There is a major misconception that the BBB is some kind of government agency because “BBB” sounds like “FBI” or “CIA”, and additionally, the actual name of the BBB is “Better Business Bureau” which truly does sound like some form of government organization, so I absolutely understand why people would think the BBB is some kind of company that somehow monitors businesses, however this is absolutely untrue. Here’s what the BBB is, what it ACTUALLY does and why our company is not a member. 

WHAT THE BBB CLAIMS TO BE

According to Wikipedia, the BBB is a, quote, “a nonprofit organization whose self-described mission is to focus on advancing marketplace trust”

And we can all agree that, in theory, this sounds great.

WHAT DOES THE BBB DO?

Quote, “The BBB rating system relies on an A+ through F letter-grade scale. The grades represent BBB's degree of confidence that the business is operating in a trustworthy manner and will make a good faith effort to resolve any customer concerns filed with the BBB.”

THE FIRST PROBLEM WITH THE BBB

Having a site that graded businesses made a lot of sense… until the internet became mainstream. It’s currently 2021 and my grandfather uses the internet because it has become so simplistic that basically anyone, of any age can use it. With the advancements of the internet came “Reviews”... and more reviews, and sites dedicated to only reviews (such as Yelp) and sites for reporting awful companies via the use of reviews and even sites for complaining about the people who leave reviews as well as lawyers who sue over bogus reviews. Additionally every site where eCommerce takes place now also includes buyer reviews… heck, even the Dark Web offers buyers the opportunity to review the 8 Ball of cocaine or the pound of marijuana they illegally bought.  

With that being said, the purpose of the BBB has been greatly reduced (some may argue it has become totally useless) because what is the point of looking at a BBB profile that features the BBB’s opinion of a business they have never purchased from or visited when you can instead look at a site like Facebook, Google or eBay and see the real person who left the review and even look at their entire review history with a single click? 

THE SECOND PROBLEM WITH THE BBB

Facebook, Google, TrustPilot, etc are free but the BBB is not. In fact, it is very expensive. Starting costs for the business to have a BBB profile is around $500 a YEAR. Prices increase from there.  

THE THIRD PROBLEM WITH THE BBB

Not only do businesses have to pay to have a BBB profile, there is utterly no purpose to the profile because A COMPANY DOES NOT NEED A BBB PROFILE FOR PEOPLE TO LEAVE BAD REVIEWS. However, my research appears to show that good reviews can NOT be received without a paid account. This means a business can ONLY receive BAD REVIEWS unless they pay the BBB for the account.  

THE FOURTH PROBLEM WITH THE BBB

There are endless complaints of the BBB extorting businesses. Here’s just a couple interesting reads:

Why the BBB Should Give Themselves a Bad Rating (Time.com!)

Quote, This “stems back to a pay-to-play scandal unearthed in 2010 by the ABC News show 20/20. The investigation showed extortion-type practices applied to local businesses: Those that paid annual dues to the BBB were handed accreditation and A ratings, while those that didn’t play along were given subpar grades, even if they hadn’t received complain”

Is the BBB Scamming Companies Out of Money

Quote from article, “you could be running a remarkable business, you could have millions of customers worldwide that absolutely rave about your company, but if you have failed to pay BBB, there is no way to get a good rating and there is only going to be the allowance for negative reviews within your company profile.”

BBB = Extortion?

Quote, “The BBB, among other 'agencies', are pay-for-play/pay-for-grade businesses. Any business starts out as a C. You pay up, give then your info, pay for their services... your rating goes up.”

The BBB Has UNDER 2 STARS Rating - from Users AND Businesses!

Quotes: “This company is fake and puts business on their website with negative alerts only to get them to pay for their services.”

“it is a scam organization”, “BBB gives A+ rating to every business who pay a subscription fee.”

“This is an organization to protect bad businesses. All the have to do is pay the fees to the BBB. This organization should be outlawed.”

“As an organization, BBB is hopelessly outdated. Even when you take time to post a positive review of a non-member company, BBB probably first tries to extract a gratuity from the firm to even allow the review to appear on their site. The purpose of the internet is to disseminate information, not hide or lose it.”

RipOffReport BBB Slapped with Lawsuit

Quote “ We documented and questioned as to whether or not the BBB was engaged in deceptive and fraudulent conduct…”

Is the BBB a Corrupt Shakedown?

“....Magically as soon as you decline membership, your A+ rating tanks and you are forced to play their game and sign back up. “

These are just a few of the insane reviews. You can read tons more BBB scam reviews here. So, you ask why BigBrandWholesale.com isn’t interested in participating in this? The answer is because we are a family owned business, who has worked are as*es off for over 16 years to have a great business with excellent reviews. We will never pay for a review or pay to have a review removed.  

With that being said, you can check out our REAL reviews from real people on our social media or ebay:

Facebook: http://Facebook.com/BuyWholesale

Google: http://G.Page/BuyWholesale