Low prices are good, but if the price is TOO low, then stay away. It IS too good to be true. I'd like to tell you about one company that I recently had a meeting with that might open your eyes to how some online operations run. I won't reveal the name of this business, but I will tell you how they are designed to operate so that you can avoid them.
The sales strategy goes like this:
1. Offer a crazy low price on a piece of electronic equipment.
2. Receive online orders.
3. Inform the customer that there is a problem with their order.
4. Customer will contact customer service.
5. Customer service is actually a salesman who will up-sell accessories at grossly marked up prices.
6. If customer declines up-sell offer, they are informed that their item is on back order for 3-6 weeks.
If you want to have an idea of how badly these accessories are marked up, I saw the actual data. A part that cost this company $21 to purchase was marked up to $229. If they offer it to you and you don't buy it, they delay your order. They don't even have the intention of fulfilling it.
After my meeting with this company (they want my company to build a new website for them) I looked up BOTH websites that they run on a consumer review site. Their overall rating: 0.15 out of 10. WOW! 500 reviews. If you consider the people who get burned and don't say anything versus the people who do: they've burned a hell of a lot of people. DON'T be one of those people.
Now, I'm not saying "buy only from popular dealers" because my company supports a lot of the unknown dealers who are just trying to make a name for themselves. Just be wary of the GREAT DEAL you're getting. This potential client might not make our salesman bat an eye but for me, and the account executive that has to deal with them, and some of our business partners who help us with projects... we'll be uneasy if we have to aid this company in scamming the public. One partner who I've already talked to has stated that they have refused to work with companies like these in the past.
I'm actually surprised that I wasn't more aware of this activity before. I've been working in e-commerce for a while now and I've suspected it happening, but never really got involved. Now I know first hand. I'm just warning you all.
DIGG THIS