Research and development are a part of my daily Internet business life. It is extremely beneficial to you and your business to be well informed of what is going on around you. If you are an Internet or mail order business and you don't have at least 20 or more email tabloids in your mail box each week - you need to get on more Big Mail lists. Read, study, read, study and study some more. Build your Internet or mail order education free.

As you begin reading and studying these publications, you will read about people that rip-off others. Rip-off schemes will be exposed through many of our fine, email writers. You will be shown just how these rip-offs make their money and how you can be on the lookout for others who come along offering the same rip-off service.

You also will learn valuable lessons and hear advice from other people who have been ripped-off. You will learn that something that sounds too good to be true, usually is. Now don't get me wrong. One time a well-known, honest mail order dealer ran an ad where he offered people FREE advertising to 1,000 if they simply returned the ad they were reading. If I didn't know this dealer personally, I would normally shy away from the ad. I would probably think this was "too good to be true" and there was likely a catch to it.

Since I didn't want to waste my time, I might pass up this ad. However, the ad was TRUE to it's word and worth the effort to respond. However, this is only one isolated incident.

A good rule of thumb for protecting yourself, your business and your money is to write an email or even a personal letter of inquiry before ordering the product or service. If you get a chain letter that claims to bring you $50,000 in 30 days, write to some of the people on the chain letter. Ask them if they've made their $50,000 yet! See how many people respond!

How about that full-page ad in Small Business Opportunities that promises you the secret to making $100 with 2 sheets of paper? It has to be legitimate, right? I mean, it's in a national publication and it shows their picture and the actual bank deposits! Can it be true? NO! The person in the picture may not be that person at all. How will you ever know? Are you going to drive to their house to check them out? How do you know these are really true bank deposits? Anyone can alter forms to make figures appear to be more than they are. The only reason this person advertised in this national publication was because they had the money to place the ad. Somewhere in Small Business Opportunities it will state they are not responsible for any claims made by the advertisers. Just because the ad appears in this publication does not mean the publisher endorses this business!

Spend the time to analyze the mail order products and services you are considering purchasing. Want to locate a good mail order printer? Send them a small order OR write them a letter. Enclose a self-addressed-stamped-envelope (SASE) for their reply and simply ask them to send you one (1) page they have printed so you can determine their quality. If they don't respond when you have taken the time to enclose an SASE, they won't provide good customer service.

I've read horror stories of people who tell about their rip-off experiences. Some people even admit to having been ripped-off several times. One lady claimed to be ripped-off by the same company 5 different times! Sorry, but that was HER fault! While there are many legitimate reasons why someone gets ripped-off, the majority of them can be avoided by using common business sense.

During the last several months, a lot of dealers have complained about the new kind of rip-off artist. This person runs an advertisement in an online publication offering a certain item. They ask the customer to send $1 or stamps for more information. When the customer responds, what they receive has absolutely nothing to do with the product depicted in the original ad. If you get angry and write a letter back to them of your complaint, normally the advertiser will not respond. This costs you time and postage! It's a lose-lose situation for both parties. Rather than the advertiser taking the time to build a business relationship with an interested customer, he or she turns them away. If the advertiser had taken the time to respond to the mail they would reap a lot more financially! It's insane, but some people actually operate this way.

The best way of combating these types of rip-off artists is to expose them through the Internet. Write a letter to a publisher and tell them to warn others of this company.