TRADELOOP

Tradeloop's Member Blog And News: April 2010

About Tradeloop

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We are the largest B2B marketplace for computer brokers, computer leasing companies, used computer wholesalers, third party maintainers and self-maintainers, who trade wholesale computer lots of used & surplus computers, bulk electronics, and hard-to-find used computer parts.

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Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Member Discussion: How Should We Handle Members Who Post Inventory They Don't Have?

How many times have you found what you need on Tradeloop and contacted the seller, ready to buy - only to find out they don't really have the product in stock?

That's definitely frustrating and it's also against the rules at Tradeloop to post inventory you don't have in stock. How do you think we should enforce it?

Naturally, we don't mean the member who just sold the part a hour before you called about it. Rather, we're focused on the chronic offenders. Tradeloop is a trading community - not a place for people to advertise inventory they don't actually have.

We're discussing options internally, and we'd like your opinion too:
  1. Should it be an Ethics violation?
  2. How should we police it?
  3. Should we ban someone for it or just delete their inventory?
We urge you to comment here at the blog so other members can review and discuss options. Tradeloop is a community: we want member input before we implement new features and policies.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

World Data Products - Saving Customers Money With "Hardware Life Cycle Management"

Since 1987, World Data Products has been an industry leader in reselling and leasing refurbished, used, and new server, storage and network equipment. The company specializes in refurbished hardware customized to the needs of individual customers. By providing "factory fresh" product that's been fully tested, World Data Products has built a loyal base of over 4,000 customers– from corporate IT managers to government agencies.

Marketing Manager, Jim Keister, credits the company's long-term success to its emphasis on customer service and ability to help customers stretch their IT budgets:
"World Data Products works with all stages of 'hardware life cycle management.' We help customers plan for both short and long-term needs. Often, we can offer better and less expensive alternatives to the hardware a customer was considering at first."
World Data Products maintains a multimillion-dollar inventory and managing it is one of the company's biggest challenges. That's one reason the company has been a Tradeloop member since 1998, he says:
"We use Tradeloop as a buying and selling resource. We're always looking to Tradeloop to buy components we need. When we're running low on inventory, we can quickly find it there. Likewise, it's a great place to move our excess inventory"
The company often has inventory to sell because of its long-term customer relationships, Keister explains. When hardware has reached the end of its usable life, World Data Products purchases the old system and helps the customer plan for upgrades. "We help customers plan a new system, manage the hardware through its lifecycle, buy it back later, and plan a new system. We help the same customers with multiple hardware life cycles."

Planning and system customization are the major attraction to many customers, but World Data Products offers other services as well. Keister says they offer added value without adding to the price:
  • Industry-certified technicians and partnerships with other certified companies all over the country.
  • The ability to help deploy or install hardware.
  • On-site analysis of customer needs.
  • Overnight replacement of parts needing repair to minimize customer downtime.
That last item is hardly ever a problem, he notes, because the company's failure rate is less than 1%. Keister credits the "crack technical team" at World Data Products:
"The key is testing and attention to details. When we sell a product, it's like it came from the factory. Maybe even better, because most factories don't test each individual unit and we do. "
Twenty-three years of industry experience has taught the company the value of long-term customer relationships and Keister stresses that World Data Products is committed to helping its customers "get more for less."
"Our success is due to our customers' loyalty. They keep coming back because we provide warrantied hardware at savings of up to 50% over new. We save customers money because we supply hardware that's as good – or better – than new and have the experience needed to help customers define their hardware needs."
Does your company have a story to tell? Contact us at Tradeloop if you'd like us to profile your company.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Non-Tradeloop Member Banned After Ethics Committee Reviewed Two Complaints

Tradeloop's Ethics Committee voted to ban non-Tradeloop member company, Si Tech, after reviewing a pair of complaints filed in March against the company.

In complaint #5068, the complainant alleged that Si Tech provided forged wire transfer documents for a shipment. In complaint #5070, a different complainant alleged that Si Tech misrepresented the condition of a shipment of hard drives and hadn't been responsive to efforts to resolve the issue.

Tradeloop staff and Ethics Committee members tried to help the parties resolve the issues amicably. Everyone involved used the Ethics blog format to present the facts and forcefully defend their positions.

In international diplomacy, the debate would probably be termed a "frank and forthright exchange of ideas." An elementary school teacher might call it a "verbal food fight."

What's your opinion? Both cases have been posted to the community for review and we invite Tradeloop members to visit both case #5068 and case #5070. Click on the Members tab to add your comments.

Do you have experience with this company? Please share your story with others at the Ethics blog.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Members Must Verify Contact Information To Access Tradeloop Site

Tradeloop members should update their contact information whenever their phone number or email address changes. To protect the community from fraud, we block access to the Tradeloop site for any member with unverified or incorrect contact information.

Updating your contact information is simple. Just log into your Tradeloop account, select the "Sub-Accounts" link under the "Account" tab, and click on the "edit" link next to your account information. Enter your updated information and save it.

We've issued two Fast Track Fraud Alerts warning about attempted identity fraud just in the past few weeks. It's more important than ever for Tradeloop members to keep their information correct in the system and be alert when setting up deals - particularly with non-members.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Identity Theft Warning - Person Posing as Keystone Memory Group

We issued a Fast Track Fraud Alert to the Tradeloop community after Sherri Sheerr of Keystone Memory Group notified us that someone was using her company name to attempt to purchase printer cartridges on credit.
Beware:

A person posing as Mike Metelitsa, of Keystone Memory Group is
trying to purchase equipment from people using the employee and
company's name, but bogus email address and phone number.

View the details here:

Case 5072
http://www.tradeloop.com/ethics/cases/case.cfm?id=5072
We urge all Tradeloop members to verify company information when a Tradeloop member contacts you to set up a deal. A few minutes of due diligence can save hours of frustration. For example, this fraud attempt contained two red flags:
  • An inaccurate phone number: The phone number is a toll-free number that is different from the number posted in Keystone's member profile and on the company's Web site.
  • Suspicious email address: The fraudster used an email address hosted at Earthlink.net, instead of KeystoneMemoryGroup.com. There's no reason for a Keystone employee to be using an email not associated with the company.
Tradeloop's Fast Track Fraud Alert system allows us to quickly alert the community to fraudulent companies and activities like this one. Use this contact page to alert the Ethics Committee to fraud and request a Fast Track Fraud Alert. Tradeloop and the Ethics Committee will receive your communication immediately, review it, and may post the warning to the community.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Faster Loading Pages at Tradeloop's Web Site

You may have already noticed that many pages on Tradeloop's Web site are loading more quickly in your browser. We removed some Javascript and third-party images from below the footer to speed up the pages.

They delayed the site loading due to extra DNS lookups and image downloads. And their usefulness was limited because they were so far down on the page that most members never noticed them.

Our technical staff is continually making changes to increase the Tradeloop site's efficiency and performance. Even small changes like this improve the site. Watch for even bigger changes as we roll out some important new site features and upgrades later this month.