Been wondering about that one myself, seems to be the go in more than one "middle of noweheres" (which we have far more of than "middle of somewheres"). What's on with that???

As they’re the ones supposedly bringing in customers to pay YOU the money, you’re the one who needs to answer those criteria, not them

You can get references and draw your own impressions, but what’s the worst that can happen to you as the provider? A customer who backs off at the last minute? Can happen anyway, and isn’t the channels fault.

Of course if they keep connecting you to tire kickers or just don’t deliver any customers, you need an exit clause (see above), but the majority of providing proof to claim is yours, as the end provider.

Does this make sense at all, or am I misreading your question here?

I do, never said you did

We certainly do, and as buyers'/proxy agents who only sell services and not actual properties, it's easy –

option 1) – same country/"around the corner" – they advertise a general service and some sample listings to their existing lists/contacts, we share the comission on the first purchase – then they end up getting handsomely paid for what's not much more than an emailed introduction, we take one deal at virtually cost, but get to keep a new and happy customer, and everybody's happy.

option 2) – "far and yonder"/real distant lands/non-English speakers – we contact a few candidates and narrow things down to an "area manager" who's comitted to invest of their time and money, work hard etc – they become our channel managers for that area, and receive a regular 33% of all business derived from their neck of the woods, whether it's initial or repeat business. In this case they usually require exclusivity agreements, and rightfully so, as raising awareness to a new product in a new area takes time and effort – just need to make sure the contract has exit clauses in case they turn out to be the wrong agency for the job (for example, if the work doesn't result in three active clients within six months or so, you're free to try a different local channel

lol being an ex-Israeli I know the type – we come in thinking we're the smartest folk in the world – "I can spot a fleecer from three continents away" – we just forget it's only the middle-eastern type fleecers we've been exposed to.
I'll never forget the first time I was in Thailand, keeping my Hebrew mouth shut (and I don't look Israeli), got a price for something, then saw a group of loud Israelis approaching, loud and clear – all the vendors immediately started quoting prices 100% higher, then "gave in" to the oh-so-clever Israelis and deducted 20%. Works every time.

As far as Bigger Pockets are concerned, the matter was brought to their attention, and they've taken quick action to remedy their part in the shonk's activity – not really compensation for the injured party, but I hope ilovehouses can at least find some comfort in the fact that, from now on, at least, their ability to continue shonking others through a major channel like BP.com would be greatly reduced – (and, think what you will of the content, BP's internet reputation and resulting investing-related traffic "among the masses" is vast – so it's in all of our interest that it stays as clean as possible, in similar fashion to this platform).

Here are some extracts from Joshua Dorkin's, BP's founder and manager's, response – I'm sure if any of you contact him directly you'll be as impressed as I am with the guy's candidness and professionalism, considering the size and nature of the beast he's steering –

"…We've closed the account pending more information from this Mr. Patchin…The last thing we want to see is people getting scammed and do take such things very seriously…our goal is really to try and elevate the industry. We throw off dozens of users every day who try to use our platform to do bad things (mostly spam, but certainly some scammers), and work tirelessly to the benefit of our members…It would be very easy to sell out our users to the gurus and scammers who pay top dollar, but we take a different path…"

Hope this helps, at least a bit. Best of luck getting your money back, and with future investments – hope this doesn't put you off the entire global real-estate investing industry, as there really are good operators and good deals out there, we just need to all look past our personal pockets at times, and work together to "keep the bastards honest", so to speak, for everyone's benefit.

Obviously, it's highly recommendable to educate one's self before investing in any country or area (DD etc) – but as a rule, I'd think that a buyer's agent/proxy like ourselves, who has no vested interests other than yours in mind, makes the actual experience required far more manageable (considering the same now for our US investment – I know nothing save what I read here and in similar places, so a buyers' agent seems like the logical choice).

Yes, feel free to contact me via PM (or through our website, below – I receive a copy of all enquiries off it and will respond personally).

Kind regards,

Amit- Japanese purchase as in property purchase in Japan.

Advertising to Chinese and Koreans in china and Korea- many of them come to Japan for study or holidaying.

Make more sense now?

(hint- look at the signature below, it may clarify things somewhat)