What Is An Article Broker?
An article broker is generally someone who buys and sells articles. They buy articles from content writers who sells web content at a very cheap price. Sometimes they buy from low-end brokers. They then sell the content to webmasters, and basically anyone who is looking for content. Sometimes the broker even has a group of writers providing him/her with a constant flow of content. These writers are hired part-time or full-time.
The article broker’s job is to ensure that the writers are paid. That way, they maintain a flow of articles that they can supply content buyers.
The Content Scammer
Once in a while, people who deal with the buying and selling of content online will face content scammers. The content scammer works this way: they will find someone who is selling very cheap and ready content, then buy a dozen. They will then pay the content provider for this. They will then sell it to someone (usually a webmaster with hundreds or thousands of minisites). This is the “tasting” phase. Where the buyer of the content gets to test the quality of the articles, the seller of the content gets to form a bond of trust with the scammer, and the scammer knows that the seller is desperate for money while the buyer is desperate for content – their perfect environment for a scam scenario.
The Scam
The scam works this way: when the same buyer wants more articles, sometimes they will be willing to order in hundreds or thousands. So they place their order, believing that the transaction will go on as smoothly as the first or second time they bought just a few articles from this scammer. So they pay in advance, but they never end up with the articles, even if they’ve already paid for it. So the money goes into the pockets of the scammer.
Meanwhile, the scammer has also ordered articles from the low-end sellers. The sellers have already dealt with the scammer and thinks that he will pay them as fast as he did the first time. He receives the articles but never sends payment for it. In fact, he just disappears.
The scammer is in possession of hundreds or even thousands of articles which he can then resell or use to scam even more people (more money in his pockets).
Buyers: What To Do
If you are a content buyer, and you want to buy hundreds or even thousands of articles then you should be wise and use a service such as Escrow. That way, you ensure that the money is in the hands of a third-party that will only release the funds to the seller when you receive the articles.
If there’s only a few articles however, use Paypal. So if the articles are not unique or they are not what you agreed to then you can file a dispute and try to get your money back.
Sellers: What To Do
Selling articles is a very tricky thing to do for low-end sellers. These are people who are almost entirely dependent on writing large amount of content for very little money. If they are exploited by scammers, there’s very little they can do if they do not know how to protect themselves. This is also because such article writers will accept to deliver content before getting paid. If you sell articles at a very affordable price, it is important to take several steps to protect yourself. For example, If you sell large quantities of articles to a particular person that you have never dealt with then ask them to use Escrow. Or, send them the articles by batches and ask for payment per batch. If they order 100 articles from you, and refuse to send payment for the whole 100 articles then send them 10 articles and ask for payment for the first 10. You can continue in this way until complete payment has been sent.
I’ve Been Scammed! What Do I Do?
Recently, an article broker that I know was a victim to something she called a scam. She received an order of many articles and when she had completed them the person disappeared. Her first emotional reaction was “oh no, how do I pay my writers now?” Her first physical reaction was to create a free blog on blogspot and publish all the unpaid articles there. When she told me that the person never paid for the articles, I considered buying these articles from her only until I realized that they had already been published online (by her). That’s when I pulled out.
When someone orders articles from you, ask them to pay in advance, using Paypal. If they are half decent they will send payment. If you know what’s good for you, especially if you are an article broker then you will only start the work when payment is sent. Do not EVER deal with someone you’ve never dealt with before if they are unwilling to send payment first, especially if you are a broker. Why? Because if you are the writer and you spend hours writing these articles then you are the only one affected by any scam. It’s wasted hours, but you owe nobody.
However, when you’re a broker and you’re scammed off articles then you end up owing your writers. I know many low-end writers who end up not getting paid by brokers because these brokers are scammed off money. But you need to understand one thing: if you are a broker and are getting writers to write articles for your clients but your clients end up not paying you then YOU ARE THE SCAMMER if you do not pay your writers. It is none of their business if you end up being scammed. Because it is your job to pay them. It is not the scammer’s job to pay your writers. So if you are a broker then you must ensure that you are able to pay your writers before you give them a job to do. If it is not within your personal resources to pay them then you will need to get your clients to pay up before you give your writers a job to do.
That said, if someone orders articles and they publish these articles but refuse to send payment this is when you have been scammed. If you send them articles and they never pay you but end up not publishing these articles then these are simply bad ethics. But the articles can still be sold to someone else so DO NOT PUBLISH THESE ARTICLES. It is only a scam if the scammer publish these articles without paying you. This is also because some articles are very low quality and nothing like the pre-order samples. So some publishers will refuse to deal with you because the articles are not good enough.
After such a long time you update your website. Where are you these days, do you get online on msn often these days?
Yeah, I’ve been taking some time out of being online but I’ll be online more often this week.
In fact there are many scams on internet now a days and perhaps the biggest reason for this is that you do not meet the buyer or seller who is a scammer physically and you do not know about the idendity of the scammer and it becomes for the scammer to just disappear after getting your money or articles.
Your blog is good informative blog about article sellers, buyers and the scammers. It is very difficult for small writers to make sure that they a saved from such scammers because they are desperate to sell or to buy articles.
Thanks for your comment Devesh. Yes, as more and more businesses emerge on the online scene, we’ll see more and more scammers using whatever methods they can to rob people off their money. It’s a sad situation. Anyone who is dealing with payments online should take necessary precautions to protect themselves.
Very informative article. Thanks
Very informative article. Thanks