Leaders Stores/Ladislav Hantke/"eBay Reseller Opportunity" BEWARE! INTERNATIONALLY SUCCESSFUL EBAY AUCTION SCAM TAKES THE MONEY AND RUNS!! Munchen Nationwide
Hi,I'm just writing to warn anyone thinking of becoming an eBay seller or anyone who already sells and is trying to find a new way to get inventory,as well as buyers who may run the risk of getting caught up in this as well. THERE IS A SCAMMER ON THE LOOSE WHO HAS ALREADY MAKE ALOT OF MONEY BILKING EBAY SELLERS AND THEIR BUYERS!
I was contacted by "Leaders Stores" in response to a resume that I had sent them through Careerbuilder.com (who has since removed Leaderss ads due to complaints),and offered the opportunity to resell products for them on eBay (I was to place the listing with a markup price of my choosing,collect payment from buyers,and transfer Leaderss share of payment to their bank account,and they were to then ship the items to my buyer.The process is known as dropshipping, which is a perfectly legitimate practice,if you're working with a legitimate dropshipper.)
After doing what I believed to be a thorough check on Leaders in as many anti-scam sites as I could find (including Rip Off Reports and the BBB),I asked for and received a contract from them via email,which I then signed and digitally photographed, emailing the digital image of my signature on the contract to them. I subsequently reserved 24 Sony Cybershot DSC-F717 digital cameras for resale,listed them and collected payment from most of my buyers via PayPal. I then transferred the amount necessary to pay Leaders for the shipment of the cameras that had been paid for to my bank account (in three separate transfers;one on the night of Tuesday,July 29,2003, and two on Wednesday,July 30,1003). From there I was to transfer payment to their account.
Fortunately,a buyer asked for a refund,stating that it was against eBay policy for me not to disclose in the listing that the item was being dropshipped. As Leaders had asked specifically in their contract that our dropshipping arrangement was not to be discussed with buyers unless there was a problem,I checked eBays Sellers Central message board to see how other sellers handled such a situation. There I found a message posted about a dropshipping scam being perpetrated by a company that sounded remarkably similer to Leaders.
I emailed the poster of the message,as well as to other sellers who had had contact with the fraudulent dropshipper mentioned in the message,and emailed Leaders several times about the possibility of having payment transferred instead to an escrow account,so that they would not receive payment until my buyers received their products. I received an email back from the message poster confirming that the fraudulent company was in fact Leaders Stores and Leaders never responded to my emails regarding escrow, so I had to issue refunds to my customers (which,thanks to PayPal,took over TWO WEEKS).
One of my buyers for this auction is a police detective and he has been helping me to track down these con-artists.(BTW He has also gave me 2 pieces of advice which I will pass on here:1. Don't buy from anyone who will only accept a Western Union money transfer [W.U. is untraceable]and 2.If you're using escrow, only buy through an eBay recommended escrow account,as some sellers have tried to get buyers to use phony foreign escrow accounts.)
I have also alerted the FBI's Internet Fraud Division. Judging by the emails I have received and the message board posts I have seen,"Leaders Stores" have already conned many sellers and buyers out of hundreds of thousands of dollars,and will continue to do so until stopped.They have even begun to hack into users accounts to post auctions selling contact information for a supposed resale opportunity. The contact information leads directly back to Leaders Stores itself. Also,please be advised that they may not be using the same name,email address or m.o. as before(I had complained to America's Job Bank myself when I saw it there and got their ad pulled, but have recently seen a job listing that sounds only slightly different.)
Although I have lost only a minimal amount of money in this transaction,I feel I have lost two things far more important to an eBay seller: my credibility and good reputation, and my history of customer satisfaction. So,I'm warning everybody: If you apply for a job with a "dropshipping company" based in Germany,or if you are contacted by "Leaders Stores",please report them. DO NOT AGREE TO SELL ANYTHING FOR THEM! DESPITE THE "PROFESSIONAL" FEEL OF THEIR CONTRACT,PRICE LIST,ETC.(which are VERY professional looking at first glance),THEY HAVE A LONG HISTORY OF TAKING PEOPLE'S MONEY AND HAVE NEVER SHIPPED A SINGLE ITEM!!
(If you think this sounds familiar to you,or you think you may have been contacted by Leaders,please feel free to email me through the rebuttal key and I will be happy to forward over copies of their contracts,etc. so that you can compare them with what you have.) And buyers: before you buy any electronics equipment,etc., please ask the seller if the item is being dropshipped and if so, ask if they have had a long-standing good relationship with their shipper. So,far as I know,this person is still conning buyers and sellers. Thanks! Jenni
Jennifer
Newtown, Connecticut
U.S.A.
Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on ebay
5 Updates & Rebuttals
VS
WisRapids,Wisconsin,
U.S.A.
I have been contacted by these people... here's the contact info they sent.
#6Consumer Comment
Wed, October 15, 2003
Mr. Stefan Anderson
Staffing/Managment Group
Obermeyer Stores, Inc.
Eggenfeldenstr 109, Munchen, Bavaria, 80330 Germany
Tel: 436 76424 2486
I got the exact same contract posted here. So obviously they are still out there. Good luck
Jennifer
Newtown,Connecticut,
U.S.A.
REALLY WEIRD! Leaders Stores/Obermeyer has same bank acct# as european charity ESPID!(LONG)
#6Author of original report
Mon, October 06, 2003
Hi,again. Thanks to the very helpful lady who posted the first reply to my original post, I was able to compare the pre-contact paperwork from both Leaders and Obermeyer, and I am 100% certain, despite the fact that the "job description" has changed, that Leaders Stores and Obermeyer are one and the same. I tried searching on iwon.com for their phone# and came up empty,but when I put in their bank account number, I came up with a site for a European charity called ESPID (European Society for the Study and Prevention of Infant Death, NOT the similarly named ESPID- European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases). This page can be found at: http://www.espid.net/bank.htm On the page it said that you could become a member of ESPID by transferring your dues to their German bank account,and their bank account number is EXACTLY THE SAME AS LEADERS/OBERMEYER(#010 3420 396).(The bank on the site is listed as Bank Berlin,and in Leaders'/Obermeyers' paperwork,it's Bank Hanover, and I'm not sure how German banks are run, but I've never heard of two different organizations having the same bank account#,have you?) I will be adding the text copy of Leaders pre-contract paperwork to the end of this post, so that if anyone gets this email or a similar email,they know to "run for the hills"! : ) . Thanks again!Jenni
The precontract paperwork:
First, you have to understand what our company is looking for and if you think that this kind of job is made for you to ask for our Reseller Contract to be signed.
We need people that have time to spend on eBay daily.
A Drop Ship distributor is a wholesale company that will ship one product at a time directly to your Internet customer for you, right from the warehouse.
All you have to do is to find customers for our products in US or Canada. This job is easy because we are not selling electronics that are not BRAND NAMES. We are selling SONY, PANASONIC, PIONEER, CANON, JVC, NIKON, MINOLTA, BOSE, KLIPSCH, CLARION, KENWOOD and other HIGH RATED BRANDS that are very expensive if you buy them directly from local stores.
A simple search from your side made on eBay or in local stores regarding our products will give you the answer that we have excellent prices and you can earn hundreds per week very easy.
Please search in online stores for example Canon EOS 10D Digital Camera: We have the price fixed, our price for this digital camera is ONLY $1,020.00
The retail price for this camera is over $1,400.00 in most US stores, in some stores even more. If you want to sell this item fast and earn money in 2-3 days (you will substract your share directly from your sales) this is the job for you
We are currently seeking hard working, dedicated people with the drive and discipline needed to work from home in their home office. Our representatives have the opportunity to set their hours and, essentially, set their own incomes. Our job is a flextime, flex-place opportunity designed to fit around your family's income and time needs.
NO INVENTORY, START IMMEDIATELY, GUARANTEED SATISFACTION.
You can earn up to Earn up to $35,000 to $70,000 a year or more
What we offer you:
Flexibility of hours
Work at home
Part Time/Full Time
Daytime and Evening Hours
Professional management team with a strong support system
We have a store in Germany and we are looking for US resellers and US distributors for our products.
We have only brand new sealed products in stock and we have to sell these products in US because we have only US market units with US specifications and warranty.
Our company name is Leaders and we have 2 shops in Germany, Munchen
Bank Account number: 010 3420 396
Name of bank: APO-Bank Hannover, Germany
Name of the account: Leaders Stores Munchen
Phone number: +436 76424 2486
We have at this time another seller on eBay that is working for our company: We cannot disclose his identity at this time.
We will try not to make any competition between our sellers on eBay. The procedure is simple: we have 2 sellers on eBay every year and one is selling digital cameras and the other
one have for sale camcorders or computers.
Your job is to research on eBay the best prices for these electronic products and to sell them with your best price. Your profit will be around 10% from each sale and all the shipping costs and all the fees involved will be paid by your customers.
We will ship the products directly to your customers that you have.
All big stores from US make this business with their suppliers, why don't you?
You can have earnings of $2000 or even $3000 per month just selling the products that we have in stock to US customers.
Please check on eBay the prices for our listed products and you will see that this is an excellent deal.
You can also try to sell the items that we have in stock in local newspapers classifieds or on your website (if you have one)
If you can sell one Canon EOS 10D that we have in stock with Our Price: $1,020.00 and you have your price of $1,200.00 your profit will be for ONLY one sale $180.00
This is the best example but you can sell the camera with less than $1,200.00 lets say with $1,100.00... even in this case your profit will be $80.00
All the shipping costs will be paid by your customer. You just receive the payment and give us the shipping notification. This is all you have to do, not more.
eBay fees will be paid by us because they have to be paid for listing, let's say for one camera sold with $1,100.00 the fees for listing will be $22.00 or max. $25.00
This cost will be supported by us.
We hope that we can make business and if you have ANYTHING to sell in Europe we can help you out anytime.
This e-mail and any attachments is confidential and legally privileged.
You CANNOT tell anyone about this offer that you have from our company because we don't want to receive hundreds of e-mails asking for products cheaper or from sellers from eBay asking for any info.
You will prohibited from retaining, distributing disclosing or using any information contained herein.
If you are interested working with our company please reply today.
Thank you for your patience
Jennifer
Newtown,Connecticut,
U.S.A.
"Cut and Pasted" Text of contract
#6Consumer Comment
Thu, October 02, 2003
Hi,Carol and Tara.I just got notified of your responses to my post.(I don't know why they didn't notify me on 9/21 when Carol posted;I assumed they would the minute I got a response.I'm sorry;if I'd known you'd posted,I would've posted back immediately.)I am BEYOND angry that this (expletive deleted by me : ) )is still getting away with this!!!!I'm going to cut and paste the text of the contract onto the bottom of this post. If you want to email me so I can forward over the copies of the contracts,etc.,or if you want any more info or anything, my email address is mjr3090@snet.net. Also, if you'd like,I'll send an email to the police detective in N.Carolina,asking him if he'd mind my giving you his email address,etc. as well,so that if you want to add any info you might have. I know he's given everything I've given him to the FBI, and he's been contacting the other eBay sellers I've spoken to. (I've made a report to the FBI's Internet Fraud Department as well,and I suggest that anyone who comes in contact with this phony "company" do so also.Their site is at http://www1.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp ).This qualifies as international fraud,and if you believe everything I've heard about Leaders/Obermeyer,they've raked in hundreds of thousands,which makes it grand larceny,doesn't it?)
I just want to make it REALLY hard for this "company" to pull this scam off on anyone else, because I know what it feels like to have to go through all this.Despite the fact that I've received no negative feedback (as a matter of fact,a few of my buyers,who were WONDERFUL throughout this whole thing,even left me positive feedback!),I still feel like I've lost some of my credibility as a seller, and I'm just now getting over the "fear of eBay" that this "company" has given me. (I actually congratulated myself for going back onto eBay and buying something for my daughter!)Well,enough of my rambling;I hope everything works out for you and Carol:DON'T SIGN THAT CONTRACT!! If any of what I post sounds familiar,it would be a good idea to contact careerbuilder and let them know.From what I hear,"Leaders" has made several different job posting there;everytime they pull the ad, Leaders just changes its m.o.. Anyway,here's the contract's text,and please feel free to email me if you need anything more! Jenni
Dear Interested Reseller,
We will send you our Reseller contract to be signed if everything is OK with you.
If you cannot sign the contract you can send us your FULL contact informations via email with ONE fax number where you can receive mesages.
Or you can print the contract, sign it, make one picture and send this picture with signature back to us via email
You can list more than one auctions at one time on eBay with DUTCH option enabled and with BUY NOW feature active so you can sell more products once.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Leaders Stores Inc Reseller Agreement
1. Partners with Leaders Stores Inc, heretofore, Leaders Stores Inc , are required to comply with, and by using any such facilities, agree to comply with and be subject to Leaders Stores Inc Reseller Agreement, hereby known as the "Agreement". Leaders Stores Inc reserves the right to amend these Conditions and Policies at any time.
2. Reseller Functions
2.1. Reseller will function as a value-added reseller of Leaders Stores Inc services. Reseller will place its orders for such services directly.
2.2. Reseller may advertise in publications of general circulation, on auction sites and with own website stores.
2.3. Reseller's rights to resell Leaders Stores Inc products within a specific territory shall not be exclusive unless otherwise agreed in writing.
3. Prices
3.1. All prices for services provided by Leaders Stores Inc to Dealer are in US dollars.
3.2. Reseller may set the prices paid to it by customers. Leaders Stores Inc has the right to revise its prices to Reseller with thirty (30) days' written notice. Such revisions shall apply to orders received by Leaders Stores Inc AFTER the effective date of the revision.
3.3. Leaders Stores Inc shall be responsible for paying all taxes of any nature which become due with regard to Leaders Stores Inc services.
4. Payment
4.1. All orders are subject to acceptance by Leaders Stores Inc . Leaders Stores Inc will only supply products that are legal in the US. We reserve the right to deny service to any GREY-MARKET requests. Leaders Stores Inc will supply to Reseller only US market products with US warranty included.
Reseller agrees to same.
4.2. Shipping for any kind of electronic products will be done upon receipt of payment unless written notice of cancellation is received from you, the reseller, at least 3 days prior to the beginning of the next shipping period.
4.3. Payments shall be made weekly or otherwise by prior arrangement.
4.4. Payment and Terms: Payment shall be made in US dollars to Leaders Stores Inc into the account designated by Leaders Stores Inc , or as may otherwise be agreed in writing by the parties. Payments are due upon presentation of invoice. If due to bank charges, transfer fees, or the like, Leaders Stores Inc should receive less than its invoice amount, Leaders Stores Inc will find another payment method more reliable so BOTH parties can be satisfied
Should payment in full of any invoice (aside from such shortfalls) not be received by Leaders Stores Inc within thirty (7) days after sale, Leaders Stores Inc will not ship the product. In the event that any amount remains unpaid forty-five (15) days after the sale, Leaders Stores Inc may discontinue, withhold, or suspend services to Reseller and/or its customer(s) to whom such unpaid amounts relate. Failure of Reseller's clients to pay in no way relieves the Partners obligations to make full payment.
4.5. Leaders Stores Inc hereby agrees to pay any and all attorney fees, court costs, and related expenses incurred by Leaders Stores Inc the collection of any amount due it.
5. Duties of Reseller
5.1. Technical Support: Reseller will support end customers by providing technical support in the local language of the Reseller's main location. If the Reseller have one new product and the specifications for this product is unknown by the Reseller, Leaders Stores Inc will support 100% the Reseller with informations and technical asisstance as needed.
5.2. General: In carrying out this agreement, Reseller will conduct itself in an ethical and lawful manner, will exercise its best efforts to achieve a high level of customer satisfaction, and will do nothing to bring the reputation of Leaders Stores Inc into disrepute. The Reseller will offer ANY information about Leaders Stores Inc ONLY if the products are not shipped 100% functional or if the customers of Reseller don't receive the products in specified time.
6. Duties of Leaders Stores Inc
Leaders Stores Inc is responsible for ALL listing fees, for ALL transfer fees and the Reseller will substract ALL these fees from the final amount that have to send to Leaders Stores Inc as a payment for products and shipping charges.
7. Rules & Regulations
Leaders Stores Inc may impose reasonable rules and regulations regarding the use of its services from time to time. Reseller shall impose such rules and regulations on its customers to the extent necessary to ensure compliance.
7.1. Trying to find Resellers for ALL products sold by Leaders Stores Inc is forbidden..
8. Limitation of Leaders Stores Inc 's Obligation & Liability
8.1. Leaders Stores Inc 's liability to Reseller, and any end customer of any Digital Camcorder, Digital Camera, Computer or other Leaders Stores Inc products is limited to the amount paid to and received by Leaders Stores Inc for products. In no event shall Leaders Stores Inc be liable to Reseller, or any end customer or any other entity for any special, consequential, or other damages, however caused, whether for breach of contract, negligence or otherwise, even if Leaders Stores Inc has been advised of the possibility of such damage. Insurance for all products will be required. If the end customer does not agree to support insurance, Leaders Stores Inc. will not be responsible for damages and the Reseller will not be also responsible for damages that may occur.
8.5. Reseller will take all necessary measures to preclude Leaders Stores Inc from being made a party to any lawsuit or claim regarding Leaders Stores Inc services provided to any Reseller or end customer. Reseller hereby agrees to indemnify and hold harmless Leaders Stores Inc from any and all claims of whatever nature brought by any of Reseller's customers against Leaders Stores Inc in excess of the remedy set forth in paragraph 4.
9. Confidentiality
Reseller acknowledges that by reason of its relationship with Leaders Stores Inc hereunder, it may have access to certain information and materials relating to Leaders Stores Inc 's products, customers, software technology, and marketing strategies that is confidential and of substantial value to Leaders Stores Inc , which value would be impaired if such information were disclosed to third parties.
Reseller agrees that it will not use in any way for its own account nor for the account of any third party, nor disclose to any third party, any such information revealed to it by Leaders Stores Inc . Reseller further agrees that it will take every reasonable precaution to protect the confidentiality of such information. In the event of termination of this agreement, there shall be no use or disclosure by the Reseller of any such confidential information in its possession, and all confidential materials shall be returned to Leaders Stores Inc or destroyed. The provisions of this section shall survive the termination of the agreement for any reason. Upon any breach or threatened breach of this section, Leaders Stores Inc shall be entitled to injunctive relief, which relief shall not be contested by Reseller.
10. Relationship of the Parties
The relationship between Leaders Stores Inc and Reseller is that of vendor and vendee. They shall not be construed as being joint ventures, franchiser/franchisee, or employer/employee. This agreement is a commercial agreement between businesses, not a consumer agreement. Reseller has no authority, apparent or otherwise, to contract for or on behalf of Leaders Stores Inc , or in any other way legally bind Leaders Stores Inc in any fashion, nor shall Reseller be authorized to make any representations about Leaders Stores Inc or its services other than to set forth Leaders Stores Inc 's responsibilities as outlined in this agreement.
11. Disputes
The parties shall attempt to resolve all disputes arising out of this agreement in a spirit of cooperation without formal proceedings. Any dispute which cannot be so resolved (other than the collection of money due on unpaid invoices) and other than the injunctive relief referred to in paragraph 9 shall be subject to arbitration upon written demand of either party. Arbitration shall take place at another location if the parties so agree.
12. Terms & Termination:
This agreement shall run until the end of the current quarter. The initial and minimum term of this Agreement is for 3 months. This Agreement shall automatically renew for a similar term thereafter, until terminated by either party with 30 days prior notice unless terminated in one of the following ways:
12.1. By either party, by notifying the other in writing by end of any given year that this agreement will not be renewed.
12.2. By Leaders Stores Inc , upon thirty (30) days' written notice, if Reseller breaches any material and substantial provision of this agreement and has not cured by the end of the 30 days.
12.3. Reseller becomes more than sixty (60) days in arrears in payment of its account with Leaders Stores Inc ;
12.4. By Leaders Stores Inc immediately, if Reseller attempts to assign all or any part of this Agreement without Leaders Stores Inc 's prior written approval;
12.5. By Leaders Stores Inc immediately, if Reseller fails to cause Leaders Stores Inc to be informed in writing immediately on the happening of any event specified in this section;
13. Nonassignability
Reseller's rights and obligations under this agreement may not be transferred or assigned directly or indirectly without the prior written consent of Leaders Stores Inc , which consent shall not be unreasonably refused.
14. Partial Invalidity
If any provision of this agreement is held to be invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, then the remaining provisions shall nevertheless remain in full force and effect. Leaders Stores Inc and Reseller agree to renegotiate in good faith any term held invalid and to be bound by mutually agreed substitute provision.
15. Notices
All notices may be sent by email or express mail to the email address, or address most recently provided and will be effective upon transmission. Evidence of successful transmission shall be retained.
16. Entire Agreement, Modifications
This agreement sets forth the entire agreement and understanding between the parties and merges all prior discussion between them. Leaders Stores Inc may make changes to this agreement upon thirty (30) days' written notice to Reseller, advising of the change and the effective date thereof. Utilization of Leaders Stores Inc services by Reseller and/or its customers following the effective date of such change shall constitute acceptance by Reseller of such change(s), unless Reseller objects in writing to such changes, in which case the changes shall not take effect until there is written consent to other arrangements by both parties.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto, intending to be legally bound hereby, do hereby execute this instrument, with each signator warranting its authority to enter into this agreement on behalf of the party it represents.
I have read and accepted the above terms and conditions:
Your signature here
Discounts prices for all products:
1 product sold
no discount
5 -10 products sold
5%
11 - 20 products sold
10%
21+ products sold
12%
Tara
North Providence,Rhode Island,
U.S.A.
Same thing happened to me! lost $450 to this creep from Germany
#6Consumer Comment
Wed, October 01, 2003
I went through the same thing and lost $450 to this creep from Germany Bernard Floor from Obermeyer Stores in Germany. I also lost about $100 in Ebay listing/insertion fees which are non-refundable. Luckily, I refunded all my customers in a reasonable amount of time and none of them were angry with me.
Jennifer, please post the information you have because I would like to get this guy good.
Thanks.
Carol
Indianapolis,Indiana,
Afghanistan
Obermeyer Stores, Inc ..company does not have the same name but is also based in Germany with the same phone number
#6Consumer Comment
Sun, September 21, 2003
Hi, I also located a similar job on Career Builderand after thorough searching on the internet, I have not located anything on this company but finally on a whim, I did a search on the phone number and your Rip Off Report message was one to appear. They just sent me a 5 page Representative Contract to be signed and sent back in the exact manner you mentioned. I have not done that.
Please send me a copy of your message, in an email (not attachment) so that I may compare it.
This company does not have the same name but is also based in Germany with the same phone number you have listed. They state that you make 10% on all monies recieved and that you can make $49,000 to 99,000 a year.