How to Protect Yourself from Online Shipping Scams

Dec 20
19:21

2019

Nancy Whitman

Nancy Whitman

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Global shipping is by nature, a complex industry, which is why freight forwarding companies exist. They assist business owners with all the finer aspects so they can instead put their time and effort into managing the most important elements of their companies. Sadly, business owners sometimes make the mistake of hastily committing to what they believe to be a ‘great deal’, only to find themselves swindled in the process. Here is a list of top tips for helping to protect yourself from falling victim to corrupt companies and their deceptive practices.

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1) Search the company’s name

One of the quickest ways to investigate the legitimacy of a company,How to Protect Yourself from Online Shipping Scams Articles is to perform a simple search for the company name, using a search engine. If the company is suspicious and is known to be fraudulent, chances are, you’ll be able to find numerous posts on the subject that have been submitted to popular online forums such as Reddit and the like, by business owners like yourself.

2) Be mindful of customer feedback

In cases where a potentially dubious freight forwarding company has posted promotional material, such as a YouTube video or other online page about themselves, be sure to carefully read through the customer feedback. Often times, people won’t leave a comment if their experience with a particular business is positive, as people expect it to be good anyway. It’s only when something has greatly disappointed, angered or upset them, that they will be compelled to leave a message. Such negative replies provide an excellent insight into the true nature of a business.

While freight forwarding service providers (Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne) may not have reviews left for them on popular business rating sites, such as Trust Pilot, if you take the time to comb through feedback on other sites, blog posts and various business directory listings, you may begin to notice a familiar pattern of scathing comments. If so, then it’s wise to avoid them.

3) Beware of bargain-priced freight forwarding companies

When it comes to most products and services, the old saying “you get what you pay for” holds true. Many business owners find themselves in hot water after they’ve made the decision to go with a freight forwarder, purely based on their ‘affordability’ and what they see as a smart way to save themselves some money in the short and long-term. While freight forwarding service rates (air freight, sea freight) are undoubtedly important, especially for business just starting out and who don’t have an enormous amount of funds, they should never be the only deciding factor.

Other tangible qualities such as high level customer care and extensive industry experience are both essential. If the freight forwarding company doesn’t excel at both, then opting to go with them could prove to be a disaster. In most instances, if a company’s quote is significantly cheaper than all of the competitors, then it’s a case of “too good to be true”. Business owners lured by the cheap prices will almost always discover that the service is either a) a scam or b) littered with expensive charges that weren’t disclosed during initial contract talks.

4) Inspect their testimonials section

Every company under the sun is naturally going to claim that they’re a reputable outfit and the best choice for getting the job done, but the only way to be truly certain is to check out their testimonials section. Any freight forwarding company worth doing business with will have at least several good testimonies from past clients that have done business with them. If they’re unable to produce any reliable references, then selecting them could prove very risky.