Caine Trading Limited - are they legit?

Hi im new on Salehoo, so im a little bit of a newbie.

I found this supplier/wholesaler:

CAINE TRADING LIMITED
The Granary Hermitage Court, Hermitage Lane, Maidstone, Kent ME16 9NT UK
Registered No.07036355
Contact Person: JOHN TIPTON
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+44 871 5032361 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              +44 871 5032361      end_of_the_skype_highlighting
+44 704 5712122

and i don´t know if they are legit, so i wonder if anyone can help and check this out ?

I've found a Chinese company trading under that name. Can you post the companies URL so we can be sure who we are looking for.

Cheers

Hi

I found the supplier here:

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but you can also find them here:

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According to the information I've found, the company is located in the UK, and it is registered here:

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However, I do not know if it is particularly relevant .

Hi uaoh22,

I chatted with John online at EC21. They do not have a website and can accept only Western Union - major red flags you shouldn't be dealing with this company.

Although they claim to be based in USA and can provide authenticity documents for the Apple and brand name electronic products that they sell, there isn't much to lean on once you cash gets sent through Western Union. It's impossible to get it back in case you find something not so right.

Hope this helps.

Yep, I would take Irene's advice for sure.

Take a look at this for contact details;
Caine Trading
[United States:aad293da]
Address:
12 The Granary Hermitage Court, Hermitage Lane Maidstone Maidstone ME16 9NT United States

Phone:
1-781-83566387

Contact name:
John T

That so called USA address looks like it is actually in the UK.

No doubt in my mind it's not a USA or UK operation, this one is most likely an outright scam. Reading the English, the extremely bad English they have written about themselves, my guess is China.

That ties in with the Chinese company I found earlier.

Take a read of what they have written about themselves.

We are caine trading operating since 5 year in the usa we are now ready to take our business worldwide bu supplying consumer electronics to the whole-world.
We have many branches across the globe and our major products is mobile phones especially the apple iphone and all apple products.
We brand new original and real apple iphone and all mobile phones in stock now.

Yeah I now see what you meen about the bad english.

Thanks to both of you, that was really good to know, i will not make any buisness with them.

If you could do me the favor, i found some other suppliers that i also could need som help to find out if they are legit.

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and

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Hi uaoh22,

I have not personally dealt with either of the suppliers you are asking about but here's what I have to say based on my quick search:

1. Link hidden: Login to view - I'm a bit doubtful about this company, I mean if you have an annual income of 500K-1M USD a website of your own would not cost much :) Also, I tried searching for their exact location on Google Earth but I could find the given address. I have sent Oliver St.Louis a message and I'm hoping he will reply soon. When he does, I'll let you know right away.

2.Link hidden: Login to view - They seem like a legit company and have been online since 2009. They are even a community adviser on 'The Wholesale Forum' with over a thousand posts, so I guess they are not scammers otherwise they would be recognized as such. Although I'm not too comfortable with the payment methods they accept - T/T (Telegraphic Transfer) & BACS (Ordinary Bank Transfer).

Here's a review I found that may be useful:

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Hope this helps.

Good investigating guys!

Glad you asked before you placed an order uaoh22; if there's one thing we can't stand, it's SaleHoo members being scammed by dodgy suppliers!

We have some really good information that you can check out about scams and scam prevention here:

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Thank you for your hard work Richelle, yeah i would like to hear what Oliver St.Louis has to say, and that review for Mobile Distribution Solutions LTD helped me alot, so thanks again.

Alice, thank you for the link/info, i will check it out.

No worries, uaoh22! We're are always glad to be of help.

This is what being a member on SaleHoo is all about :)

If you need help with anything else, please don't hesitate to post it here or email us at support@salehoo.com

Hope to see more of you on the forum ~ Cheers

Hi Richelle

I was just wondering if you've heard anything from:

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Hi uaoh22,

Been checking my mail everyday and so far nothing...

Just now, I tried sending a message again to make a follow up on the previous inquiry I sent. Apparently, he has blocked me from sending him any further messages. I guess he doesn't want to answer my questions about his product's authenticity and payment methods.

From my experience, legitimate suppliers will not block inquiries from potential customers.

Sorry I wasn't able to get more from him, I was really looking forward to his reply.

Cheers!

What a shame, apparantly you can´t trust this person, so im not going to do any business with him.
I appreciate your help very much.

I wonder if you can help me and check out this suppliers.

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and

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I'm sorry that I ask you to help me with all these suppliers, but I just want to have as many alternatives as possible.

Apparently so...

No worries, I'm glad to be of help uaoh22 :)

Both companies recently joined EC21 and don't seem to have a separate site. I have sent them both messages to inquire further. Fully they won't block me :) and will get back to our inquiries.

I'll update you as soon as I get a reply..most probably by Monday.

Talk to you soon!

Hi

Richelle

While we wait for a response from the other suppliers, could you help me and check out this one.

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it seems to be very good, but I'm a bit unsure.

Hi uaoh22,

I had a chat with one of their rep's Tomer and he couldn't address my request for documents to prove the authenticity of their products. He simply referred me to their source - The Foxconn Company who happens to be the official manufacturer of Apple's product (according to him)

I know seeing pictures of their Apple store makes it seem more convincing but I would not recommend this supplier.

Why?

1. Their site was created just last 30-Aug-2010. I couldn't find reliable feedbacks online most probably because their site is quite new. It is often best to deal with sites that have been online for at least 2 years.

2. They accept unsafe payment methods - western union, bank transfer and moneygram. They have a sister company Link hidden: Login to view that advertises PayPal on their accepted payments list but when I checked (through another chat with their rep, Jack) they do NOT accept PayPal. That's false advertisement - not a good sign.

3. They could not address my concern or need for necessary documents. Instead referred me to their source, but when I checked out the site of Foxconn I couldn't find anything that may connect them with Apple.

4. We all know the fact that Apple products are legally distributed through their authorized channels and I highly doubt this one is one of those legal authorized channels.

5. They are based in China, where 9 out of 10 times you'll get a copy when you buy a brand name product.

Hope this helps.

By the way, I still have not received a reply to my emails to the other 2 suppliers you asked about previously.

All the best :)

Hi Richelle

Thanks for the tip, i wont deal with them, and i wont look for chinese suppliers.

As you may have noticed, I am looking for Apple products, I know many people say it´s not possible to obtain these products very easily, but the thing is that I want to become an , "eBay PowerSeller" and many ebay power sellers sell this type of products like Iphones, and other apple products and they sell them in large quantities, so I don´t understand how they get these products if it´s so difficult to obtain and sell them. They must have a good profit, because they keep on selling these products. And that means that they got some great purchase price.

I wonder if you could help me find these products? Because there must be some way to find these products, it can not be impossible

Hi uaoh22,

Sorry just read your post today. China should be the last place on your list better yet remove China from your list when you search for branded products - electronics, clothing, accessories and the likes.

Everyone does seem to have a keen interest in selling Apple products. I admire your drive to become a PowerSeller but there are other ways other than selling Apple products :)

I see that like many you also think that electronics is a highly profitable market. Unfortunately, this simply isn't true. Electronics is one of the most competitive markets to sell on online especially on eBay where get to rub elbows with wholesalers themselves. The point is, the number of sellers present in the electronics market is deceiving. It's much more difficult to make money in this market than it appears.

However, if you really want to pursue selling branded electronics, below are some very canny sourcing and marketing tricks which you can use.

* Use liquidation suppliers to get bulk lots at prices well below wholesale.
* OR: Purchase from wholesalers in very large quantities (and when we say very large, we mean a spend of $200,000 or more) - this is how the big eBay powersellers do it.
* Increase your feedback and get powerseller status BEFORE entering the electronics market. This will give you more visibility in the search.
* Sell via your own website or your eBay store if possible, as buyers generally pay more from these venues than eBay.
* Add third-party extras and up-sells to your orders. These will help you bump up your margins to a much more acceptable level.
* Better still - consider selling accessories for electronics rather than electronics themselves. Accessories are very popular, have less competition, cost less to ship and have much greater margins.

The best source for Apple products is Apple themselves :)

Also, maybe this will help you with your goal of becoming a PowerSeller -

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All the best!