Great financial tips to ensure you make more dollar

When it comes to shopping everyone wants the most value for their money. The idea is to pay as little as possible and receive as much as possible in return. Smart shoppers know that cheap pricing does not always translate into the most value for your dollar. Something that seems like a phenomenal deal could turn out to be a nightmare. Buyers can find themselves saddled with products of inferior quality or poor customer service.

Shoppers searching for cheap magazine subscriptions are especially vulnerable. Magazine circulation numbers (the number of people who subscribe combined with the number of magazines purchased at the newsstand) have been steadily declining for years. The increasing number of magazine salesman and retailers factored with the combination declining sales has created an environment of intense competition for customer dollars. Sellers competing for the shrinking pool of consumers shopping for magazine subscriptions have resulted in prices that are at an all time low.

Unfortunately, meager profit margins have led some magazine subscription sellers to list low prices only to deceptively find other ways to raise the cost of the subscription. While there are great deals to be found for cheap magazine subscriptions, customers should look for these common tricks used to raise the cost of a subscription by dishonest retailers.

Added Shipping Costs

If a magazine seller has added a shipping cost to the total price of a magazine subscription, beware. Publishers ship magazines to customers free of charge, and the cost of shipping is included. When magazine sales agents remit payment to publishers, they are not paying added shipping costs. The added charge is an attempt to increase the price of the magazine while trying to make the added charge seem legitimate.

Automatic Renewal

Though the initial price of the subscription may be low customers may find themselves paying retail the following year when their credit card is charged automatically, often without their knowledge. Sellers, interested in repeat business can use deceptive practices in securing customers. The automatic renewal may be buried within the companys terms of service and once you make a purchase from them, you have automatically agreed to the terms of service.

Such companies may also fix the language of the offer to make it seem like an added convenience for you, so that you do not need to worry about missing your favorite magazine. It does not take into account that you may not want to continue receiving the subscription after the initial term is over. It is important to read all information provided and to request information not readily made available. Magazine sellers must disclose automatic renewal information to customers.

Processing Fees

While charging a processing fee for each magazine or order placed in not technically wrong, customers looking to purchase cheap magazine subscriptions should add up the costs to see if there have actually been any savings after these so called processing fees.

For example, a subscription to Wired Magazine could be advertised for $1.99 per year. Once the customer tries to purchase the Wired Magazine subscription they find that in order to receive the price of $1.99 per year, they must pay a small processing fee of $7.99. The reason for the fee varies from seller to seller. It may be termed a membership fee, and the truly dishonest hide behind the guise of charity. The Wired Magazine Subscription would cost $10 in total, the same price the publishers of Wired, Conde Nast requires sellers to charge for the subscription.

In the end the consumer saves no money at all, but has been lured in by the thought of purchasing a subscription that seems incredibly cheap. Here is another situation where a customer would be wise to find out all information before making a purchase.

The tricks used by some companies are not uncommon. Investigating a companys reputation before making a purchase can give potential customer a measure of added comfort. If typing a companies name into a search engine brings up a host of complaints, or if checking with the Better Business Bureau produces a list of unresolved complaints customers would be better served to take their business elsewhere.

Customers should contact sellers with any questions they may have concerning pricing or any other issues related to the sale of the magazines they are interested in. Good practice would be to keep a record of all customer service related correspondence, including all emails, faxes, etc. as well as the names of the customer service representatives corresponded with. Just in case the search for cheap magazine subscriptions doesnt work out, the consumer will have some recourse in gaining a refund in the end.

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Are you tired of getting charged or invoiced for a directory listing you never placed? What about those purchase orders for supplies you never even ordered. Well guess what? You are not alone.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nations consumer protection agency, says that businesses,churches, fraternal and charitable organizations are losing millions of dollars a year to bogus firms that mislead them into paying for unordered and unwanted directory listings.

According to the FTC, con artists trick an organizations employees into providing a name and address so a deceptive seller can bill the organization for an unordered and often useless business directory listing. These scammers often pretend to verify or renew a companys existing directory listing. Employees often provide the information, because the scammers claim theyve done so in the past. The scammer then send as many urgent invoices as it takes to get paid, sometimes including a useless directory, sometimes not. They create confusion and count on an organization paying to avoid their hounding.

If and when this happens to you refuse to pay, the scam sellers may try to use high-pressure tactics, like threatening you with legal action. They will offer you a phony discount and claim that it’s a deal. If you received a directory they may allow you to return it (if you pay the shipping costs) but insist that you pay for the listing. These directories are usually worthless and are rarely distributed as promised. In any case if you pay for the listing, you will then receive additional invoices from the same scam artists or from others who have bought your organizations contact information.

Do some research if you are considering a listing in a legitimate business directory. Call the Better Business Bureau in your community or the publisher. Ask the company for a previous edition of the directory (or the websited for the online directory) and for documentation about distribution. It is okay to ask advertisers in previous editions about their experiences with the directory. Finally, close the gaps in your purchasing procedures and alert your staff to these scams.

Train your staff in different ways to respond to telemarketers. Remind your employees that they cannot make the decisions to order supplies. They should say something along these lines, Im not authorized to place orders. If you’re interested in selling us something, you must speak to so-and-so and obtain a purchase order. There should be two teams established: one that includes the employees who buy and receive merchandise; the second team pays the bills, and develops buying procedures. You should be skeptical of unsolicited calls. Let your staff know to say no to sellers who use high-pressure tactics. If you are mildly interested, ask the suppliers to send a catalog.

If you receive merchandise verify that the merchandise matches the shippers bill of lading and your purchase order. Pay special attention to brands and quantity, and refuse any merchandise that doesnt match up. If everything is in order, send a copy of the bill to the accounts payable department. Dont pay any supplier unless the invoice has the correct purchase order number, and the information on the invoice matches the purchase order.

The FTC suggests some steps to cease paying for services you didn’t ordered. When ordering services, make sure that purchase orders are electronic or in written form, or both. The suppliers name should be on the purchase order and there should be a P.O. number on the invoice. You can request for the buyer to send a copy of every purchase order to the accounts payable department.

Finally, you should know that you do have rights. If you receive supplies or services you didnt order, you should not have to pay but dont return unordered merchandise either. Treat any unordered merchandise as a gift because it is illegal for companies to ask you to send back the merchandise even if they offer to pay for shipping. It could be possible that the seller made a mistake, but that is usually not the case. It is also illegal for a seller to send you bills or notices for merchandise you didnt order.

When it comes to certain kinds of business-to-business merchandise sales there is protection. The FTCs Telemarketing Sales Rule regulates phone sales of non-durable office or cleaning supplies to businesses. Non-durable supplies are those that you routinely order, for instance, copier toner, or maintenance supplies. According to the FTC, telemarketers must tell you its a sales call as well as whos doing the selling before they make their pitch. By law they must tell you the cost of each item and then a total of the order. They mustr also tell you if there are restrictions, and if a sale is final or non-refundable.

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