FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

May I incur in any hidden expense ?
Absolutely not. On rare occasions we may ask you (in advance) to foot a bill for a specific and exceptional action. You may accept or decline the suggestion at your discretion. 

We have a 5 year contract. What if the distributor stop selling after one year ? 
We stop getting any money! Since we work on commissions only we are interested in supervising your distributor. If he is not doing a good job we will take adequate measures, including looking for a new one. 

Your commissions eat on my profits ? 
Not necessarily. We may work starting from a price list that gives you a given profit. Our commissions are added on top of that. In other words, the commissions are paid by the distributor, or if you prefer, the local price list includes our commissions. 

When do I pay you ?
When you are paid (immediately after). If you don't get any money, neither do we. 

I am interested. But you do not have specific experience in my business. 
If you are thinking about us selling directly to end users it may (or may not) be a reasonable worry. 

On the other hand if what is needed is the search of one or more distributors it is the distributors that should know the market, not us! Our job is to find the right distributor not to sell to customers. 

We have done this successfully dozen of times in fields we knew nothing beforehand. 

Bear in mind that we work on commissions. If we sense that we will probably not be able to tackle your products we will decline your offer. If instead of a seller you are a buyer, this is even less of a worry. You are sure able to size whoever we will introduce to you. 

Why should I pay you when I can do your job on my own ?
You are welcome! If you think so, we are not keen to work with you (yet). We prefer companies that have already tried ,and failed, or have enough experience and savvy to realize that there is no substitute for local knowledge and presence. File our address and come back in a couple of years. 

It sounds too good to be true. Where is the catch ?
You need to have the right mix of products, market, prices, profit, documentation, knowledge, responsiveness and determination. We cannot afford to tackle products unlikely to succeed. Determination is probably the most important issue. Many a drawback can be compensated by determination, but even the best product may fail without. We are ourselves determined, but it takes two to tango. 

What are your obligations ? 
We reserve the right to drop any search any time for any reason, without any further obligation. 

Is there the possibility that you engage us in any liability ? 
Absolutely not. Unless you give us written instructions to the contrary, we act as your consultant only. We provide you with information and suggestions. What you do or don't, is up to you. 

We like to stress that the final agreement is between you and the contact(s) we provide. You are the sole judge and responsible of any engagement you enter. 

Who is your typical customer ?

- Sellers: manufactures or direct agents or distributors with exclusive right to market in Italy. 

- Buyers: Anything goes. Bear in mind however, that unless you generate a yearly minimum in commissions, we may find it unprofitable. 

I tried to buy directly from the manufacturer but they have exclusive distributors already.   Can you help ? 

Sometimes. If you have already met problems or if you expect to run into them, please state it in your initial query. This will save time to us both. We MAY device a solution, but we need first to know the problem. We also expect to know the real situation. For example we have been asked to source 10,000 jeans a month from a known manufacturer. When asked what was the destination we were told an odd country. 

Now, we have nothing against any country, except that it may be an unlikely final destination for brand name (expensive) products. The reason we asked is that we do only legal jobs. If the manufacturer have a tight control of the market and do not want to sell any more in a given country, we will comply. Some times there are available stocks but only for certain countries. Wholesalers also may have legal obligations and cannot export to certain countries unless authorized by the manufacturer. 

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