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DONT LET SUPPLY PIRATES SCAM YOUR BUSINESS
Have you ever gotten a phone call from a sales person offering you great deals on all kinds of office supplies? Have you ever noticed that they seem to know a little about your business and the exact supplies you sell and need? They tell you that they have a one-time deal on mis-shipments or overstocks of copier toner, paper, and other supplies. These callers, known as supply pirates, offer you special prices on their goods that in the long run can cost you up to 10 times more. According to the National Office Products Association, more than $50 million is lost to these pirates annually. These callers are professionals and know exactly how they can keep you on the phone and steal your money. Here are some ways you can tell when a caller is a supply pirate. Some tip-offs include:
- A refusal to provide their phone number for you to call them back.
The use of high-pressure tactics.
- The insistence on ordering now to "beat a price increase," take advantage of a special offer that's "about to expire," or reserve "the last few remaining in stock."
- Instant payment requests: offers to have someone pick up your payment or insistence on cash-on-delivery shipment.
- A "free offer" followed by a requirement to pay for something, such as a processing fee or handling charge.
- An unwillingness to provide bank or customer references.
These pirates are very sneaky and convincing and often business owners cannot identify some of the points that were stated above. There are some precautions that you can take to protect your business from being ripped off:
- Check with your local authorized office products dealer before buying anything.
Centralize purchasing under one person or department.
- Never feel pressured or obligated to buy on the spot.
- Do business with companies you already know, and do some research on those you do not know... look for references from reputable sources.
- Do not accept shipments that you did not order.
- Do business only with your authorized dealer and with a person at the dealership you know. Scammers often call pretending to be from your regular dealership.
- Make sure that all your employees understand your purchasing policy and are aware that only designated persons may authorize delivery.
- Do not give office equipment model and serial numbers to anyone over the phone. Toner pirates will use the information later to convince someone at your company they are the legitimate dealers.
- Buy only Genuine Sharp-brand Supplies from your regular dealer.
The best way to avoid being ripped off by a smooth-talking telephone con artist is to remember: "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is."
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