After 4 weeks we have come to the following conclusion; It does not mater what your background is, people want to get involved in the Personal Protective Equipment game "PPE" everybody from Stock brokers, Real-estate brokers, investment bankers, commodities brokers, import exporters, former and current military and even crypto-currency suppliers are coming out the woodwork to get involved anyway they can. At first we thought everyone one is getting involved to help out however, we quickly realized that it does not matter what the commodity is, Gold, Oil, Sugar, Bitcoin or PPE med supplies Joker brokers will always be joker brokers.
Remember this : In life time will either promote you or expose you!
1. THE PRODUCT PRICING AND AVAILABILITY is a moving target which changes from day to day because of supply demand but mostly due to GREED. Example a very popular Ventilator VG70 normally between cost between $10k to 12k USD in just two weeks it has gone to over 40K. Best example is the 3M 1860 Medical Respirator mask. Prior to the Pandemic you could by a pack of 20 at 33 cents per MASK list price or the box was $6.60 for 20 separate mask now people are trying to sell a single mask for $4, $5.0 even as high as $8.00 in some cases, its insane to see the PRICE GOUGING which is what prompted the government to step and brings me to the next topic.
2. PRICE GOUGING guidelines were introduced during an country wide state of emergency on a state by state basis. While laws vary by state, increases over 20% may be considered price gouging.
https://uspirg.org/feature/usf/how-identify-and-report-price-gouging . This is across the board for all PPE products however 3M Mask are under another level of protection from the government.
3M Mask as of April 14th 2020
3M Starts Lawsuits in Florida due to N95 price gouging attempt of the strategic national stockpile
https://investors.3m.com/news/news-details/2020/3M-Files-Lawsuit-in-Florida-in-Alleged-N95-Price-Gouging-Attempt-of-the-Strategic-National-Stockpile/default.aspx
As of April 8th 2020 3M list price for 1860 N95 Respirator as you can see below $1.27 per mask add 20% mark up and logistics and the price should be around $2.00 to $2.50 per mask. You can find people selling each mask for as much as $5.00 to $6.00 to hospitals and first responders, they are also hoarding the product in the US in order to get top dollar for it as well. Unofficially we have been told any one caught selling 3M 1860's or 8210 N95 Mask will be up for an audit by the IRS.
3. JOKER BROKERS have come out the woodwork and have disgusted many buyers who are now leary to work with legitimate sources to procure product. What I have seen ranges from poor expectation management to outright lies about product availability and straight up fraud.
4. FRAUD has been rampid among buyers just trying to help provide PPE product to those that need it the most such as medical first res-ponders and emergency service workers. Here are a few types of fraud we have seen. Chinese and international manufactures have money sent upfront and product never ships, down payments 25% to 50% or more sent and no product gets delivered or the wrong product. Fraudulent product is sent in place of the real product. Brokers overcharge and attempt to earn money in the middle of the transaction which brings me to my final thought on this subject.
5. ARBITRAGE - For all the brokers that are not putting up your own money or working directly with the distributor or manufacturer understand that the price the re-seller, distributor or Manufacturer is charging to the end user is the price and commissions are included in this price.
Example - based on the price of a 3M 1860 N95 Respirator mask. If a re-seller charges $2.00 per mask which includes 5 cents commissions does not mean that you increase can up charge the end user using their own Proof of funds in your escrow and never provide them with paperwork from the seller other the new price you want to show them say $4.00 and keep the difference this is ARBITRAGE. Leveraging your sale against my sale substantiating no value to the transaction a naked in a ARBITRAGE.
6. GHOST PRODUCT ON THE GROUND This is the most common practice by bad actors. Here is how it works. The offer typically sounds like it too good to be true. Remember to use common senses if it sounds to good to be true it probably is. We get an offer from group of brokers that either a private seller or 3M distributor has anywhere between as little as 5 Million and I have heard as much as 700 Million of either 1860's or 8210's Mask ready to be picked up at specific locations across the US or internationally. The prices I have seen range from low $2.00 range and mid $5.00 and you have act fast or they will be gone, otherwise known as a "spot purchase" which is not under production contract.
It starts with a request for Letter Of Interest "LOI" from a qualified buyer followed by a Proof Of Funds "POF". The lure is that alleged seller will provide a SGS report showing quality of goods, physical inspection, potential to escrow the funds or pay by wire after inspection. 99.99% of the time you send your qualified buyers LOI and POF and the group that brought the deal to you says they accepted another offer and you never get a chance to confirm weather the product ever existed.
This is what I call the LAND GRAB. In this process they collect multiple qualified buyers information with no intention of ever involving or paying any of the intermediary brokers who have illusions of grandeur and have already negotiated the commission fees they think they deserve to be receiving for making a simple introduction. The deal goes away as just another product that you and your buyer did not move on fastest enough. Over the next few weeks many times the unscrupulous sellers or so called sellers shop your info and POF to try and find real reliable buyers that they can sell to with you no longer in the picture under a different company name or people all together.
In closing, if your looking for a reliable resource for PPE Medical Supplies and would like to work with a company that stays with in price gouging guidelines and does business with highest standard of integrity, feel free to reach out to us. Remember we only do business with those we know like and and trust. We have A feeling that the need for PPE is not going away anytime soon.
7. IMAGINARY MASTER DISTRIBUTORS I thought I had seen every conceivable way that bad actors and Joker Brokers could cause qualified buyers' to feel uneasy and un- comfortable and then I saw and uptick on this method.
This is how it works, you get contacted by one of the many Joker Brokers that is direct or in direct to a Master 3M Distributor who can get them priority on shipment for production or product on the ground "SPOT" purchases.
All you have to do is submit NCNDA, LOI, POF, IMFPA and letter of attestation from an attorney that you are capable, ready willing and able to transact for either a SPOT or production purchase. Here is the catch. This information is sent through representative, joker broker or to a lawyer some type of supposed intake manager with the idea the information is being sent to 3M in actuality 99.99% of the time it is not.
The goal is to receive qualified ready willing and able buyers information and then approach 3M for production contract or find private sellers that may be able to help the client. In other words, they are now shopping your package to the broker world of "supposed" qualified sellers. Unfortunately, most never find real suppliers or buyers. I recently heard that FEMA was approached by aprox 160 alleged 3M production sources and they ended up with 3 real ones as one example has shown.
Although this is not buying advise, what we have found is that it's important to do your due diligence. Now confirm you are really working with qualified attorney's and verify PRIME 3M distributors, (Brokers call them Master Distributors) by getting their authorized distributor number and contacting 3M. Although, I am confident that we will all get through this crazy circus together please contact us if you need help to circumnavigate the treacherous waters of procuring 3M products from reliable sources.