DID YOU GET RIPPED OFF AGAIN?

DID YOU GET RIPPED OFF AGAIN?

Research and development are a part of my daily mail order business

life. It is extremely beneficial to you and your business to be well

informed of what is going on around you. If you are a mail order

business and you don't have at least 7 or more mail order tabloids in

your mail box each week you need to get on more Big Mail lists. You

could even have a 1-inch ad typeset that simply said: "Big Mails

Wanted. All Offers Considered. Mail to: (your name and address)"

Advertise this ad in mail order publications and be flooded with mail

from other dealers. Read, study, read, study and study some more.

Build your mail order education free.

As you begin reading and studying these publications, you will read

about people that rip-off others. Rip-off schemes will be exposed

through many of our fine, mail order writers. You will be shown just how

these rip-offs make their money and how you can be on the lookout for

others who come along offering the same rip-off service.

You also will learn valuable lessons and hear advice from other people

who have been ripped-off. You will learn that something that sounds

too good to, be true, usually is. Now don't get me wrong. One time a

well-known, honest mail order dealer ran an ad where he offered

people FREE advertising to 1,000 if they simply returned the ad they

were reading. If I didn't know this dealer personally, I would normally

shy away from the ad. I would probably think this was "too good to be

true" and there was likely a catch to it. Since I didn't want to waste my

time, I might pass up this ad. However, the ad was TRUE to it's word

and worth the effort to respond. However, this is only one isolated

incident.

A good rule of thumb for protecting yourself, your business and your

money is to write a personal letter of inquiry before ordering the

product or service. If you get a chain letter that claims to bring you

$50,000 in 30 days, write to some of the people on the chain letter.

Ask them if they've made their $50,000 yet! See how many people

respond!

How about that full-page ad in Small Business Opportunities that

promises you the secret to making $100 with 2 sheets of paper? It

has to be legitimate, right? I mean, it's in a national publication and it

shows their picture and the actual bank deposits! Can it be true? NO!

The person in the picture may not be that person at all. How will you

ever know? Are you going to drive to their house to check them out?

How do you know these are really true bank deposits? Anyone can

alter forms to make figures appear to be more than they are. The only

reason this person advertised in this national publication was

because they had the money to place the ad. Somewhere in Small

Business Opportunities it will state they are not responsible for any

claims made by the advertisers. Just because the ad appears in this

publication does not mean the publisher endorses this business!

Spend the time to analyze the mail order products and services you

are considering purchasing. Want to locate a good mail order printer?

Send them a small order OR write them a letter. Enclose a self-

addressed-stamped-envelope (SASE) for their reply and simply ask

them to send you one (1) page they have printed so you can

determine their quality. If they don't respond when you have taken the

time to enclose an SASE, they won't provide good customer service.

I've read horror stories of people who tell about their rip-off

experiences. Some people even admit to having been ripped-off

several times. One lady claimed to be ripped-off by the same

company 5 different times! Sorry, but that was HER fault! While there

are many legitimate reasons why someone gets ripped-off, the

majority of them can be avoided by using common business sense.

During the last several months, a lot of dealers have complained

about the new kind of rip-off artist. This person runs an advertisement

in a publication offering a certain item. They ask the customer to send

$1 or stamps for more information. When the customer responds,

what they receive has absolutely nothing to do with the product

depicted in the original ad.

If you get angry and write a letter back to them of your complaint,

normally the advertiser will not respond. This costs you time and

postage! It's a lose-lose situation for both parties. Rather than the

advertiser taking the time to build a business relationship with an

interested customer, he or she turns them away. If the advertiser had

taken the time to respond to the mail they would reap a lot more

financially! It's insane, but some people actually operate this way.

The best way of combating these types of rip-off artists is to expose

them through mail order. Write a letter to a publisher and tell them to

warn others of this company. Keep a list of people who rip you off (in

one form or another) with a detailed record of the date and reason for

your complaint.

After you have accumulated a few of them, type them up neatly on a

sheet of paper and sell copies for $1 or include free in your mailings

as a "free gift." It's always best to try and re-coup some of your money

while still warning others of these rip-off artists.

It's up to you to combat these shady businesses. If everyone does

their part, mail order will become better and better. Although mail

order is still dominated by honest, sound and reliable dealers; there

are still people getting ripped-off financially on a daily basis. Please

join us in stomping out these bad eggs so we all can enjoy much

better profits and increased sales.