit. Check out reviews for the site and the products. Many serious websites send out their products to review companies free of charge. Many sellers will not give out private information, others might give you a few names and telephones or e-mails.
5. Pricing. Check around to see the average price for the product. Check eBay. Extremely low prices are there to lure you into a trap. I tried buying a set of CDJ decks at Ali-Baba. One piece had an average price tag of 1,300 USD at verified websites. I got price lists from Malaysia and Singapore with the same product priced at 300-400 USD, which is impossible. After several searches and some investigation, I found out that all the companies were fraud companies. I ended up buying the same decks from a verified eBay seller for 1,100 USD. Do not lose your mind and place an order when you’re facing the lowest price in the internet.
6. Terms and Conditions. While many sellers have a standard set of terms and conditions, a good seller will have them changed to suit his business. If you see nothing about shipping, guarantees, returns – do not buy. Everything should be crystal clear. Ask the seller about the whole process, how long would it take to get the phone, shipping methods, etc. Always ask about tracking numbers. If a seller says that they do not give tracking numbers – do not buy. Ask the seller whether there is something that is not mentioned in the Terms and Conditions. Ask them about customs issues and lot’s of what ifs. If the seller gives you answers like “Don’t worry, everything will be OK.”, it means that he’s being dishonest. There are tons of issues that can be foreseen, and the seller’s word of reassurance is not to account for them. You need straight forward facts, nothing else.
7. You will however encounter answers that should not in the least disturb you. For example, factory addresses, personal information of the company’s management (except name). VERTU replicas are illegal to produce, so real sellers and producers will keep themselves safe from legal actions from NOKIA VERTU. If a question goes unasnwered – ask the seller the reason (if he didn’t provide one immediately). The reason is good enough if it’s plausible. Stop and think, the seller is also carrying some sort of risk, right? Not all sellers out there are fraud-monsters. Many are indeed great to do business with. (Personally, I would recommend Lux-Replica-Phones, since I did get my VERTU Ascent Ti Ferrari from them.)
8. Paying. So you’re ready to buy. What are the payment options available? Western Union and Wire Transfers? MoneyGram? RED ALERT! PayPal and Credit Card? Green light! Both? Nice! COD (cash-on-delivery)? PERFECT! What PayPal and Credit Card payments do is keep your money safe. If you do not receive what you paid for – you can ask for a refund. If the seller is ignoring you – simply contact your bank or PayPal. You will get your money back. If the seller has no safe payment methods – DO NOT BUY. The seller might have some special terms for these safe payments, but they’re always safe. Another thing to bear in mind is to NOT GIVE YOUR CREDIT CARD NUMBER to the seller. The seller should have a secure gateway at PayPal or some other payment processor that guarantees the safety of your personal details. Paying by Western Union or Wire Transfer is an OK thing to do, really… but only if you trust the seller by 100%. If the seller offers both secure and insecure payment methods you can go for either, since most probably you’re going to pay for the security in the form of a higher price. Ready to click that PAY button? STOP!… just one last thing before you do so…
9. How do you feel about doing this? Have all your questions been answered? Is there anything bothering you? No? Then hit the PAY button right now
Just another 9 from Timmy Nine, wishing you the best and safest shopping experience. Thanks for reading. Oh, and by the way, this blog post is protected by copyright laws. |Copyright © Timmy9ine 2009|
