Beware of scam practices in the coconut charcoal briquette market. Certainly. In recent years, there has been an increased interest in eco-friendly and sustainable products, including charcoal alternatives like coconut charcoal briquettes.
Unfortunately, with the rise in demand for such products, scammers have seen an opportunity to exploit unsuspecting buyers.
There are variants of scammer tricks that you should know and identify in deep dive. Because with analyzing scammer behaviors or plans, you can protect your money from burning out and have secure cooperation.
Let’s analyze and deep dive into scammer smart tricks:
These types of scammers are the one who sells fake products and claims themselves as legitimate suppliers. And after you buy products from them, they run the money without giving you any single briquettes.
This is the most basic and old trick in the scam world, most scammers who do this are low-class scammers.
There are often appear in the marketplace, or sometimes email you with nice words and look professional.
They sell coconut briquettes at a cheap price per Metric Ton and offer you with best quality.
You can sometimes see them on Alibaba, Amazon, and many more marketplaces. With low ratings and unprofessional stores.
But beware also, some scammers already start their journey to build a website, and sell it at a low price for about USD 600-700 to attract your intention. And after that, they will convince you to buy briquettes and run.
Most of them make excuses by saying “We have a cheap price because we have our farm of coconut trees, we not buying from other parties”
If the supplier said that, then they are a scammer. Because they do not know the coconut briquettes business at all.
Suppliers must buy raw coconut from other parties or farmers to get their supply needed, lots of suppliers buy directly from scavengers. It’s impossible to have your own coconut trees farm and get the supply needed for tons, if tons are hard, logically it does not make sense if they can supply dozens of tons.
And then let’s talk about the price, if they sell you coconut briquettes for only USD 600-700, it also does not make sense.
USD 600-700 is a price range for natural charcoal, either from hardwood or coconut shells charcoal. If they sell coconut briquettes for that low price, then it is impossible. Because coconut briquettes suppliers also have factories, warehouses, and machines to do the production.
Logically, if coconut briquettes that made from the factory have the same price as natural coconut shells charcoal, then it must be a scam.
Even coconut briquettes that build from home-made or not with machines, also still do not deserve to sell for USD 600-700.
“Scammer who never sells charcoal” Characteristics:
1. Sell products at a cheap price, about USD 600-700 per metric ton
2. Not understand the coconut briquettes product
3. Not understanding the coconut briquettes business
4. Make excuses by saying “We have a cheap price because we have our farm of coconut trees, we not buying from other parties”
5. Often appeared in the marketplace, some of
These scammers have a trick of winning the tender business and sweepstakes, this scammer is targeting not just importers, but exporters as well.
This scammer often comes by emailing you, with words that look professional and so formal.
From our experience, we got an email from FAKE ECOWAS, because REAL ECOWAS does not have a business, they are a governmental association in Nigeria.
We got an email from scammers, and they told us that their association needs a supply of briquettes for hundreds of tons as soon as possible.
They will do a selection of suppliers, suppliers who can produce in lots of amounts, and at cheap prices, and the best quality will be chosen to work together in the near months.
They offer our business to bidding online, hiring their lawyer, etc. After winning, we have to transfer money for “registration needs” and bank management before doing the exports.
We know that is a scam trick and we already report it to the official Indonesian government services from the Ministry of foreign affairs which also collaborates with ECOWAS directly.
So, this bidding tender board will also do the same tricks for you.
If they target importers, they will not scam you with government association names, but with company names.
The most thing that you need to be aware of is that they will require you to pay money with excuses of “managing bank” or “registration” etc.
Some of them also provide a link that is dangerous for you if you click it, they will hack your device and will know every information about you, including privately.
The link sometimes has a long link, and it has lots of numerical code. Commonly the link has .txt in it and it’s not an official link such as a link by Google, youtube, or any other platforms.
Bidding scam characteristics:
1. Government association names (especially for targeting exporters)
2. Have a tender board and bidding
3. Required you to pay for registration, managing banks, etc.
4. Cheap price
5. Provide numerical links or unofficial links (not from Google or another platform)
6. Not understand the coconut briquettes product
7. Not understand the coconut briquettes business
This last scammer is not by pro scammers but by traders or suppliers themselves.
Scammers who scam the product with quality fails, it means that they sell the products to you with the best quality, but then they produce a quality decrease of charcoal briquettes.
This can be a little complex because you already know that the agent/supplier is competent, you maybe get samples from them or visit the factory, but when it’s a deal they do scams like these.
This is ironic because their purpose is to gain your trust and ruin it in the end. And it’s hard to analyze their characteristics.
But a few tricks can maybe be the best to know their characteristics, and that is to know their credibility and guarantee.
Maybe if you want to monitor the production directly, you can visit the factory when they do the production until it’s finished.
Or you can create a guarantee that is made in the quality settlement, and the guarantee is not just about a proof of production, but also to be a proof of standard quality.
Unprofessional suppliers will be scared if they do a quality agreement because they have bad quality control and also cannot do their scam plan.
Unprofessional suppliers will reject to do quality agreements, and we recommend you go away from suppliers like that.
Professional and trusted suppliers are not scared at all, but they also INVITE you to do a quality agreement, so they can gain your trust.
Sometimes they propose before after discussion and agreement have been made, they will put the agreement to the quality settlement.
And this type of trust will give you a secure transaction and also business corporations, sometimes this is needed for you who want to work the first time with your first/new supplier. Because it will protect you from scams.
But if you already work several times with your supplier and already trust them, this agreement is not required. Some importers even do not make quality settlements, because they already really really trust their supplier for years.
Product guarantees can be created in quality settlement contracts. it can be an agreement for quality standards.
It also can be a sanction if the supplier
have a decreased quality such as having more moisture, more ash content, less calorie, etc.
This will make your product quality consistent. Because suppliers will have to make routine quality control for checking their specifications.
In Littlebriquette, we can do this quality settlement, and a professional supplier will not scared to agree with this agreement proposal.
We also have a “Product Guarantee Letter” which means we already have a product guarantee policy that you can see before we make the quality settlement contract.
You can say agree or disagree with our letter, and if we as both parties already discussed and agree on what the discussion is, we will write the agreement for the quality settlement after you do the first payment.
Many suppliers just make the quality settlement without needing you to be involved, but with us, we can prepare our quality guarantee agreement before the settlement has been made. And the agreement will be written if the first payment has been send.
However, we share our “Product Guarantee Letter” only with serious customers, as it’s not available for free.
If you order coconut charcoal briquettes from us and they don’t meet the promised specifications, we’ll either replace them or give you a refund.
Our quality control is from Sucofindo Surveyor, one of the best local surveyors. And it says that our product’s moisture and calorie have a 98% of consistency, this rarely happens in other factories.
If you want to see our Product Guarantee Letter, we have to see how much serious you are and how much further our step is. Because our letter is not for the public, and for security to not get taken by our competitors.
Let’s work with trust and mutual benefits together.
If you want to order coconut charcoal briquettes from us or want to consult with us about your coconut briquettes business problems, feel free to tell us on WhatsApp at +6281774125277 or littlebriquette@gmail.com
How to Safely Ordering Coconut Charcoal Briquettes Online – When ordering coconut charcoal briquettes online for imports, prioritizing security and guarantee is key.
Ordering coconut charcoal briquettes online for imports involves several important steps to ensure a secure deal.
If you never visit your supplier factory, only see their website, or maybe do a call, it is good, but it’s not enough.
We recommend you also come to their factory, meet your supplier/agent face to face, and see their factory and products, so you can have trust in them.
But we also understand importers that maybe cannot come to visit the factory, they only can see their supplier online, and hope they are not scams and the quality meets their standards.
So, if you want to order coconut briquettes online, and want to have a secure corporation, then you can do this several things:
Because you cannot visit the factory and see products directly, then it’s a must to order a sample.
Before purchasing a pack of coconut charcoal briquettes, it’s important to ensure that the quality, shape, and size of the briquettes meet your expectations.
If you don’t have time to visit the factory, there’s an easier way to check the charcoal’s quality without going to the factory. It simply orders some coconut charcoal samples.
Maybe the issue here, is order sample can be not effective for your cost. Because some of them say Air Freight cost is too expensive, but this is a long-term benefit for you to have a good product selection and also a prepared business project.
We have a DHL membership that can give you a shipment discount of 30-40% because we actively send samples and export to several countries, so we have this kind of privilege. This allows you to afford samples with less money.
So if you want to order a sample with less money, you can contact us in
+6281774125277 or littlebriquette@gmail.com
An international sales contract is an agreement between a buyer and a seller that identifies the parties in the transaction, the goods or services being sold, the terms and conditions of the sale, and the price to be paid.
What’s the Difference Between an Invoice and a Contract? The main difference between an invoice and a sales contract is that a sales contract involves an agreement between two parties, where one party sets out the terms of the agreement and the other party accepts the terms. While the invoice is more of a document proof of product quantity, and payment bills.
In the sales contract, there are many aspects that both parties should talk about and negotiate, such as:
1. Terms of payment
2. Terms of delivery
3. Force Majeure
4. Guarantees
5. Etc
This sales contract is for protecting you from unwanted things by the exporter. So if you make a sales contract, you will have legal protection that can save your import process.
Most of the sales contracts are made by the exporter and the contract has to be agreed with both parties (exporter and buyer).
You can discuss more about the sales contract agreement with your supplier, you can analyze every point of the sales contract that exported provide.
If you are new in the charcoal business and want to import, I recommend you hire a lawyer. So you can identify the sales contract in more detail and have a secure and safe agreement for the business deal.
Because sometimes customers worry to agree with a contract, some of them cannot analyze it in more detail. And have a fear to get scammed, so hiring a lawyer is the best for handling your guts for protection.
Quality failure is the majority fear for importers, especially for those who have already been in the charcoal business for a long time.
Some of them purchase products, but then the quality does not meet their standard, or they do not get the exact product quality when they do a sample.
If you are worried about this, then a Product guarantee is the solution. Because if the product is not meet your standard, then with a product guarantee, the supplier has a required sanction whether replace the products or give you a refund.
If the supplier run, then you can report it to the authorities to be followed up. With a product guarantee, everything will be secure and safe.
Product guarantee can be created in quality settlement contract. it can be an agreement for quality standards.
It also can be a sanction if the supplier has a decreased quality such as having more moisture, more ash content, less calorie, etc.
This will make your product quality consistent. Because suppliers will have to make routine quality control for checking their specifications.
In Littlebriquette, we can do this sales contract agreement, and a professional supplier will not scared to agree with this agreement proposal.
We also have a “Product Guarantee Letter” which means we already have a product guarantee policy that you can see before we make the quality settlement contract.
You can say agree or disagree with our letter, and if we as both parties already discussed and agree on what the discussion is, we will write the agreement for the quality settlement after you do the first payment.
Many suppliers just make the sales contract without needing you to be involved, but with us, we can prepare our quality guarantee agreement before the sales contract has been made. And the agreement will be written if the first payment has been send.
However, we share our “Product Guarantee Letter” only with serious customers, as it’s not available for free.
If you order coconut charcoal briquettes from us and they don’t meet the promised specifications, we’ll either replace them or give you a refund.
Routine video updates mean always giving you videos for the products, and processing until the product is already put in the container.
If you do not have a deal yet, you can request your supplier to do a recent drop-test video for your consideration. You can request to ask for 1 video with 5 to 10 samples for drop test, this will make you know the products in the factory and also can know the face of your supplier.
Also if you do not have a deal yet, you can request a video to them about explaining each of their products to you.
You can do this in video calls, but in video calls, you cannot see the record effectively. So maybe you can request a video to explain the products, and maybe do a video call for a deep conversation.
Professional suppliers or traders will accept this and give you the video right away, while unprofessional suppliers sometimes reject this and do not want to be bothered.
But sometimes they can be busy as well so you need to understand. But professional suppliers will accept the video no matter what for their customers, if he’s busy, they can ask their staff to make it.
If you already make a deal, then you can request a daily video to give updates about the production and do a drop test with just one briquette for each day.
Professional suppliers will not get headaches to do such things like this, it’s easy for them. While unprofessional suppliers will not want to, or maybe he will do it but with half of the spirit.
The main thing is, everything in the supplier authority, you can request a video if that feels helpful. Because suppliers must understand a secure process is valuable to every importer.
