International Business Email Mistakes

If you have read the archives or previous posts within this
Import Export Business blog you will (or should) have gotten
a clear message that Email is a lousy way to prospect for new
customers in this business.

The opinions expressed about Email have "always" been based on
EXPERIENCE and not conjecture. I have been using email in this
business for nearly 10 years now - so give me a little credit,
as this information is only meant to help you.

In the past month those "opinions" were vindicated and fortified
by news from Reuters news agency when they reported:

'9 Out of 10 E-mails Are Now Spam'

Here is the link to the full story - do yourself and your
business a BIG favor and go read it (but be sure to come back):
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/11/27/uk.spam.reut/

Import Export Business Email Mistakes

Mistake 1. Sending "any" email to a prospect without first
running it through a SPAM filter email tester - these are
free and one will be posted in our next update to this blog.

Mistake 2. Sending "any" email to a prospect without first
sending a copy to:

a. Your "personal" email account or a free email
account like hotmail or yahoo

b. An email account outside your company's email program

c. Sending a copy to another email address within your
company to see if it passes your spam filters

Why is this testing so important to the success of your email
Import Export Business marketing? Because by doing these
tests you gain the following knowledge:

a. First you get to see if your email will make it through
the various levels of spam filtering with your company's email
program, a free email program or a standard email. All three
of these tests may provide you with different results and it
is best to modify your message to meet the filtering that is
the hardest to overcome.

b. You get to see the formatting of your email - often it
does not look the same on the receiving end as it does on
the sending end.

c. It gives you an opportunity to see how long it takes to
open if you have pictures attached to it and if your personal
ISP is a dialup or slower than cable service, you get to
experience what the receiver will be experiencing (or not if
they hit the delete button when it starts tying up their
computer).

Mistake 3. Trying to sell your product or service in your very
first email.

Instead of using your email to establish or open a line of
communication with someone who may very well be interested in
your product/service, you try to ram it down their throat with
large attachment files or huge photographs that either get the
email filtered or deleted automatically.

Mistake 4. Believing that your email has a better than average
chance of getting in front of the eyes of the person who makes
the decision about purchasing your products or services.

Literally, 70% or more of all email is filtered in some way,
shape or form. This means that 7 out of 10 emails you send will
NEVER find their way to the intended person.

Mistake 5. Believing that if an email bounces back to you that
this prospect is probably no longer in business.

Email addresses have the highest turnover or drop out rate of
ANY part of the contact information for a person or business.

EXAMPLE: Of the subscribers to our Global B2B Updates who have
DOUBLE Opted in to be a subscriber (means they had to go through
2 steps to sign up) - One to one and a half percent (1 - 1 1/2%)
are no longer valid after ONLY ONE WEEK!

This means that 50% to 75% of these committed subscriber email
addresses will no longer be valid after one year.

Mistake 6. Believing that an importer, exporter, manufacturer
or other international trade related business owner, manager,
CEO or whomever is sitting in front of their computer with
baited breath just waiting for your email to grace their life.

Mistake 7. Your lucky seven - is NOT having a web site for all
those great big files and photographs mentioned in mistake 3
above.

Having a web site that does not need to be fancy, flashy or
other nonsense that just makes a prospect want to click away
when it take so long for them to load is also a BIG mistake.

Have a NO FRILLS web site with JUST THE FACTS, Descriptions,
prices, shipping, availability, your name, your address, your
telephone, your email, your fax number.

A NO FRILLS web site that has the information that is
important to the visitor, not you. You are already sold on
what it is you offer - look at the web site from your potential
customers point of view.

The bottom line is this...there is no bottom line...the Internet
is an evolving technology. Nothing guarantees your email will
arrive at the person's computer you intend it to when you hit
send.

It is MUCH more impressive to me when someone calls me or faxes
me and references where they found my name and contact
information.

Think about a fax to the prospect. Which bit of information
do you think has a better chance of getting his or her attention?
A single line email that might be stuffed among 10's or 100's
of others or a fax that comes into their fax machine?

Once you establish or open a line of communication - EMAIL is
by far the very best way for communicating with your clients or
potential clients that has ever been invented.

Email in the Import Export Business can be an incredibly
effective tool, if used correctly and wisely.

Keep visiting this blog for more ideas and tools on increasing
both the delivery and open rate for your email. And, be sure to

check out the archives and previous posts for more valuable

and FREE information to help you and your Import Export

Business succeed.

Import Export Licensing - Registration

One of the most common questions we receive about starting an
import export business is about the import export licensing or
the licenses required to start an import export business.

While there is no license required by the US government to start
or operate an import/export business, there may be licensing
or registration requirements imposed by local governing
authorities.

There is no "one" source you can access that will tell you if
there are any requirements in your particular state, county,
township, parish, etc..

Operating a home based import/export business under your own
"given" name will often require, little, if any registration.

When and if you begin having truckloads of merchandise or even
regular UPS shipments coming to your home could begin to stir
the ire (or envy) of some nosy neighbor who would ultimately
cause you a great deal of grief, so operate wisely and
sensibly.

If you are going to be importing, rent a storage area for your
merchandise and try to maintain the happiness of your neighbors.

In past posts I have mentioned that there are all levels of
operation that you can be involved in the import export business.

You can be an agent, broker, management company, etc.. Each
level requires a different degree of research on your part to
be sure you are in compliance with state and local laws.

A person who called me recently asked specifically about naming
your business and the legal requirements for that.

All I can tell you is what I have basically stated above, each
municipality is different. In the county of York in the state
of Pennsylvania, if you operate a business with your given
name, as in my case, Coble International, there were no
fictitious name filing required.

The same person asked about a sales tax license. Again, each
state and municipality is different. In Pennsylvania, if you
buy merchandise for the purpose of reselling it to a consumer,
you must get a sales tax license and file your taxes in
accordance with the state laws.

To give you still another example of how complicated this
issue can be, here in Pennsylvania, a business person who
buys and resells merchandise in Philadelphia has to collect
both Philadelphia sales tax as well as Pennsylvania sales
tax.

Getting back to the gentleman's original question about
whether he would need a sales tax license in his state, I
could not answer because there are 50 states and how many
other smaller municipalities that may wish to get their
piece of the action?

Generally, if you are buying merchandise to resell to a
consumer and your state or city or county has a sales tax,
you will need a sales tax license.

I have had a sales tax license for the state of Pennsylvania
registered under the name of Coble International since 1988.

In regards to working as an export agent, broker, etc.,
because you are working on a commission or fee basis, you
should contact a reference librarian in your area and ask
if he/she can help you. If nothing else ask them to give
you the phone number of the revenue department for your state
and county and call them.

Be sure to record the time, date and name of the person you
spoke to - write everything down and ask to repeat it back
to them - then file it somewhere you can refer back to it
in the future.

One other thing that is "NOT" required in the Import Export
Business and that is a certificate on your wall that says
you are "Certified". This "feel good" piece of paper is
only foisted on those who are under the mistaken belief that
a certificate on their wall will somehow convey some extra
level of confidence or credibility to a potential client.

Before you go off and spend thousands of dollars on some
import export business training program that promises that
you will be certified at the end of their program, investigate
and call a couple of government offices involved in
international trade (like the US Department of Commerce) and
ask them if they recognize this company's certification or
better yet, if they have ever even heard of them?

If you have other questions about starting an import export
business, be sure to read the archives and previous posts
on this blog. The links to these posts are located to the
right of your screen on the navigation bar.

International Trade - What is “fair trade” ?

What is the meaning of “fair trade”? One answer will not fit all
the meanings. Here we review of fair trade's market profile —
the benefits, controversies, players and drawbacks.

There are two different meanings on how fair trade relates to
international commerce. During trade negotiations, the term
is often used in an argument that disguised barriers and
subsidies distort the global trading system against commodity
producers and developing countries.

Big voice - Small share

Meanwhile, developing countries small farmers who produce
some of the world’s favorite beverages and fruit are still finding
they are still only get paid pennies for products that sell for
dollars in the supermarkets of the world's wealthier countries.
Worse still, these farmers income wildly fluctuates from one
season to next, sometimes even fluctuating daily, depending
on commodity market prices. Competing against other
producers to maintain their revenues when .....for the rest of
the story go to:
http://www.tradeforum.org/news/fullstory.php/aid/1031

International Business To Business Resources

Here are some more Import Export Business To Business
resources that we have found useful. I am
sure you will find them as helpful to you and your
international business to business operation as well.

Below are the first of many such useful business to business
web sites that you will find here in the next few posts:

Venezuela Industry Directory - A Venezuela Industrial /
Commerce / Exports site offering Global Trade, Business to
Business Opportunities, Companies and Products Directory.

TransportWeb.com - If it's Transport, then it's Transportweb.com

Israel Export - International Business Cooperation Institute
Your gateway to business in Israel. Succeed in commercial
business to business ventures with Israeli companies and in the
Israeli marketplace.

Russian Business Directory - Russian business to business directory
Openrussia. Russian trade leads site. Partners search in Russia. You
can find here all about Russian customs rules.

Eurotrade Export Import Network - European & International Market
and Business to Business Opportunities for Quality Products.

TradeAttache.com The largest, highest quality most accessible database
of 5 million D and B supplied manufacturers, distributors, importers and
exporters from more than 200 countries.

World Trade Magazine - FREE Subscription for USA Business to
Business Executives.

Traders-Business.com - find sellers, buyers, business to business partners,
trade leads or service providers.

Joseph Smith International Logistics
Joseph Smith Company provides Customs clearance, International Freight
Forwarding, and Logistics and Compliance consulting services to the
international business to business community.

TradeGet.com - International trade hub for global opportunities.
TradeGet is an extensive database of credible manufacturers, suppliers
and exporters from all across Asia-major countries being India, Indonesia,
Macau, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka and China.

------------------------------------------

Be sure to check out the trade leads from past posts that are
archived at this blog. Just click on the "Archives" and/or
"Previous Posts" links on the right side navigation area to
review the valuable information posted to this blog since
it was started in February 2006.

------------------------------------------

New International Trade Business Opportunity

After working in and researching everything I can get my hands
on relating to international trade over the last 18 1/2 years,
there has not been much new come along that goes beyond the
tried and true import export business model .... that was, until
about 10 days ago.

Now before we continue, let me tell you up front - this new
global trade opportunity you are about to discover is
not MLM, Network or Referral marketing or anything
of that nature.

When I said it is a "new" home based "International Trade"
business opportunity and that's "exactly" what it is.

There is one very stringent requirement that we will get out
of the way right now --- you must be a resident of the
United States or Canada to participate. If you live in
any other country, sorry, but this is a highly targeted and
because of the unique mode of operation. It is a very limited
and highly unique new international business opportunity -
you are welcome to watch the video, if you like.

Now to our USA and Canadian friends - it has not been often
in the 18 1/2 years we have been in this business that an
international trade business opportunity, or resource for
that matter, has excited me as much as the one you are going
to learn about in the next few minutes.

Almost every day I talk with people who dream of starting their
own international trade business...escaping the nine to five
grind... achieving financial independence... and giving their
families (and themselves) the lifestyle they so richly deserve.

Yet they have been frustrated by the many supposed
money-making opportunities they've come across.

Perhaps you've seen a few of these offers yourself. Sure, it
looks like you can make good money with them, but they take
far too much time, money, and effort. Even 10 or 20 hours a
week piled on top of your already exhausting work schedule is
too much. After all, most people are looking for ways to spend
more time with their families - not less - and have money to
do the things they have always dreamed about.

It is no wonder so many of the people I talk to are ready to
throw in the towel and resign themselves to doing the best
they can with the job they've got right now, for the rest of
their life.

The good news for you is this - it doesn't have to be that
way for you or anyone else thanks to the unique new (and I
do mean 'unique') international trade program you are going
to hear described in an all new video and slide show posted
on our web site.

In this video, you are going to discover (as I did) that there
is a very, very "Unique" niche opportunity that exists within
the international trade business model. This 'niche' is very
profitable and what sets it apart from most global trade
business opportunities is the fact you will be working
"directly" with the founder of the unique and highly profitable
business model.

I quite frankly have not seen this unique international business
model offered anywhere else and I spend countless hours
researching the Internet, trade publications, etc..

Because this is so unique in your being able to actually
partner with the founder and have access to what only can be
described as a "special secret weapon", he has asked us to
partner with him in identifying 130 highly motivated people to
work with him.

Are you one of those 130? Go watch the video now and after it
ends, click on the links at the bottom or top of the video
screen for a Question and Answer page.

Go watch the video now and discover what this unique
opportunity might hold for you and your family..........
New International Trade Business Opportunity Video -
the video may take some time to begin depending upon
the speed of your Internet connection so be patient
because it is 'well' worth the short wait.

Until next time,

Ron Coble

Create and evaluate a Code of Conduct

A corporate Code of Conduct, sometimes also refered to as Code of Ethics, helps a company to show to all involved parties, internal and external, the standards that govern its conduct, thereby conveying its commitment to responsible practice wherever it operates.

As you know, there have been many recent legal and paralegal initiatives to promote or require good conduct by corporations. Because there are now so many of these guidelines, it is not simple to get an overview, so that you're able to quickly assess if your firm's Code of Conduct is 'worldclass'. A useful article in the HBR of Dec 2005 by Professors Lynn Paine, Rohit Deshpandé, Joshua D. Margolis, and Kim Eric Bettcher may help: it provides a useful overview of all (?) things that should be considered in any Corporate Code of Conduct.

The authors suggest 8 governing ethical principles which taken together they call: The Global Business Standards Codex (GBS Codex). These 8 principles to create or evaluate a Code of Conduct and their most important aspects are:

1. The Fiduciary Principle (Diligence, Loyalty).
2. The Property Principle (Protection, Theft).
3. The Reliability Principle (Contracts Premises, Commitments).
4. The Transparency Principle (Thruthfulness, Deception, Disclosure, Candor, Objectivity).
5. The Dignity Principle (Respect for the Individual, Health and Safety, Privacy and Confidentiality, Use of Force, Associatiation & Expression, Learning & Development, Employment Security).
6. The Fairness Principle (Fair Dealing, Fair Treatment, Fair Competition, Fair Process).
7. The Citizenship Principle (Law & Regulation, Public Goods, Cooperation with Authorities, Political Noninvolvement, Civic Contribution, .
8. The Responsiveness Principle (Addressing Concerns, Public Involvement).

The article itself is already a summary of regulations and best practices. So if you want to assess or create a Corporate Code of Conduct, you are advised to read the article completely.

International Business Resources

Thought I would pass along some of the Import Export Business
resources that we have found useful to our business. I am
sure you will find them as helpful to you and your
international business as we have.

Below are the first of many such useful web sites that you
will find here in the next few posts:

BusyTrade.com is a world Top 3 international trade portal
and leading online B2B marketplace, covering Chinese
Products, China suppliers, company directory, trade
directory, importers and exporters' directory, China
manufacturers!

**********************

Trade-Show-Advisor.com is a
educational resource with information to help exhibitors
maximize visibility, international sales leads and revenue at
international trade shows. Topics include successful tradeshow
planning, marketing, exhibit booth displays, giveaways, banners
taffing, promotions, and more.

**********************

SICCODE.com - The World Wide International Business Directory
with FREE Company and Product Listings FREE company listing,
10 FREE Product or Service listings, all displayed on a business
profile sheet, e-quote and advanced search capabilities,
FREE legal forms, look-ups for Area/Zip codes, SIC descriptions
and a SIC to NAICS conversion aid.

**********************

Global Importers and Exporters Network
Traders Business.com is where you can find sellers, buyers,
business partners, trade leads or service providers

**********************

Export-Japan.com - provides comprehensive Japanese
international business information all searchable in English
keywords. You can get the information of trade fairs, market
reports, purchasing information of Japanese companies and much
more valuable B2B marketing resources.

**********************

TradeIndia.com - offers comprehensive, well researched
Import and Export trade directories of global exporters,
importers & service providers. It also offers a host of value
added international trade services such as daily and weekly
"Exim news", "Forex Watch", "Discussion Forum", "Online
Catalogs", "Trade Leads" and "Gateway to India".

**********************

Informed Trade International is an import/export compliance
community devoted to US Customs import and export practices.
Our goal is to facilitate international trade with the
United States by providing importers and exporters with a
thorough understanding of the international trade process.

Import Export Business Q and A

OK, more Import Export Business questions and
answers. If you have a question or an opinion on something
your find here at the Import Export Business blog, please
use the comment link at the end of this post to send it to
us. If we use your comment, it will provide you with a
valuable link to your web site at no cost, except the little
time it took you to make the comment or send the question.

**********************

Personal comment: I am always amazed at some of the questions
we get and how the people ask them - if this offends anyone,
so be it but after 18 years I know a fool when I hear from one.

So many people think they can get into the import export
business without taking a course or by reading a 20 or 30
page ebook. They simply do not have the brains to figure out
that in order to make money in this world, you have to spend
a little money. In this case on training materials so at a
minimum you understand the basics.

I am not saying that you have to know how to cross every T
or dot every I to be successful in this business, but at
least have an understanding of the basics.

Here is a good example of a question from a clueless person
who thinks he is going to be successful in the exporting
business and my "be kind to others" reply:

message: T/T 30% in advance ,70% against B/L copy
at sight. What does it means ?

**********************

Our International Business center answer:

Hi (Name Withheld),

T/T generally means a bank wire transfer which in the case
you refer to they want 30% wire transferred up front.

The B/L is bill of lading - usually means that upon
presentation of properly completed b/l documents you pay the
remaining 70%.

Here is a good web page to show you the levels of risk to
both the importer and exporter for various types of deals -
names are slightly different but when you see the word
'sight' it refers to the same scenario as you have
presented:
http://www.wachovia.com/corp_inst/page/
0,,14_982_4696_1137,00.html

It sounds like you are not too familiar with importing and
exporting - this would be a very high risk situation for you
as a first time potential importer.

I suggest you review our courses on importing and exporting
before entering into any international trade deals - they
can be quite treacherous if you are unsure of how to proceed.

You should really take advantage of our Free Import Export
Business ebooks and reports that you can find listed and
linked to at the bottom of our one site map page at:
Export Business Resources - Site Map Page 1

Then, and only after you have read these materials, if you
decide to pursue international trade, I strongly suggest you
study one or more of our courses on importing and exporting.

Here are links to our import and export courses:
Start Your Own Import Business Course

Start Your Own Export Business Course

How To Start An Import Export Business Home Study
Course that includes both of the above listed import and
export training courses in one package.

Good luck.

Ron Coble
International Business Help Center

New International Email Marketing Strategies

If you use email to communicate with your import export
business customer base or potential customers, then you'll
want to pay CLOSE attention as you most likely already have
read my global b2b update titled "Is Email Killing Your
Global Marketing Efforts?"

Well there are some extremely important updates you need to
know! Even as you're reading this post, a massive worldwide
industry shift is taking place that's going to dramatically
affect whether or not 40% to 80% of the email you send gets
delivered -- or filtered away as junk -- never to be seen by
it's intended recipient!

Obviously, if your email isn't getting delivered, your sales
and profits are going to seriously suffer! So on the webpage
listed below, you are not only going to discover the exact
international email marketing strategies that one man used to
generate $291,756.42 and 44,901 new potential customers who
signed up to receive his emails in just the last 30 days.

You will also learn how you can get "whitelisted" with Yahoo,
AOL, and Hotmail -- and guarantee the delivery of every email
you send... Plus you will read about the 3 NEW criteria used
by "junk mail filters" to either deliver (or delete) your
email -- accreditation, reputation, and email authentication.

I hope you find this new information as valuable as I have....
to get all the latest international email marketing strategies
for success, visit:
New International Business Email Marketing Strategies

Ron Coble

P.S. Oh, yes, by the way, when you visit this page be sure to
read it in it's entirety as you will also learn how you can
obtain the insider international email marketing strategy to
sending email to the 2 BILLION+ consumers who use
mobile devices -- like cell phones and BlackBerries!

To learn about this email marketing strategy and more, visit:
New International Business Email Marketing Strategies

Import Export Business Due Diligence Suggestions

OK, back to some Import Export Business questions and
answers. If you have a question or an opinion on something
your find here at the Import Export Business blog, please
use the comment link at the end of this post to send it to
us. If we use your comment, it will provide you with a
valuable link to your web site at no cost, except the little
time it took you to make the comment or send the question.

**********************

Hi there,

Was hoping to gain some more relevant information from you.

I have read through you info on this site and found it very
informative.

In regards to due diligence as well as doing the checks by
cold calling and checking their website, is there a pack
which I should put together to ensure the least risk possible.

Any pointers in the right direction would be much appreciated
as these people can seem very trustworthy and I myself or
employees of mine can have a set procedure in place to make
sure we have covered ourselves as well as we possibly could.

Kind regards,

Manny

**********************

Our Import Export International Business center answer:

Hi Manny,

I am not aware of a 'package' of details that you can check.
I have compiled some items that are listed on our company
page at:
http://www.importexporthelp.com/company.htm
which you and your employees are free to use any time.

These are not all that are available, I am sure, but if you
follow that list you should be able to find any negative
details on someone, if there are any on record.

I am not sure if you are in the USA or not, but the US has
or had a program through their embassies that you could pay
$100 or more to have the embassy rep do a background check
on the potential importer.

Another thing you can do is ask for references of other
businesses they have dealt with and then actually contact
those references. I know of one supplement manufacturer who
would not even bother following up a lead if they would not
provide them with at least one reference.

You will want to cross reference the reference also to make
sure you aren't calling the guys brother or brother in law
who is in on the deal with him.

Last, confirmed letters of credit are about the safest way
to go when it comes to payment, but they are often very
difficult to get and much more expensive than regular LOC's.

Ultimately there are no guarantees of keeping you from getting
ripped off. I have personally talked with several exporters &
importers who worked for some time with their buyers/sellers
in smaller quantity orders. Then a larger order comes in and
they end up never getting paid for it or if they are the
importer, they send the money and never receive the
merchandise.

This last type of deal is the old confidence game where they
use small orders to gain your confidence, pay for them up
front or ship them right away and then hit you with a big
order which is never paid for and you can never seem to find
the person in their office at any time.

It is an unfortunate fact of business life (and personal)
that you have to approach every transaction as if it is a
fraudulent one and be very firm in your requirements of the
other party. Sometimes so firm that it may cost the deal
but it is better to walk away.

Hope this has helped and I wish you the best.

Regards,

Ron Coble
http://www.importexporthelp.com

A New International Trade Democracy...In the Making?

A new intenational trade democracy? Perhaps not at this
moment in time, but signs of change are here.

A short time ago, people saw international trade policy as a
matter for business economists outlining global trade
scenarios, government officials negotiating behind closed
doors or international business lobbies in
Brussels, Geneva, Washington and other cities.

No longer. Seattle’s international trade meeting changed
this stereotype, as thousands of anti-globalization
protesters marched outside the meetings. Doha’s response
was a declaration to make international trade work for all.

Cancún, in backlash, registered the disappointment of
developing countries; but for the first time, because of the
promise of Doha, those voices took center stage. Hong Kong
kept the doors open to discussion. However the voices
in the discussion have changed.

For the rest of the story, visit:
http://www.tradeforum.org/news/fullstory.php/aid/1005/

International Business Newsletter

How would you like to learn the answers to the following
questions (and more) from a full time importer/exporter who
earns on average over $100,000 a year and get the answers
to some of your most important questions, like:

Is exporting your full time occupation and if so, how long
have you been exporting?

What type of training did you take, if any?

Is your company considered an export management company in
that you actually take possession of the goods or are you
what would be called an Export Agent/Broker?

The article in Global Business, where we learned about you,
indicated how you put put parties together and earn a
commission on the transaction, like you just explained to
us. Do you have a standard commission or is each deal you
work on a new adventure?

Do you have a standard agreement that you use or do you let
that up to the buyer and/or seller?

Do you ever work as a sourcing agent or finder for
domestic USA companies?

Do you handle the actual paperwork involved with the
exporting transaction?

Is there any particular products that you try to work
with and those you prefer not working with?

Do you ever get paid by the buyer, rather than the seller?

Have you ever felt that you were ripped off by a seller
or a buyer that you were contracted with?

Is there a preferred method of payment that you choose
to receive?

What are the BEST trade lead boards in your opinion?

What would you say are the biggest hurdles for someone
thinking about entering the international trade?

What factors or parameters do you review when determining
if a deal is worth your involvement?

***Here is the link - scroll down the page a bit to begin
reading the interview with this importer/exporter:
International Business Newsletter

Importing Into USA and Other Countries

One of the most visited web pages within our 200+ page web
site is about how to get started importing to the USA.
This is also one of the most asked questions when someone
calls me.

It is very interesting though how the vast majority of
people who start importing into USA think they can do so
without taking a course or even studying a book.

Most believe that importing from Mexico or any other country
is easy and all they need to do is have a couple of their
questions answered in a phone call and they can get started.

The majority of the visitors to our site and callers are
people who sell or wish to buy low cost merchandise and
sell it on eBay for a high profit.

The process is or does not need to be complicated, however,
most of these people are setting themselves up for failure
with their unwillingness to learn even the basics of what
is required when importing into the USA or other countries.

Importing into USA can be a high performance business and
just like a high performance engine, it should only be
entered into by those who understand how that engine works.

For years now we have had a course about how to start an
importing business. It is a very good course and one
that has been used by community colleges and other
educational institutions.

Recently, the publisher decided to offer several
parts of the course as a downloadable product that you may
now obtain instantly via the Internet.

The parts of the course included in this condensed Ebook
version include step-by-step how-to instructions for
starting your own importing business.

The great news is, the publisher has included two of the
main parts of the course in the ebook.

The first section of the course titled the "Importers Action
Pack" has just about everything the publisher has ever
learned about importing. This is a big ebook in itself
(153 pages) and it is chock full of specific how-to tips,
step-by-step directions and the best online list of tools
and resources for new importers that you'll find anywhere.

The second part of the course you will get with your ebook
is the "Resources for Importers Guide" that includes the
best sites for identifying qualified suppliers of imported
products you can mark up 100 to 500 percent or more.

There are marketing tools that the publisher and many of his
clients are using today, links to importers who are selling
their products on the Internet right now, and too many other
tools and resources to numerous to mention here.

Even greater news for our worldwide business visitors is the
price of this ebook is about 1/3 of the full importing
business course.

There is much, in fact, too much to describe here and in
fact you are now even given a chance to take a free peak
inside this valuable ebook by downloading a free excerpt.

One of the primary reasons for making this available?

There are several, but number one was the fact more and more
inquiries are coming in from other countries from people who
are interested in starting their own importing businesses.

They are smart enough to see the trend in the value of the
US Dollar and realize now is the time to capitalize on what
they see as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Second to that, the cost to ship the entire course, with
videos was just too costly and time consuming for these
folks.

They also want to get started now and do not want to wait
for their course to arrive in the mail.

Now they can securely order online and within a few minutes
they can have their ebook stored on their computer and begin
discovering just how lucrative an importing business can be.

Here is where you may read more details about this brand
new ebook and download your free excerpt:
Importing Into USA and Other Countries

I wish you success in your new business.

Ron Coble
Import Export Business Help Center
Coble International

Export Finance

Exporting and interested in entering new global markets?

Exporters - are you interested in increasing sales in
existing international markets?

Are you exporting and would like to worry less about
getting paid?

You can do all of the above with teh help of the Export-
Import Bank of the United States which is chartered by
Congress to help the expansion and promotion of U.S. jobs
and U.S. exports.

The Export-Import Bank's trade financing products can help
your international business enter new foreign markets,
increase your international sales and minimize your risks
associated with international trade.

How and Why? Because export financing is often the critical
part of your winning an international sale.

The Ex-Im Bank is the official U.S. export finance credit
agency that can provide support to your international sales
and global transactions. With their assistance, your
international sales my no longer require letters of credit,
cash in advance or credit cards. Even more important, with
Ex-Im Bank’s guarantee, export financing lenders are more
willing to provide export financing to your customers and
possibly match competitive bids from other countries.

The U.S. Ex-Im Bank offers you superior export finance
information; strong interest in helping both medium and small
sized businesses; political and commercial risk coverage; and
international buyer financing.

You may visit the following web page and complete a short
questionnaire to have an export finance consultant in your
region to assist you with your export financing challenges:
http://www.exim.gov/marketing/enewsresponse.html

Import Export

As I was going back through my 1300 plus email sent files, one
of the most common questions received at our import export
business help web site is: "Can you help me find this company
or any information about them"?

If people would take advantage of our company information page
and the many import export business resources listed there,
they would not have to ask that question.

I really think that many people are just too lazy and expect
that I will do their work for them (for a price I will) but
when it's free, I will educate them on how to do it themselves.
If the information is important to them, they will take the
action.

Here was one of this type of questions:

message: Hi we need the web address for following company.
Lo Bridge Enterprise co, Ltd china.

My reply was as follows:

I suggest you do a search for their name like this in Google:
"Lo Bridge Enterprise"

The quotation marks are what narrow the search down to the
specific company you are searching for. I found several
listings for them when I did this.

Special Note to our blog readers: The quotation marks are just
one of the keys to narrowing or targeting your search. If
I did not locate anything with "Lo Bridge Enterprise", I would
have then taken the search down to "Lo Bridge".

Another great tool within google's search engine is
searching for someone by their telephone number. If you input
the phone number in quotation marks again and in the correct
format for the country in which the business is located,
you will often find their web site, or other information
about them.

Go ahead and try it now, go to google.com and do a search
for: "717-292-5763" which is my telephone number - try these
things out and you will soon find yourself using them on a
regular basis, especially if you are involved in the import
export business.

Next Import Export Business Question and Answer:

message: Dear Sir/Madam:

I would like to contact firms in Taiwan which can
manufacture hourglasses to my specifications.

I want to import them for sale in the United States.

I look forward to your response.

Hello ....,

I would suggest visiting http://embassy.org and looking up
the Taiwan embassy.

Contact them and ask to speak or correspond with their on
staff trade representative. Tell him or her what you are
looking for and see if they can help you.

Special Note to our import export business blog readers:

Most embassies have trade representatives on staff who are
paid to help businesses in their countries promote their
products to potential buyers.

Just be sure you come across as a legitimate business person
in either your correspondence by email, fax, mail or
telephone.

Here are a couple of no cost pointers for you to use in
presenting yourself as a professional when asking for a
professional's help:

1. Do not send a hand written letter, fax or other form
of communication - learn to type or pay someone to type it
for you.

2. Do not demand they help you. Yes, they are being paid to
help promote business for the companies in their country
but they are 'not' being paid by you.

3. If you have to rate how likely you are to get a reply
by the form of communication you use to contact the folks
in the embassies or anywhere in the world of international
trade from your worst chances to your best chances for a
reply - here they are from worst to best:
a. Email
b. Fax
c. Mail
d. Telephone call

4. All computer word processing programs and email programs
have a spell check - USE IT!

5. Do not expect the trade rep to do your research for you.
Do as much research as you possibly can using every
possible search parameter we have suggested in this blog
and on our web site company page.

If you are too lazy to do this preliminary research, I
suggest you find another business because you are not cut
out for this one.

6. Be ready to provide details about you, your business
and the types and quantities of products you are possibly
interested in purchasing. Be specific and do not waste
these peoples valuable time on today's whim or tomorrow's
wishes.

International trade and the import export business are
serious enterprises. If you want to command respect and
response from others, then be professional and treat
others you deal with in this endeavor with equal respect
for the time you are asking them to spend on your behalf.

Before closing this post, I need to rant a bit about how
many time wasters there are in the import export business
and other businesses.

Almost every day of the week I field phone calls or answer
emails from people who clearly do not have a clue as to what
they are getting involved in when it comes to international
trade.

They had a whim or wish for the day to become rich at either
importing this or exporting that. In most instances I ask
if they have ever taken a course or read a book about the
business.

Most will say they read a book or an article but
because they know so and so in this country and have
connections to people in this industry they can jump right
in without having an understanding of the processes that
are involved or required.

In most of these instances I recommend they take advantage
of all of our free information which includes an ebook
about setting up an export business and our free reports
on international trade and business.

After over 18 years in this business, I can tell from the
tone of their voice when they are going to follow thru
with my suggestions or keep calling around to other web
site owners in the hope that one of them will give them
the magic keys to success without having to learn anything.

In most instances, the people never download the free
materials (too lazy) or when they do, they find out that
it will require a learning curve before they can actually
become successful in this business.

They then either run off to the next thing they read about
that will make them their first million in the next 90 days
or they get fooled in to paying some fly by night company
$7,000, $8,000 or more dollars for a supposed hand holding
program that gives them a self ego boosting certificate
to hang on their wall.

In the end, I also let these people know that although our
Import Export Business courses are very comprehensive, they
do not need to read 'every' word of every book, CD Rom or
memorize every detail of every video included with them.

Our Import Export Business courses are probably one of the
best (if not the best) resource libraries in the world for
international traders.

Every international trade deal is going to be different and
having a resource library that you can refer back to as
often as you need it during your hopefully long and
successful career is priceless.

In closing this post, I did not mean to get off on a rant
but it seems like the number of time wasters has increased
dramatically over the past few months.

Either get serious and realize you are going to have to
invest in you and your business to be successful or forget
about international trade and move on to the next scheme
that catches your eye.

International trade is serious business - you are going to
have to invest in learning the processes so that you and/or
the businesses you represent or buy from are not ripped off
in those processes.

Time is your most precious asset - do not waste your time
or that of others if you are not serious - bottom line -
get serious or get out.

Regards,

Ron Coble
Coble International
Import Export Business Help Center

Import Export Business Answers

I have decided to begin something new with the Import Export
Business blog.

Because I am constantly answering emailed questions from people
about the Import Export Business, I thought that these
questions and my answers may be of interest to others and will
begin with this post to go back through my files and post some
of the questions and answers. Be sure to let me know if you
find this helpful to you, your business or your decision to
start an import export business.

First Post From Our Import Export Business Email Files:

message: I am 36 years old and know nothing about the import
export business, however, I am very interested in purchasing
your training package and starting a business in this field.

My concern is this. Does someone need to be in the field or
have experience before venturing into a business? Am I over
stepping by not being involved first? If you can give a
little guidance it would be greatly appreciated. Thank You

My Reply:

Hi .............,

Thank you for your inquiry.

The answer to both of your questions is No and No. You do not
need experience before venturing into this field. This is what
our Import Export Tool Kit is designed to provide you, i.e.,
the knowledge of how to proceed and the resources you will
need to do so.

No, you are not overstepping, unless you try to enter the field
by the helter skelter method of not learning the import export
business process and at least having a basic understanding of
the procedural flow of that process.

You may be interested in reading some or all of the posts I
have made to a new blog that was just set up within the last
two weeks. The emphasis on this blog is to individuals and
business owners such as you. The url is:
http://importexportbusiness.blogspot.com

One thing to keep in mind. Our course covers all aspects of
the import export business. The important thing to keep in
mind is, you DO NOT need to actually perform all of those
procedures or processes. You should, however, as I state in
my latest blog post, have an understanding of how those
processes work so you do not get ripped of in the "process" so
to speak or at the least you are able to talk intelligently
with someone you may be hiring to perform them for you.

I hope this has dispelled some of the fears you might have and
I strongly suggest you visit the blog and at a minimum, read
the latest post which was just completed an hour ago. If there
are any other questions, please feel free to contact me via
email or phone at 717-292-5763. If I am not in the office,
leave your name, phone and the best time(s) to call you back
and I will do so ASAP. Kindest regards, Ron Coble

Here is the 2nd Email and reply for this post:

message: I'm in retail business, since 1999, own a silver
jewelry store in Palm Springs, CA.

I came to US in 1992 from Russia and know that there is a huge
potential of products and raw materials that might have a demand
in USA. I have good connections, (brother, cousins) who can find
the right products to import here.

I would like to start my own import company, but the thing is
I don't have experience with mechanical part of the process. For
an example, two days ago, my cousin asked me if I can find the
long-term buyer for red iron-oxide.

Thanks in advance for advise or help.

My Reply to this 2nd Message:

Dear ......,

Thank you for your inquiry.

International trade and business is a very interesting field.
Each potential business deal offers you a different format that
you may or may not follow.

You may operate as an agent, broker or actually take possession
of the goods yourself (something we do not recommend for
beginners).

I strongly suggest that you review our free materials at our web
site (http://www.importexporthelp.com/small-business-resources.htm)
to get an idea of what can be involved in an international trade
deal. We have a great ebook on starting an exporting business
which is something that you should really consider as there is
much more government and private assistance for exporters,
rather than importers.

Once you have read all of our free materials, I suggest you
then review out Import Export Tool Kit.

You need to have reference materials and a solid understanding
of how this business operates. The tool kit provides you with
both. Here are names of the free import export business
resources that are offered at our web site that you should
first take advantage of before making a decision to purchase
anyone's paid materials:
http://www.importexporthelp.com/small-business-resources.htm
Free Exporting Business Ebook
Free Reports - (reports may be printed or downloaded):
International Trade is Serious Business
How to Check Out An Online Company (Due Diligence)
Exporting-Importing Without Investment
ABCs of Exporting
New Export intermediaries Biggest Mistake
Frequently Asked Questions - Starting a Home-Based Exporting
Company

If you do decide to proceed then I strongly suggest you review
and purchase the complete Import Export Tool Kit Business
course at:
How To Start An Import Export Business

If you have any questions after reviewing these materials,
please feel free to contact us again.

Regards,

Ron Coble
Coble International
Import Export

ethics global study 2005

Mention corporate names such as, Enron, Worldcom, Adelphia, and Tyco and immediately it brings to mind the increases in unethical business behavior. The growing disgust and the resulting miasma has become a global Pandora's Box. What exactly are the reasons behind the rise in corporate unethical behavior, and what, if anything, is being done to clean up their behavior? As one of the authors of The Ethical Enterprise, A Global study of Business Ethics, I would like to share the findings with you.

According to the study, the number 1 answer from the 1,100 respondents to the question, Factors Most Likely to Cause People to Compromise Ethical Standards was Pressure to meet unrealistic business objectives/deadlines. Considering that marketplace competition was cited as a major business driver of ethics today and the respondents believe, according to the American Management Association/Human Resource Institute 2005 study, to remain a major driver 10 years into the future in addition to the desire to further one’s career and protect one’s livelihood, what can companies do now to protect themselves from future scandals?

Answers to these questions, and more, are addressed throughout the study. Areas where organizations can draw the line of first defense are found in their ability to make transparent current business cultures, Leadership support and modeling ethical behavior, training programs (through a Train-the-Trainer Certification Program where individual accountability and a responsibility is tied to promotional opportunities, bonuses/incentives, retention, future assignments and departments which includes new-hires straight up to the C-Levels and into the Board of Director), the development of an Ombudsman Program with 24/7 anonymous hotline, an enforceable Code of Conduct and ethic audits addressing technology, Corporate Social Responsibility Program are just to name a few.

This report:
>Discusses what’s driving business ethics today
>Describes today’s state-of-the-art business ethics practices
>Forecasts what will drive business ethics over the next 10 years
>Discusses what the best-in-class practices may look like in the year 2015
>Provides a summary of the Business Ethics Survey 2005 results.

I believe, as one of the authors of, The Ethical Enterprise,: A Global study of Business Ethics 2005, the information, insights, and enlightenment you will provide to your readers will be of immense and timely value. In troubled times, people look for truth and answers. Let’s give them what they seek!

Please feel free to contact me for a copy of the survey, or any questions you may have.

Thank-you for your time.

Respectfully,

Rick Keller,

Executive-In-Residence,
The Human Resource Institute
President, The Healthy Business Doctor: Proactive Business, Leadership & Coaching Solutions

Contact information:
(352) 288-9002
hbizdr@yahoo.com

ETHICS: A GLOBAL STUDY 2005

Did you know that the number 1 factor most likely to cause people to compromise ethical standards is, "pressure to meet unrealistic business objectives/deadlines." The second answer was, "a desire to further one's career" and in at number three, "desire to protect one's livlihood."

This information comes from a global study I helped research and write for the American Management Association. If you would like the free download of the study in pdf, let me know! . . . hopefully I haven't broken any of the rules by offering this?

Import Export Business News

The prudent owner of an import export business should always be looking for new buyers of their products. Keep reading to learn how your import export business can be part of a program that buys up to $50 billion a year worldwide.

Every day in some far-off corner of the globe affected by disaster or conflict, international aid agencies provide distribution of supplies including medicines, shelter and food. Owners of an import export business are probably very familiar with these efforts through the images broadcast around the world.

Less known, however, to most import export business owners is the fact that international trade businesses provide a large portion of this market for $50 billion dollars worth of goods.

If you are an import export business owner who would like to learn more about these programs and how your international business might be a supplier of this market, read more about it here:

New Market For Import Export Business Owners

Import Export Small Business Resources

Here is a great import export business resource that is set up for use by USA small businesses, however, it contains valuable resources that are available and useful to import export business people anywhere in the world:

Small Business Resources

Increase Your Export Sales with Help from the U.S. Government

Protect against nonpayment for your exports. Enter a new foreign market that is seeking your export products. Increase your export sales in an existing one. Provide your buyer/importer with financing. Improve your cash flow.

As an exporter in the know, you can do it, and Ex-Im Bank's trade specialists can assist as the official export credit agency of the United States.

Learn about international trade finance and reducing your international business risks to expand your global sales with confidence and compete in the challenging global marketplace.

The Ex-Im Bank's support covers the credit and country risks the private sector is unable or unwilling to accept. They can also level the playing field with your foreign competitors who are supported by their respective governments.

Here is your opportunity to meet and network with Ex-Im Bank staff, international lenders, brokers, and other exporters.

Click here for more details of what you will hear from Ex-Im Bank's trade specialists and from other government agency representatives.

We look forward to seeing you at this seminar. If you are unable to attend this session, please visit their complete list of export finance seminars.

For more details, contact:
Augustine A. Grace
Seminar Manager
Export-Import Bank of the United States
E-mail: gus.grace@exim.gov

WHEN - Monday, July 10, 2006 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday, July 11, 2006 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Eastern Time Zone

WHERE - Export-Import Bank of the U.S.
811 Vermont Ave., Room 1143
Washington, DC 20571

FEE Registration
Cost (includes training materials & breakfast) $499.00
Small Business $99.00

Import Export Business Fraud & Scams Continued

In a previous post, I provided FBI Fraud information along
with some personal experience comments about fraud and how
to prevent yourself from being a victim.

I know that many people believe you will never fall
victim of fraud, but you need to understand one thing, many
people from all walks of life have fallen victim and your
level of education or supposed status in life will not
protect you. If anything, these things make you an even
greater target for the fraudsters.

As a great example of how someone, very highly educated (a
Dentist) can fall victim to fraud, we published an article
from a old friend of mine from Singapore who happens to
publishes an International newsletter. The article is titled
"THE ESCROW SCAM" and it is still published here:
THE ESCROW SCAM

Do yourself a BIG favor after you are finished with this
post, go read "THE ESCROW SCAM" and see for yourself how
even the most highly educated can fall victim to fraud.

Getting back to my personal experience. I am well aware of
fraud because in addition to the over $100,000 in fraudulent
orders our import export business has experienced in the last
5 years, our one business account has also been hit two
times in just two years.

IMPORTANT POINT TO UNDERSTAND: If you have
electronic banking that allows direct deposit into your account for
wire transfers, pay checks, etc., in authorizing direct electronic
deposit YOU HAVE ALSO AUTHORIZED 'DIRECT ELECTRONIC
WITHDRAWAL'.

I learned this lesson about 12 years ago when the company my
wife worked for decided to use direct deposit as their sole
method of paying their employees.

When I saw the next statement from the bank (we did not have
Internet banking in those ancient days) I saw that her
employer had deposited the amount of her check 3 times. All
was well with that, but they subsequently withdrew the same
amount '3' times, then ultimately deposited the right amount
one more time.

When I contacted the bank about why the company was allowed
to take money "out" of the account, they stated that when you
authorize a company or someone to deposit funds, you are also
authorizing them to withdrawal funds?

OK! This was something new that very few people knew about
then or know about today and which can be very important to
you in the Import Export Business (or any business).

Why?

If you have a business account, which you should have if you
are in the import export business, you will most likely be
faced with requests to wire transfer payments to you from
time to time.

The potential payer of the bank wire transfer will need your
bank's ABA/Swift number along with your account number in
order to send you the money.

Now if you provide this information to a prospect in good
faith that they are going to send you funds to purchase goods
from you and this is the only business account you have, you
are exposing all of those funds to potential loss.

In the first bank account fraud incident two years ago,
there was approximately $350 in the account we maintained for
bank wire transfers. There was $325 from a transfer
that had just been received and $25 from the balance we
maintained in that account.

A scamster who had requested our bank account info under the
pretense of purchasing a trade directory hit our account with
four $500 electronic withdrawals for a total of $2,000.00.

The electronic banking system, as it is, transferred those
four $500 amounts from our account even though there was
only approximately $350 in the account.

The bank then proceeded to charge us 4 separate insufficient
funds charges and if insult did not add to the injury, they
also charged us 4 transfer fees all of which amounted to
about $240.00.

Because we monitor our account on a daily basis we caught the
fraud as soon as it showed up (which is still the day after
it occurs), we notified the bank who froze the account and
we immediately filed the paperwork to have the bank
investigate the fraudulent withdrawals.

The bank employees informed me that this happens to them
several times a day and were very helpful in returning our
funds and removing the charges. Had we not caught this as
quickly as we did, the story may have been different.

The wasted time factor still comes into play here though.
The account had to be closed and this caused a great deal
of unnecessary time and effort on the bank and on us.

Shortly after this incident, the Maryland state banking
commissioner was interviewed by a Baltimore TV station about
this very thing happening on an ever increasing basis.

The commissioner was asked about this type of fraud. He
reluctantly admitted that there was little anyone could do
to prevent these unauthorized withdrawals because once you
authorize automatic electronic deposits, you are also
authorizing electronic withdrawals.

The second incident occurred just a few weeks ago during the
last week of April 2006.

Another scamster, who corresponded with me for nearly almost
two weeks "by email" regarding the purchase of a trade
directory wanted to pay via a bank wire transfer. I found
this quite suspicious from the start since the address they
were giving was from here in the USA.

As the correspondence continued more information led me to
believe this was a legitimate request (but I was still a bit
suspicious) so I provided our wire transfer account
information but began checking the account several times a
day rather than once a day.

In the pro forma information I provided this scamster, I
advised him that we maintain a balance of less than $25.00
in this account for security reasons and to prevent
unauthorized withdrawals. This was in the hope that $25.00
would not be worth their time and effort.

I did not hear from him again until I saw the pending
withdrawal from our account about two weeks later for $24.75.
Can you believe it - $24.75?

I immediately notified the bank but it was a Friday evening
so nothing could be done to prevent it. However, there was a
web site listed in the pending withdrawal information. I
looked it up and found that it was an online financial
transaction firm for porno web sites.

Apparently this guy figured, hey $25 is enough to pay for his
entertainment for whatever amount of time it would buy him.
It did not buy him much time though because the online
financial firm had a phone number, I called and told them what
happened and that the transfer from my account was
fraudulent. They immediately shut down his account and set up
a return of our funds.

Good news, the funds have been returned, but this incident
has again caused us and the bank much time and effort and
has cost me even more wasted time.

Why? To prevent any further unauthorized withdrawals, I had
to place a permanent freeze on the account for electronic
withdrawals.

I can still use this account to receive my bank wire transfers
but I can no longer use my Internet access to transfer that
money to another business account which is what we normally do
to prevent the funds in the transfer account from being exposed
to this type of fraudulent activity.

Now, I must physically, visit the bank, produce my driver's
license and ask them to move the funds out of the wire transfer
account into our other business account.

Fraud costs everyone involved time and money. In this
incident I hope it also caused the fraudster the loss of his
anticipated entertainment.

OK, some points to help keep you from being defrauded in your
import export business or any business:

1. Set up a separate account just for wire transfers - most
banks have low balance, no fee, no interest checking. Set
one of these accounts up just for your wire transfers.

2. Keep a balance of $25-$35 in this account or just enough
to pay the fees for an incoming wire transfer.

3. Get Internet banking so you can monitor for receipt of
the transfers - as soon as you see the funds are available,
transfer them to your main business account.

This does not prevent a fraudster from doing as they did
with us and hitting the account with Multiple withdrawals
but it gives the bank more incentive to help you resolve
the situation if it is 'their' money they give out rather
than yours.

4. Make sure you require 'complete' information from the
would be customer - do not give out your bank information
to just anyone who asks for it.

Again, this is not 100% fraud proof as I had this latest
fraudster fill out our Pro Forma request form before I
provided him with our information, however, by asking for
all of their contact details like we do on our pro forma
request form, it makes most fraudsters crawl back under
the rock from where they came.

5. Be very careful (sorry if I offend anyone here but it
needs to be said) of anyone who uses a free email account
like yahoo, hotmail, gmail or a host of others that are
out there.

You can find out if it is a free email provider by taking
their email address and typing in the domain.com, .net,
.org, .us, etc. into your browser window to see if it is
a freebie account.

Again, there is no guarantee that a real web site that
shows up today will be around a month or a year from now.
There are services that allow you to have a one page
web site with full email privileges for under $20.00 a
year.

As President Reagan used to say, "trust but verify", but
when it comes to import export business transactions or
other business transactions involving bank wire transfers,
I say "verify, verify, and verify some more".

As time goes on and I can recall some of the many
fraudulent incidents that I have heard about in this
business, I will provide them in this blog. So be sure
to come back and visit with us often and subscribe to
our Global B2B updates so you will receive notice of when
these updates are published.

Until next time, I wish you the best.

Ron Coble
Coble International Marketing Services
Import Export Business Help Center

International Trade Center Newsletters

International Trade Center Newsletters: New and Improved - Inside stories, training resources and the background to some hands-on international trade
projects are all available here:
http://www.tradeforum.org/news/fullstory.php/aid/983/

International Trade Forum Online

International Trade Center's Trade Forum Online - Your Feedback, Our Views

Last year, intracen.org reoriented both their online and print versions of their Trade Forum magazine to reflect a more targeted focus for the advocacy of international trade. Check out the complete details at:
http://www.tradeforum.org/news/fullstory.php/aid/984/

Import Export Business Fraud and Scams - Beware

Most of this information has been provided by the FBI but I intend to add my own Cautions and Beware of's at the end for both your personal and import export business.

Let me begin by CAUTIONING you - Cashier's Checks or Bank Drafts can and are often fakes - so do not believe for one minute that just because they tell you it is a Cashier's check or bank draft that it is safe to ship your item or import export merchandise.

If you can answer "YES" to any of the following questions, you could be involved in a FRAUD or you are about to be SCAMMED!

1. Is the CHECK you received for an item you sold on the Internet, such as a car, boat or jewelry, etc?

Ron Coble Note: (RC Note) Checks can take up to 21 days or more to clear USA based banks and up to 30 days or more if drawn on a foreign bank. With full color printers it is very easy to fake a check to appear like it is legitimate and it could take 30, 60 or even 90 days for a check to bounce back from a foreign bank. Do NOT ship any merchandise until you know funds are secure and I personally "would not" accept a check from out of the country as payment for anything.

2. Is the amount of the CHECK more than the item's selling price?

RC Note: This is a very common scam but not one that many people are aware of. The scammers prey upon the kindness of people to help 'them' get more US cash back into their country by using this method by telling them how difficult it is to do this otherwise. They are also always willing to pay you the full asking price for the item you are selling with no negotiation - clear sign this is a fraud/scam.

3. Did you receive the CHECK via an overnight delivery service?

RC Note: This is a method to try and close the scam/fraud as quickly as possible and to also impress you on how they are true business persons by using overnight delivery.

4. Is the CHECK connected to your communications with someone by email?

RC Note: Remember on the Internet that anyone can pretend to be anyone and thousands of web sites offer free email accounts. Always beware of someone who is using a free email account as their sole email communications when it comes to any import export business or personal financial transaction.

5. Is the CHECK drawn on a business or individual account that is different from the person buying your item or import export products?

RC Note: The buyer could be using stolen checking account information and the other part of the scam sometimes involves an actual person residing in the USA who delivers the check making the scam look even more legitimate.

6. Have you been informed that you were a winner of a LOTTERY, such as Canadian, Australia, El Gordo, or El Mundo, that you did not enter?

RC Note: Use a little common sense here my friends, it's time to wake up from watching too many (un)reality shows and dreaming of a generous millionaire/billionaire coming to your door with a check.

7. Have you been instructed to either 'WIRE', 'SEND' OR 'SHIP' MONEY, as soon as possible, to a large U.S. city or to another country, such as Canada, England, or Nigeria?

RC Note: This refers back to my note above about the scamsters having accomplices living here in the USA. I am going to repeat myself here many time, please forgive me, but please USE YOUR COMMON GOD GIVEN SENSE and UNDERSTAND that IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE - IT IS!

8. Have you been asked to PAY money to receive a deposit from another country such as Canada, England, or Nigeria?

RC Note: This scam has been going on for almost all of the 18 years I have been in the import export business, yet each year I read about some trusting soul who did not USE THEIR COMMON SENSE who falls for this scam.
They used to do this by registered letters. I don't know how many wasted trips I made to the Post Office to sign for a registered letter that was from one of these scamsters. Many of them could be accomplished authors if they tried since they write these compelling stories about their husband, father, uncle etc. who was part of their countries government and how he was brutally killed and now their relatives need "you" to help them get the money out of their country.

There are 1000 different stories, they used to only come from Nigeria, then they began coming from all areas of the world. They went from registered letters to sending fax messages and then the goldmine of fraud came along - Email - free easy, they can now blanket the world with their net and it costs them nothing to lure in some poor unsuspecting person who simply got overwhelmed with the prospect of instant, no hard work wealth. Please, don't let it happen to you.

9. Are you receiving or being offered to receive PAY or COMMISSION for facilitating money transfers through your account?

RC Note: First, giving out your account information to 'anyone' is very, very dangerous. Once a person has your bank account information to 'supposedly' put money into your account, guess what, they can take money OUT of your account.

10. Did you respond to an email requesting you to CONFIRM, UPDATE OR PROVIDE your account information?

RC Note: Even I, after all my advice to everyone else, fell for one of these fake emails supposedly about our Ebay account. It caught me off my usual guard. It was early one morning, I was not quite awake yet and the email appeared to be legitimate, had eBay's logo, everything appeared normal. I clicked on the link and logged in. Luckily I had that gut wrenching and sinking feeling immediately upon doing so that I had just been had.

I immediately went to eBay's site by typing it into my browser window and logged in and changed our password to a 15 letter/digit one and prevented any further problems.

I did learn later however, that by clicking on the link in that email, I may have planted a spyware program on my computer which could record every keyboard click (including my passwords, userids, account numbers, etc.) and send that info back to the scamster who planted it there. Using a free spyware recommended by Cnet's Download web site, I cleaned up my computer from any possibility of this. Here is a link to Cnet's site you can copy and paste into your browser window:
http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10122137.html

MY PERSONAL FRAUD-SCAM PREVENTION REMARKS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Now much of what you will read on the Internet is written by paid writers, who in most instances have little or no actual experience or life experience with their subject matter. They write based on research they do into the subject and usually their writing is lacking in real life experience.

When it comes to Fraud and Scams, the comments I have already provided and am about to provide are from my personal experiences and only represent a SMALL fraction of those experiences.

Let me begin by stating in the last 5 years, our small business has experienced an explosion of fraudulent orders. I personally stopped my tally when we went over $100,000.

It has become so bad now that we receive 5 times as many fraudulent orders as we receive legitimate ones. It is probably much higher than that. I will not get into all the details here that help us identify these fraud orders, but will cover most of them in later posts.

The most important issue for me to cover in this post regards how vulnerable you are to fraud and how you can help 'possibly' prevent 'some' of it from happening to you in your import export business or personal life.

This post is getting too long and I am getting tired. I will revisit this subject in my next post with even more information specific to you and your import export business. Stay tuned and keep checking back for the next post.

Ron Coble
Coble International Marketing Services
Import Export Business Help Center

Export Financing - What Is It? How Can It Help My Import Export Business?

Export financing provides exporters who have procured orders from overseas customers with the financial backing they need to give their foreign customers the most competitive and favorable credit terms available.

Borrowers have a wide variety of export financing programs from through the wide range of funding options that can provide them with the flexibility they often require to decrease transaction costs and increase profits.

For more details, visit: Export Financing

Making Sense of International Trade Treaties

As international trade grows more complex by the day, the rules for international business also grow in number and complexity. How can countries with limited resources adopt and spot all the major trade treaties? And how can they get their interests addressed when new trade rules are drafted?

Learn how this relates to your import export business, read the full story at: http://www.tradeforum.org/news/fullstory.php/aid/940/

International Trade Treaties - Where Does Your Country Stand?

International Trade Commission has ranked 192 countries according to how many of the 205 major international trade treaties they have ratified. The treaties cover contracts, customs, dispute resolution, environment and products, finance, illicit trade, intellectual property, investment, transport, treaty law and WTO agreements.

For the complete story, visit the following web page:
http://www.tradeforum.org/news/fullstory.php/aid/939/

Meeting Small Firms' International Trade Finance Needs

Lending institutions in Asia and the Pacific are exploring how to meet small exporters financing needs in a new initiative spanning 27 countries. For the colplete story visit the following web page:
http://www.tradeforum.org/news/fullstory.php/aid/935/

Internet Marketing And Import Export Business

If you are to achieve the highest levels of success in your own Import Export Business, you should learn the basics of Internet marketing.

Building small, market oriented web sites can give you and the products you manufacture, sell or represent a huge boost over your competition.

Sending expensive, full color brochures by mail and/or other surface carriers does not even come close to having your own web site for those products or services.

Think about it? Your web site can be your 24 hour marketplace a world of potential buyers for your products or services. Using successful, proven Internet marketing strategies to get your web site in front of those potential worldwide buyers is the fastest method for you to build and grow your import export business.

Your web site does not have to cost thousands of dollars as you may believe. There are literally thousands, if not tens of thousands, of web sites generating hundreds of thousands (many millions) of new sales for their import export business owners.

Your full color brochures can be placed on your web site and downloaded to a potential customers computer on the other side of the world within minutes (if not seconds) of you placing it on your web site. Imagine being able to provide everything you would normally send by mail or express carrier to an international sales prospect within seconds by giving them a simple web site address or sending them a clickable link in an email.

Suppose your import export business markets a variety of products (diversification is something you really should do). You can establish one web site and have multiple products and your sales information about them posted to that one site.

You can use your web site to qualify your potential buyers. There is a method that is only reveled to our clients that will do just that. Your web site can help you eliminate the wasted time of following up with every person who decides they want to receive more mail or a free sample product.

This method was provided to us by a company that does millions of dollars a year in international business and has saved them thousands of dollars each year in reduced follow up costs and from sending free samples to people who were only interested in getting free stuff and had no real business intentions.

There are many Internet marketing resources available - I know, I have purchased many of them - my wife calls me an internet marketing information junkie (we all have our weaknesses).

Since our first web site was published in 1997, I have found two resources that stand out in the crowd. One is an internet marketing course that will help you discover the hundreds of ways to use a web site to promote your products and/or services to potential buyers around the world.

The publisher of this course provides over 300 pages of valuable internet marketing resources that are available to you free at their web site.

The other resource is a full web site building program that will help you or one of your employees get your web site started and published and promoted to your targeted audience. This proven internet marketing web site building program has helped thousands of small business people around the world to build their own web sites.

Many of these new internet marketers have generated hundreds of thousands in new sales for their businesses from a easy to follow program. Even the 15 year old daughter of the owner of this site building built a successful web site that generates several thousands dollars a month for her - so if a 15 year old can produce a site with it that generates thousands in revenue, you should be able to do the same (or better).

If you would like more details of these two programs, contact me at our web site and I would be happy to refer you to them.

Ron Coble
Coble International Marketing Services
Import Export Business Help Center

Import Export Agents

In telephone conversations or emails, I often have someone ask me, in a condescending manner, you just provide import export business resources, you do not actually do any exporting or importing?

If I am in a good mood (which I usually am) I will answer them that yes, I am currently and have been involved in international trade deals for more than 16 years now. There is currently one export deal I helped broker in 1997 that still pays me a commission several times a year for just a few hours worth of work almost 10 years ago.

I find it interesting that the people who ask this question would never think about asking a similar question of a professor of international business or a teacher at an actual sit down course. In most instances, these teachers have never actually received a check or been paid for helping bring an import or export business transaction to fruition, they simply teach about how others do it.

After years of being asked this question, I have found that it is basically a means of providing the asking party a reason to not get an import export business course (whether from us or anyone for that matter). They are excuse seekers looking for still another excuse to not act on their hopes and desires to start an import export business.

What most people do not seem to realize, especially in regards to the exporting business, is that you can be involved at many different levels.

The most extensive involvement is by an export management company (EMC as they are called) that actually buys the product from a manufacturer and resells it to their foreign buyer. The markup, after expenses, is their profit.

The EMC has complete financial responsibility for the goods, thus they have the potential for greater profits than others who are involved in an export business transaction to a lesser degree like an export broker or import export agents.

A broker will have much more involvement in the exporting business transaction (and often an ongoing one) than an export agent. An export broker will often carry out the negotiation, help the manufacturer arrange for shipping, insurance and other requirements and often continue to be in the loop of communications between the foreign buyer and the manufacturer that is supplying the goods they are brokering.

Import export agents often provide services similar to a broker but can most often be classified as a finder who brings two parties together (one selling a product and one seeking to buy a product). Import export agents are only paid upon completion of a transaction when their supplier has been paid for the goods they have shipped to the buyer they introduced to them.

Some import export agents work out deals where they are paid by both the buyer and the seller, these type of deals, however, are quite rare. In most instances import export agents are only paid by one of the two parties.

The great thing about being an import export agent or broker is how these type of deals can actually create a residual form of income (if they structure it correctly) as I mentioned earlier in this post regarding our 1997 deal.

Each level of involvement in an import export business deal warrants a different level of payment or profit.

Import export agents generally earn the least of the three levels mentioned above. As an import export broker or an import export agent, you should always have reasonable expectations for your part in the deal and be ready to accept a lower commission if it means the difference between your supplier making a much bigger deal or not. Remember, 5% of something is better than 10% of nothing.

The very best way for a person to become involved in the import export business is as an import export agent. Learn the processes by taking a good home study course so you have a basic understanding of how things work but initially you should focus on bringing buyers and sellers together (with an agreement to get paid by one or the other of course).

If, after a couple of years of working as an import export agent you decide you want a bigger slice of the profit pie, then be ready to get more involved in the import export business process. Ultimately, after these years of experience, if you find there is much more profit available by acting as an EMC, you will be prepared to do so through your self study and actual experience.

Bottom line, don't get hung up on the titles one assigns to you, i.e., broker, agent, finder, etc.. I simply say, call me what you will, but call me when I am at the bank deposting my latest check from a deal made 9 years ago.

Ron Coble
Coble International Marketing Services
Import Export Business Help Center