I am hoping you can help me? I made a mistake purchasing three pallets of electronics from what I know now to be a merchandise broker. Four weeks ago I wired $2300 to a broker who was supposed to sell me three pallets of assorted electronics from Best Buy. I paid $550 per pallet with the balance of the payment to cover freight. Two pallets arrived last week and they are garbage! Not only was my third pallet missing, but the items contained within the two pallets were totally misrepresented. The electronics came from a different store, not Best Buy! This broker now ignores all of my calls and emails. What can I do??
Ouch! That hurts..I feel really bad for you. If it makes you feel any better, please know that I have experienced purchases like this myself. I devote a chapter within our program, The Liquidators Guide, where I chronicle step-by-step instructions for liquidation purchases that go wrong, but let me give you a couple of things to do:
I would venture to say that the broker who you bought this load from does not list his address on his website, correct? Sometimes you can cross reference a domain name to find a corresponding physical or mailing address for the registrar. This is done by completing a “whois” search. Go to the Network Solutions whois page and enter in the brokers web address. It’s a fifty-fifty shot, but well worth trying. Once you enter the domain name hit search and see if an address comes back. If the domain was not registered as private, an address will be returned that you can use as another means to track down the whereabouts of a broker.
Once you have the brokers address file a police report within his city or county. Call the department and tell them you would like to file a report by fax. Make sure to get their fax number! Write all details of the transaction down including all contact information you have for the broker; explain in detail why this transaction was fraudulent. Once you have faxed the report, call the department within a week or so to get the actual police report case number.
Take detailed photos of the merchandise, especially photos that will prove you were defrauded. The old ‘bait and switch’ tactic comes to mind; you were sold one thing, but delivered something totally different. Transactions such as this are wire fraud; you can report wire fraud by visiting the Internet Crime Complaint Center. The ICCC, a joint operation between the FBI, National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) and the Bureau of Justice Assistance, is an organization dedicated to fighting and wiping out cyber-crime, such as wire transfer fraud.
Again, I’m sorry you are dealing with a potential loss. I hope you can salvage some of the merchandise and recoup a large portion of your investment.
Oh, and one more thing…..you can buy pallets direct from Best Buy removing the broker from the equation. Check out our guide for more information.
