Lawrence Carson, owner of the 4,000+ member International Timber, Sawmills & Lumber group (ITSL), sent a letter to all members citing the problem after a member asked if ITSL could be an open group with unrestricted access. Currently the group is invitation only.
Mr Carson said the group, which includes many leading global (as well as UK) importers and mills, said the members that had lost money in the business transactions had not used protective tools or best business such as bankers’ letters of credit.
He said he also suspected some people were not what they represented themselves to be and were spammers looking to sell products like jewellery and weight-reduction or marketing programmes.
“I really do want our members to have some degree of protection and control over who can visit and use our site to improve their businesses,” he said.
ITSL members posted their support for Mr Carson’s invitation-only approach for the group and warned others to be careful in business dealings.
One UK timber trader member told TTJ he was cautious about conducting business on LinkedIn. “It depends on the type of business it is,” he said.
“If someone I trust recommends someone, that goes a long way towards starting a business relationship with someone I don’t know.”
Another UK importer member said he used ITSL for business and product information but would not use it for buying as he had seen some dubious posts.
