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Setting Up The Blog

Friday, September 3rd, 2010

Setting Up The Blog, And All The Fun It Wasn’t

Well, what can I say? Setting up this blog has proven to be easy in some ways, but extremely difficult and annoying in others.

A Few Hours In To Stting Up The Blog

A Few Hours In To Setting Up The Blog

I’ve tried so many different skins for the forum, it’s starting to become tangible, and I feel like I’m changing my own skin, in a weird chameleonic way, and now I’ve started to hate themes.

Sour grapes, of course!

I’m discovering simplicity is what one needs, when dealing with themes. Those themes that throw up a “Home” tab, but then you can’t find a page called “Home” anywhere on your site, and which have bugged the hell out of me for seemingly endless hours.

In the end I found the current theme, and felt it provided me the easiest route into establishing a blog on which a) I could operate with relative ease, and b) where visitors could navigate their way with equal ease.

It’s all so crazily addictive, as I find myself sitting here like a man possessed, trying to figure this whole thing out, as I miss my meals, and unwillingly drag myself off to the toilet, afraid something will happen to my set-up. Perhaps I’ll buy some of those underwear being sold in Japan, into which you can calmly pee, and then later empty somewhere?

Still, one sore bottom, one splitting headache, twenty-three cups of ‘Pu-Erhtea, and fourteen trips to the toilet later, I have a working blog!

I must look like a junky by now (I feel like one), what with my waxy, wan, drawn face, and my bulging staring eyes ogling the screen, whilst my hands shake and tremble from massive tea ingestion.

I think I can safely stop now, and take break before putting in any further additional content.

I’ve just been to the window for a quick look outside. A storm is brewing, as is evident by the very thick and low cloud, bring visibility right down. The sky has that electric green-grey look to it; and one has the feeling that should though anyone light a match in the city today, they would ignite the whole thing and we’d by wiped off the map.

Get the Canary and the cage!

And freak of freaks!

After getting the site just how I wanted it, I then thought to myself that my URL was just a tad too long. So, I thought I’d try and move it to another directory, which didn’t work, then I moved it back, and something got lost, and I buggered the whole thing up, and had to start again.

There has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

At 44, having survived a multitude of physical and mental calamities in my life, I find myself almost broken by my …. Blog… Aghh…. Sob.. Sob…

Then, on the positive side, I have learned a lot, and now get to have my blog with a greatly reduced URL.

Choirs Of Heavenly Angels, Replace The Wailing Of Banshees In My Head!

Choirs Of Heavenly Angels, Replace The Wailing Of Banshees In My Head!

Yes, folks, that’s life!

Sometimes it really does give you what you want. Just not in the way you wanted or expected it.

Still… Destination reached, and goal achieved, from the darkness comes the light.

Now all I have to do is put back all the content I’d so wisely saved.

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Originally posted 2009-06-23 14:49:56. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Popularity: 13%

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China’s Money Mules – And Why You’ve Lost It For Good

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

China Scam – Money Mules – And Why You Will Never See Your Money Again.

I’d like to point out to you, in very clear and marked terms, just why it is you will never see your money again, should you happen to lose to a scam in China; particularly those of you who lose money to companies whilst trying to buy iPhones, Nintendo, etc. Last week, I wrote about Mr. Stefano Carboni’s apparent involvement in the money mule scam; that is, getting other people to transfer funds through their personal bank accounts, as a means of laundering it to a final destination. Then only this week, I discover, through certain of my contacts here in China, the reason you won’t ever see your money again is based on similar grounds. Here is how it works: There are approximately 300 million agricultural workers in China, and approximately 40 million migrant workers travelling from city to city in attempts to find some kind of living. So, no shortage of potential mules! A quick review of salaries in China may provide you with a glimpse at the motivation behind the actions I’m about to describe.

A Chinese Farmer

A Chinese Farmer

In 2007 the average farmer in China earned around 4,140 RMB (Yuan) or approximately $605 USD per annum; the average salary for a construction worker in China is approximately 1, 064 RMB (Yuan) or $122 USD per month; whilst the average factory worker is earning around 1,100 RMB (Yuan) or $ 160 USD per month. As can be seen, by the above figures, the 300 million farmers in the agricultural sector earn less than 30% of what construction and factory workers can earn in a year. This fact is widely known in China, and it is to this sector of the community that the scammers go with their offer. So, what is their offer? It’s very simple, actually. They say to the peasant farmer, something along the lines of, “Look we have all these foreign clients, but we don’t want to pay tax and stuff, and so we need an alternative account for the funds to be transferred to, as a means of avoiding the tax. You open a bank account for us using your ID, our foreign clients transfer funds to it, and then move the funds on to another account, the details of which we’ll give you (usually Taiwan); and we’ll pay you a nice fat commission, and you and your family will be much better off. Your child will be able to go to a better school, and then on to university, and the whole future of your family will be changed for the better – forever.” Of course, from Taiwan, the money is then transferred to other destinations. So, the peasant, knowing a good thing when he or she sees or hears one; and who is always willing to make extra money for the family, says, HaoDe!orHaoLe! (Good! or Fine with me!). I mean, why wouldn’t they? People in the West do exactly this when they get involved in fake cheque scams, and act as money mules for a variety of mafias. In actuality, the Chinese peasant farmer, quite probably has a better excuse than the greedy money-grabbing buggers in the West, who regularly sign up for this kind of business, as their lifestyles are a millennia apart, and is clearly documented and attested by many more than myself. So, personally speaking, I can’t really blame them; you make your own decision on that. Anyway, of course, eventually the whole thing gets tumbled, and the account closes, and the scammers recruit another peasant farmer, and start the whole operation again, with barely a blip in their action. The previous peasant farmer account holder is questioned by the police, and the police learn nothing, as the peasant farmer was him or herself duped anyway, and has absolutely no idea of the true identities of the people they’ve been dealing with. And, naturally, a physical description isn’t going to help much. I understand that to many foreigners, everyone may look the same here, but, that isn’t true, of course. People here do have very distinct personal physical attributes. However, without wishing to sound racist, and by sticking to reality, whether it pleases us to do so or not, the general physical characteristics are certainly much of a muchness; in as much as hair, skin, and eye colour, or whether he or she looked like an East European, had a certain Latino appearance, or shocking red hair and green eyes. I mean, can you imagine the interrogation of the peasant? Policeman 1: So, what did this man look like? Peasant: Well, he was maybe 30 years old, about 5 feet 6 inches, had short black hair, yellow skin, slanted dark brown eyes, and a wide or flat nose. Policeman 1: O.K., So we can rule out all the women and men under 30 years of age in the country. That just leaves the rest of the population. Hold on! What Kind of accent did he have? Peasant: He sounded like he came from Henan Province to me. Policeman 1: Ah ha! From Henan you say. Well, that’s a lucky break for us, as there are only 100 million people in Henan. So, if we discount all the women, that brings us to about 70 million males. O.K. that’s god, that’s good… Then we discount those under 30 years of age. and those above 40 years of age… Let me see… Yes…, that leaves us with only… Great Scott! Only 21,000,000 men to search through; By George! We’re on to them now. You can tell Mr. Stupid Bugger in England, that we’ll soon have his $300 dollars back for him. Policeman 2: But, Sir. What if the perpetrator doesn’t live in Henan anymore, and is living… well… …somewhere else in China? Policeman 1: Damn it, Caruthers, you’re right! Stop that telegram to Mr. Stupid bugger in England. Now, (He paces the room thoughtfully, clenched fist, arms folded and thumb to top teeth, looking into nothingness on the floor before him) Mmmm… yes… Yes, this really puts the cat amongst the pigeons. I think this may take a little longer than I at first thought. And that’s it basically.

A Submarine In Your Bathtub

A Submarine In Your Bathtub

That’s why, if you lose your money here, the chances of you  ever seeing it again, are about the same as you taking a bath, and a nuclear submarine surfacing in it, raking you with machine-gun fire, stealing your rubber duck, submerging, and then going back to base for debriefing, a plate of hot and crispy cod and chips (fries) with brown sauce, washed down with a warm cup of  hot cocoa, and all before bed-time. Now, if you’re sensible, then you’ll go back to the OLD FASHIONED WAY of doing things, and hire an agent, like me, to protect your interests, and to ensure that you don’t find yourself taking a bath with a submarine. The choice is yours. You’ve been warned. Again! Safe Trading!

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Originally posted 2009-08-13 04:05:42. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Popularity: 13%

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More Anti-Scam Tips

Tuesday, August 31st, 2010

Further Tips On Dealing With China.

Here are a few extra notes on safely sourcing products in China, from the Safely Sourcing China blog. Learn what you can from your prospective ‘supplier’s’ website, or lack thereof.

Web Presence.

Firstly, if they don’t have their own website, drop them like a hot rock. That includes those “companies” in possession of the rubbish little “pages” on Alibaba, etc. No Domain – No Hope! Although, personally I do know of companies in China who are real, but their marketing sucks so badly they haven’t managed to organise a web presence. But, I’m a graduate of the ‘better-safe-than-sorry’ school, when it comes to this particular aspect of doing business in China. If your prospective “supplier” owns a website, then check that the area code, given in the contact section, matches the postcode, or town or city name, given in the address. You can check postcodes here. If they don’t match, drop them like a hot rock. The following mobile telephone prefixes will allow you to determine which mobile telephone network is being used by your “supplier”, in case you need to connect with the service provider, to check if the number is still working, when calls fail to be answered  by the person you’ve gone sent your money to, whilst failing to perform any of the checks given here. The service provider name follows the prefix number. 130/1/2 . - China Unicom, 133 . – China Telecom , 1340 -1348 China Mobile, 1349. – ChinaSat, 135/6/7/8/9. - China Mobile, 150. – China Mobile, 151. – China Mobile, 152. - China Mobile, 153. -China Telecom, 155. – China Unicom, 156. – China Unicom, 157. – China Mobile, 158. -China Mobile, 159. – China Mobile, 185. - China Unicom, 186. – China Unicom, 188. – China Mobile, 189. – China Telecom. You can visit this very nice page on WikiPedia for a more complete listing of area codes by major municipality and province. If they don’t have an address on their contact page, forget them. After all, if they aren’t willing to disclose their address, then you must ask yourself a one word question – “Why?

”.

On The Subject Of Addresses.

My business is registered in a residential property, as we are a Small Office Home Office (SOHO), as we neither manufacture, store, stock, and we very rarely have business visitors; due to the fact we supply nothing more than ‘information’, we go out to visit Chinese companies, and our foreign clients are just that – foreign, and live abroad, and so we needn’t waste money on having an actual office. My computer is my office. However, someone claiming to manufacture, stock, or supply must have an office, for the same reasons I don’t need one. An office will normally be in a building with a name, for example: Room 602, Floor 5, Great Dragon Bldg., Haidian District, Beijing. Whilst a SOHO, like us, will run as above, but minus the building name, and is indicative of a residential area.

About Us.

If they haven’t included and about us page in their website, or it is very sparse, then drop them. Obviously, if they have little to say about themselves, there’s a reason.

Google Them.

The next thing to do is Google their company name + scam, and also their company URL + scam. That alone should give enough of a heads-up on who you’re dealing with.

Mono-Lingual Websites.

Finally, as mentioned in my previous article Quick Checklist For How To Spot A Chinese Scam Site, if the website is devoid of Chinese, and only has an English language page, the chances are they’re scammers. Well, that’s it for today. Trade Safely!

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Originally posted 2009-08-13 02:44:16. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Popularity: 18%

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What Can Happen If You Lose On A Deal In China?

Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010

What Can You Expect To Pay For CIETAC To Arbitrate For You, Should You Lose On A Deal In China?.

So, you lost out, and were skinned and scammed by a company in China, and now you want to go to arbitration to get back what you’ve lost, as well as getting some justice from the “evil doers“, as Mr. Bush might say. So, what’s it going to cost you? Well, the following is the CIETAC fee schedule for their arbitration services, which I’ve converted, as near as possible, to the corresponding USD values. Now, remember, when you choose to go into arbitration you agree to abide by the arbitral outcome. That is to say, that should the judgement go against you then all of the following monies tabulated below, will be lost to you on-top of your actual current losses. And don’t go confusing Western Jurisprudence with that of China; it may very well go against you. Remember, this is another risk. As clearly stated beyond the main table, there may be further “arbitration fee(s) according to this Arbitration Fee Schedule, the CIETAC or its Sub-commission may collect other extra, reasonable and actual expenses pursuant to the relevant provisions of the Arbitration Rules.” Meaning, that whatever you’re charged in the initial schedule may also include further fees levied to your account to the value of 1,500 USD per additional charge, per additional “reasonable and actual expenses pursuant to the relevant provisions of the Arbitration Rules.” Of course, even should you win, the defendant may still hold you up by delaying payment for a variety of reasons, and causing you to resort to CIETAC again, at further expense, which you will then have to get CIETAC to levy back against the defendant. Or, of course, they may just shut up shop and disappear. This kind of tactic wouldn’t necessarily be unusual. Now, let’s just take a look at a bare-bones example, without the extra fees, and see what we’re talking about here. We’ll take the lowest level in the schedule as an example, and this is just waving the stick a little, to get an idea of how things could go. So, you lost $150,000 to a company somewhere in some province, in China. You go to CIETAC, and before anything happens (and at this point I think it only fitting to mention that there is about a 9 month backlog with CIETAC) you are charged a fee of $5,250, plus the $1,500 registration fee, which is charged at all levels. Therefore, you’re current total is now $6,750, and you’ve just finished the registration process alone. Then there will be charges for phone calls, letters, and transport costs for an examiner to visit the defendant or their place of business, hotel costs, living cost etc. So, let’s just consider transport, living, interview, and visitation costs. Let’s just call that another $3,000, and remain in the conservative area of things. That would bring you up to around the $9,750 mark. Then there’ll be the weeks and months of back and forth, hither and thither, as nothing in this vein happens either quickly or directly in China. In the meantime, you may see your charges rise by another $3,000, before you even get close to an arbitral decision; and by which time you will have shelled out, on top of your $150,000 loss, another $12,750, and you’ll be sweating and hoping it all goes your way, or else you’ve lost your initial loss of $150,000 plus another $12,750. So, are you shaking in your boots? Quivering with anger and frustration? You should be! Before I present you with the CIETAC arbitration fee schedule, allow me to tell you that there’s another way around this, and that is – PREVENTION.

Your China Trading Partner

Your China Trading Partner

Very simply, you can contact us at Your China Trading Partner, and we’ll make a factory visit, do your Due Diligence, and arrange for your goods to be checked before leaving port. For us to go visit the factory, and to have your goods checked at port before shipping, will cost you approximately another $850 to $1,000 on top of your costs; whilst of course, on our factory visit we’ll get your supplier to agree to the insertion of the CIETAC Arbitration Clause in your joint contract, and which states: “Any dispute arising from or in connection with this Contract shall be submitted to China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission for arbitration which shall be conducted in accordance with the Commission’s arbitration rules in effect at the time of applying for arbitration. The arbitral award is final and binding upon both parties.” And thereby, offer you a little extra protection; additionally, of course, you can include in the terms of your L/C, that monies will not be released until goods have passed random quality checking, at their exit port prior to shipping. Now, here’s a final question for you, before I introduce you to that fee schedule. Doesn’t it make a lot more sense to spend another $850 to $1,000 on top of your costs, as insurance against the nightmare of losing your investment, and then having to go to arbitration with CIETAC? I’m a little tired of hearing about all these losses, when I know that even if they can’t be completely dissolved, they can, at the very least, be seriously mitigated. But, we live in a cost-cutting global mentality, and have done since the Thatcher and Reagan years; and people are silly enough to even cut costs on their insurance and investment security. This is precisely the kind of mentality that makes dollars for the scammers, and no cents to me? Does it make cents to you? Get the pun? Now Here’s That Fee Schedule for you.

China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission

ARBITRATION FEE SCHEDULE (This fee schedule applies to the arbitration cases accepted under Item 1 and 2 of Article 3 of the Arbitration Rules, and becomes effective on May 1, 2005)

Amount of Claim (USD). Amount of Fee (USD).
150,000 USD or less. 3.5% of the Claimed Amount, minimum 1,500 USD.
150,000 USD to 750,000 USD. 5,000 USD plus 2.5% of the amount above 150,000 USD.
750,000 USD to 1,500,000 USD. 19,750 USD plus 1.5% of the amount above 750,000 USD.
1,500,00 USD to 7,500,000 USD. 30,700 USD plus 1% of the amount above 1,500,000 USD.
7,500,000 USD or more. 90,000 USD plus 0.5% of the amount above 7,500,000 USD.

Each case, when being accepted, shall be charged an additional amount of $1,500 as a Registration Fee which includes the expenses for examining the application for arbitration, initiating the arbitration proceedings, computerizing management and filing the documents. Where the amount of the claim is not ascertained at the time when application for arbitration is handed in, or there exists special circumstances, the amount of arbitration fee shall be determined by the secretariat of the CIETAC or its Sub-Commission. Apart from charging arbitration fee according to this Arbitration Fee Schedule, the CIETAC or its Sub-commission may collect other extra, reasonable and actual expenses pursuant to the relevant provisions of the Arbitration Rules. Safe Trading!

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Originally posted 2009-08-13 05:48:30. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Popularity: 17%

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