I’ve been trying to connect Nigerian buyers with a U.S manufacturer (of personal care products) for almost 5 months now. Some buyers show interest, but when they see they need to pay before the products are shipped, they no longer show interest. I feel they think it’s a scam, (i don’t blame them) but I also think they should know better (based on catalogs and price lists provided).

If they want to determine if the company is legit, they can simply google the company’s name and visit the website themselves.

In fact, they can go on Los Angeles’ Fictitious Business Name website to search if the company’s name is already in use.

I can also provide the company’s recent article of corporation. After doing all these, I believe anyone who’s still not convinced they are dealing with a legitimate business has serious discernment issues.

I’d appreciate any advice on how to go about selling the products.

Thank you.

to prove your point, you have to make a purchase for yourself or family member first so that you have an evidence that it works. thats how i started; goodluck to you

I agree with advice given you. You can't convince anyone to buy anything from another country for that matter when you haven't done so yourself. Get the products for yourself and see how it goes.

I appreciate your advice (neksummi, buzor); I'm considering that, but I'd have to travel to Nigeria.

I'm surprised that a Nigerian can lose about $50,000 to a Chinese scammer (who provided little evidence to know the business exists), but Nigerians can't believe a fellow Nigerian abroad who can provide verifiable information about the company they are dealing with: that's an unsettling reality.

People, I need more advice. I need ideas on how to sell personal care products without having to go to Nigeria in person.

the easiest way will be to have local partners\repesentatives here in nigeria with the products at hand\in stock. it's hard for someone to release money based on trust alone without any assurance that you can get hold of the the other person\business or their assets should something go wrong.
people just need to be assured(evidence) that their transactions are secured.

get a representative here in nigeria, send some product samples to him/her and the rest will follow. Most pple will not pay u for a product they have not seen physically.

I fully agree with okeyxyz and mekula, when it comes to business "Nobody trusts nobody" there are scammers all over the place. Get a representive in Nigeria to demo the products for you, seeing is believing.

I've been trying to find an exclusive distributor in Nigeria for a shaving razor and surgery razor company (a different company) for almost 6 months; and it's been really difficult.

I figure it's way more challenging to find a representative. Does anyone know about a representative and distributor?

okeyxyz, mekula, kokorunna, I appreciate your advice; I guess the challenge is to find a representative that'll accept 2% sales commission.

P.S: I'm still looking for a distributor for the shaving and surgery razor company.

Thank you.

There is the possibility that you may have been marketing to the wrong category of people, A case in point may just be someone marketing video games to the old and aging, whereas they should have done their marketing to children and youths. Why not use Facebook's Contextual and Targeted Advertising.

Hope4pple:

I’ve been trying to connect Nigerian buyers with a U.S manufacturer (of personal care products) for almost 5 months now. Some buyers show interest, but when they see they need to pay before the products are shipped, they no longer show interest. [b]I feel they think it’s a scam, (i don’t blame them) but I also think they should know better (based on catalogs and price lists provided).[/b]If they want to determine if the company is legit, they can simply google the company’s name and visit the website themselves.

In fact, they can go on Los Angeles’ Fictitious Business Name website to search if the company’s name is already in use.

I can also provide the company’s recent article of corporation. After doing all these, I believe anyone who’s still not convinced they are dealing with a legitimate business has serious discernment issues.

I’d appreciate any advice on how to go about selling the products.

Thank you.

I think they are just used to the traditional transaction model- cash and carry, thats one of the reason online business dont thrive as much in nigeria, i remember my cousin trying to sell a phone on here and someone told him to send it first to see it

another issue is some people are not serious, they usually are very interested in everything and anything they dont have the money for it, they dont have the market for it, but they might see it as a sure banker- some just want to get it to start a business without putting anything down
all those 'self employement gurus'

Best advice it to get a range of samples to Nigeria- if you are on ground market it yourself to distributors especially those with shops or similar business already and those that can atleast show some seriousness

Or get someone to do the marketing for you then you seal the deals in US

many time wasters abound, you just have to look in the business section of NL, the drop their emails and telephone numbers without anything to offer

Yeah, I think so too. Nigerians are reactive Internet Marketers, the sooner we start acting proactively, the better for everyone of us. Our Fire Brigade Approach to everything we do is not helping us in any way.