International Merchandise Group Ripoff This company has gotten rich off suckers like me Denver Colorado

International Merchandise Group (IMG)... a.k.a. World Traders Association... is apparently no longer in business. As one of a reputed 150 or so "affiliates" with access to the IMG website (affiliates who paid at least $7450 as a fee to become a member of the company, with the right to offer products in various categories, such as apparel, sporting goods, etc., to retailers anywhere in the U.S.) I can no longer gain access to the private on-line listing of merchandise.

The company offered a telephone training porgram which lasted for several weeks, conducted by a "mentor"... however, said mentor could never be reached directly by telephone, only via e-mail. In fact, no individual at the company could be reached directly by phone... they only responded via e-mail. For a while, the response time was good, i.e., within 24 hours.But in recent months it fell off dramatically.

The company promised leads of retailers in my chosen category (apparel) across the U.S., but my efforts never led to any sales from these leads. IMG claimed to have fabulous, bargain-basement prices, but in reality, the prices we were forced to offer to the retailers and still make a profit, were too high for legitimate buyers to be very interested in IMG affiliates.

I earned about $600 in commissions from IMG since July 2003, when I joined, but only because I found a source of on-line sellers who found my pricing to be attractive. I am still $6800 in the hole, with no chance to at least break even.

Aside from the non-communications from IMG employees, they promised that their leads listings would be exclusive to any one affiliate. Yet, I discovered that at least one of the retailers with whom I attempted to build a relationship, had in fact received faxes and sales attempts from at least five different affiliates of IMG, obviously not an exclusive situation for any of us... only an embarrassing one.

As other rip-off communicants have expressed about this company, often I would secure an order, only to be told (via e-mail) that the merchandise was no longer available (more embarrassment,not to mention frustration, as we had to face the buyer after all this effort to secure the order).

I always had the sense that the people running IMG favored certain sellers of their wares, and possible provided special pricing, to enable them to sell some of the larger lots of merchandise that presumably were legitimate listings on the IMG website.

It's ironic... when I told a rather savvy friend about my investment with IMG in the summer of 2003, he said "It sounds like a good deal... for IMG."

David
Chicago, Illinois
U.S.A.