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About Davide Andrew Papa
Expertise
All matters pertaining to assisting Private import export INTERMEDIARIES, AGENTS and BROKERS Regarding International trade Laws and procedures,Letters of credits, as per UCP 600,Presentation, Commissions,International Rules of agency, and Incoterms 2000. All matters pertaining to shipping documents relating to the Import and export of products from one country to another.All matter for buyers and sellers of commodity products relating to the import and export industry.FTN with the introduction of UCP 600 will release the publication "The world is yours"(2004) made specifically for Intermediaries.Current inhouse tra ining manual is "Follow the Yellow Brick Road"(2008) Our advice website is www.ftnexporting.com

Experience
FTN exporting founder Davide Papa has been trading for over 20 years- and has dealt with a huge variety of corporate entities including Gold and crude oil suppliers. FTN appeared in a major controversial Newspaper editorial in 1994. FTN Exporting official publication "International Trade and the Successful Intermediary"(ITSI) is about to be released world wide (December 2009) by the prestigious U.K publishing firm Gower's (U.K) and is listed on Amazon.com (Keyword: International Trade Intermediary) ITSI is ostensibly the first uniform intermediary trading doctrine of its kind, and will become the standard intermediary practice world wide in years to come. FTN exporting has created the said doctrine and supporting rules of trade defined as "URPIB" (Uniform Rules and Practice for Intermediaries and Brokers), which will (has?) become the most successful set of private intermediary rules ever created.

Publications
The World is Yours and "Follow the Yellow Brick Road" www.ftnexporting.com . Author of "International Trade and the Successful Intermediary " (ITSI) 2009 excepts on http://www.gowerpub.com/default.aspx?page=637&calcTitle=1&title_id=11177&edition_id=12138

Education/Credentials
Let school early. Became a master chef . Took up business management and later studied "international Trade at Stott's college Melbourne, Australia.

You are here: Experts > Industry > Maritime/Shipping > Distribution of Products > Background Checks

Distribution of Products - Background Checks

Expert: Davide Andrew Papa - 10/24/2009

Question
QUESTION: Hello Davide,
Your inputs here are very helpful. Thanks a lot for your contribution. I am glad that a place such as this site gives good people like you the exposure that you deserve and an opportunity to shine light on your chosen expertise. Hope you are ultimately rewarded for your kindness and contributions.

My question is as follows:
As a new intermediary, agent, or facilitator, how do I carry out background checks, or verify and authenticate the companies and individuals that I run into online and now intend to do business with?

As you know, there are all sorts of scam artists all over, and one can't afford to connect two parties (buyers and sellers) in the commodity market without first carrying out proper verification and due diligence.

By the way, I also wonder if your pdf books - FYBR and COFI - cover these issues. Pls help!

Thanks!

ANSWER: Dear Ben

Such a nice compliment deserves a good answer-

The basis of the whole intermediary trading application is exactly that- Research and Due Diligence.

Scam artists work on people or systems which lack knowledge or Integrity. Trading and an intermediary works by first eliminating such threats- and It all happens at the very start of the deal-

"Follow the Yellow brick road" tell us - FIRST GOLDEN RULE: Find supplier first - secure the supplier- the person owning the goods. Get an offer or only handle quotes that have originated directly from an authorized entity- meaning "Supplier in possession" of good or someone who is affirmed to be acting for such a supplier in a disclosed matter-

Remember this- There is a dual sided sword to the Above- FTN Exporting is not a supplier, Yet End buyers are asked to Buy from FTN Exporting - Yet FTN is advising that One must always secure supply from a supplier and buy such goods accordingly.

But! I am giving advice as an "Intermediary" from the perspective of such. So the Golden rule is specific to only the intermediary-

Corporate entities daily deal with each other in where the golden rule is mostly- may not even be applicable.

It's this golden rule that sets the pace for the whole deal and the integrity of such, which could last up to 3 months from offer to first delivery stage in any deal- In these three months the ongoing transaction further enhances the whole trading application because it applies to use ONLY THE SAME RULES AND LAWS AS MANY OF THE BIG PLAYERS DO - I.E: CARRIERS, BANKS,CORPORATIONS- These SAID rules defined as INCOTERMS Delivery Rules, UCP 600 DLC rules and URC 522 Collection rules are bound under contract formation Rules as governed by English International trade laws fully or in part- now also adds to protecting the intermediary once they have started the deal as an ongoing process-

SO THE INTERMEDIARY IS DEALING WITH STRONG SUPERIOR LEGALLY BINDING RULES AND LAWS- WHICH DO NOT INCLUDE TO INCORPORATE STUPID USELESS APPLICATION SUCH AS LOI, ICPO, MT103, SWIFT, NCNDA, MPA, ASWP..ETC..ETC..

In effect its impossible for a scam artist to trade in such an arena, IF THE INTERMEDIARY SIMPLY LEARNS TO STICK TO EFFECTIVE PROCEDURES- Hence SCAM ARTISTS WILL look for and seek out only soft targets - those who have no idea what they are doing and are lured into a deal by a sense of adventure and often lust for money.

THEY TRY HUNDRED AND HUNDREDS OF ENTITIES IN WHERE BY DEFAULT OF GIVING ONE REPLY THE SCAM ARTIST CAN EVALUATE IF SUCH A REPLY HAS PRODUCED A SUCKER-

FTN gets 7 or 8 scam offers every day - it takes ten seconds flat to trash such offers and deals-simply by knowing what to look for- Therefore if the deal does not "take off" from the start CORRECTLY- THEN there is not deal- and if it does takes offer , then due diligence process is an ongoing application simply by ensuring proper effective rules of trade are applied right to the end of the deal.

The Whole deal starts with securing an offer from a supplier and not another intermediary "Seller"- Thus FYBR states clearly No two "Seller/buyer" can be in the same trading group and that Middle controlling entity the intermediate "Buyer/seller" has to connect to the supplier in possession of goods on ones side and the end Buyer taking possession of goods on the other side-

In effect there could be many intermediaries involved on such side, but the middle controlling intermediary will only trade by asking others to "step Back " and reveal the source or there can be NO DEAL- In essence , the buyer/seller is simply stating- "I need to know who the principals are in return i will secure and payout out your commission"- Whats left? - 3 parties transacting in what usually is a two a party deal-THE END BUYER - THE MIDDLE BUYER SELLER-THE SUPPLIER-

But since 99% of intermediaries don't know what they are doing , the intermediary will have problems finding someone who know how to close a deal correctly.The person wanting to become an intermediary must study procedures themselves and eventually start trading only with corporate entities and not with the many idiotic times wasters found on the net today-

A "BUYER" IS NOT AND END BUYER. A "SELLER" IS NOT A SUPPLIER - ALREADY WE CAN SEE THE THE MIDDLE CONTROLLING INTERMEDIARY THE UNIFORM ENTITY ACTING AS A "BUYER/SELLER" IS GOING TO ATTEMPT TO BUY GOODS ONLY FROM A SUPPLIER WHO OWNS POSSESSION OF SUCH- AND SELL SUCH TO ONLY A END BUYER TAKING POSSESSION OF SUCH-

A Taxi driver in New York selling sugar from Brazil is not an supplier- A lawyer from England buying sugar is not and "End buyer"

THERE CAN BE NO MISTAKE IN UNDERSTANDING THAT A "BUYER/SELLER" IS GOING TO ATTEMPT AND BUY GOODS FROM LETS SAY "EXXON MOBIL" AND SELL SUCH GOODS TO LEST SAY " THE CHINESE ENERGY CORPORATION- knowing that such valuable information from the start means you've commence the deal in the ultimate position of dealing with only principals and not other misguided traders calling themselves "seller or buyer"

The only way to do so is to start with the Golden rule- Get an offer or quote from a Supplier, as 'Buyer" with such in hand, you have the required "Ostensible authority " to become the "seller" of such goods- fact then you cannot be just a Buyer or just a seller in fact you are a "Buyer/seller"

One one side is secured the same applies on the other - You may make offer to many intermediaries - but at the end of the day if your offer does not come signed by the end buyer taking possession of goods - You have no deal.

The " Due diligence Mechanisms" are therefore in place and inherited from the very start simply by gaining knowledge and then experience - All this happens because you've spent month and years learning effective correctly applied intermediary procedures- such procedures that can be used by anyone world wide-

The "sourcing intermediary"(SI) once securing goods becomes (MUST) the "buyer/seller" - Trading just as a SI unless attached to a well informed Buyer/seller is a wasted effort- there is no money to be made from such a SI position-

Assume there is a lot more but the above is a "Follow the Yellow Brick Road"(FYBR) Doctrine in a nut shell as it relates to ensuring nobody gets circumvented and nobody enters into a scam deal-

We can all make mistakes - but a mistake is just that and usually can be fixed when dealing- It is not a mistake to be taken by a scam artist- that's more akin to being stupid , and trading in matters or procedures that one does not really understand.99% of intermediaries on the net have no idea on what they are doing an dhow sophisticated and complex these deals are to close- Chasing big dollars and profits in this exciting but complex business application has to be earned - earned by applying efforts, personal ability, skill, practice and above all else knowing what the correct effective intermediary procedure are.

Hope it Helps

Kind Regards
Davide Giovanni Papa
www.ftnexporting.com
www.ftnx.net

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Dear Davide,
Thank you so much for your prompt response. You never seized to dazzle me with your depth of knowledge in this field. As helpful as your response was, please dont be surprised that I am still burdened by the persisting thought that before anything at all, I need to first determine that I know the seller/supplier, his/her address, website, email, etc. basically know that EVERYTHING is legit' and authentic!

My usual concerns are highligted in the following question forms:
How do I carry this deal out?
How do I authenticate a seller, a buyer, an end buyer, and a supplier?
What are the steps I need to take?
Where do I go to get helpful information on them?
Do I need a reference or references from them to vouche for their characters?
Who do I talk to?
Through whom do I verify, is it by phone call, email, face-to-face?
Am I to call the embassy/consular office to verify and is it necessary?

I just wonder if you've ever gone through all that before and what I need to do before I get to the point where I feel like, "Yeah, its now time to deal with this real supplier" before engaging the end-buyer in the deal.

I am ernestly looking forward to reading from you. Thank you!

Regards,
Ben

Answer

Dear Ben

I think you've missed the point somewhere- You are not a financial reporting company or bank or the likes where one quick look on a restricted credit reference site on line=, a detailed report of the person you are inquiring about is advised for a fee- In any case if you tried as much you'll go broke in weeks - You will be trashing a 1000 inquiries a year before lets say Ten inquiries would have be considered to be potentially viable - from the ten perhaps one will become a viable deal- Perhaps??

If You've contacted Gazprom , via the Gazprom site - there can be no misunderstanding that you have contracted a supplier-

There can be no misunderstanding that Mitsui or sinopec is large corporation who may be interested to buy goods you have secured-

There can be no misunderstanding that Your procedure are those that only a real supplier or end buyer could consider- and that such becomes apparent during the course of the transaction.

Everything else you've asked me , is tied into to whole trading application- I can't advise on this forum 700 pages on how to trade-I can only really answer specific question.A specific question that is not understood always branches off to produce even more questions- and even in such branches more question are formed-

This is a complex business that must be understood fully-In my younger days I had to complete 4 years of an apprenticeship to become a qualified chef- I had to work for another two year to obtain head chef position-

How can one expect to trade in such complex matters of Banking, rules, delivery rules , contract law applications , banking application, sourcing applications,writing documents,..etc..etc. without learning studying and practicing is beyond me-

Now Ben, I have over 600 questions answered in this forum alone, covering over 1000 page, since 2001 covering the whole matter of intermediary practice , yet very few would have learned the complex application from such-

The question you have asked are the wrong questions- because - because you are trying to understand matters all at once-

Now get this part- So what ? Lets say I gave to 1000 hard earned confidential valuable names tomorrow of who are end buyer and suppliers- Can you close one single deal - You can't. So what's was the point-

The practice allows to to bed in the base application- as you search and research for supplier then buyers each failure adds to your knowledge- experience is based on the ideal that you have failed many times-

For I year you can't get past the offer stage , then one day you get to contract stage- That's a new experience-

For ten month you've failed at contract stage , then one day , a DLC stage of the deal finally arrives-

You now can easily get to offer, contracts and DLC stage but for years deals not get to the end -

Finally perhaps - It happens - Everything you have learned in the first 3 months has come true years later-ad all makes sense-

Learning the base application,adding experience and abilities gets that deal closed- yet many for all their efforts will never close a deal at all- because they have lacked something in their process- yet if you do not give it a serious attempt , you'll never know whether this business if for you or not

Welcome to the world of the professional intermediary- If you close one deal , You'll have the resources to carry on for a long time- to close that one deal takes great skill.

Don't look at all those traders on the net- they are playing games..Do you want to play games?? then join such traders-

Hope this time the insight helps

Regards
Author: Davide Papa
www.ftnexporting.com
Amazon non fiction key words "International trade intermediary "

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