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Kabayan Central.Com Success Story
Manny,
One of the first Filipino online stores is Kabayan Central.Com which is co-owned by Armin Santiaguel that sells tagalog videos, OPM CD, Filipino books, e-Load and other Philippine source products. It was started in 1998 when most of the big time players on the internet now were still rising.
Like most internet entrepreneur, it allows them to start on a minimal investment and inventory and small overhead expenses. Way back then it cost about US$70+ to register on a domain for two years and they registered www.kabayancentral.com for their first online store. Armin and his group work on building their dream, the two worked on programming, one on handling merchant account. Since those days there were no internet merchant accounts available locally, you have to have a US bank account to apply for one.
Their initial plan is to have a local counter part of amazon.com which only sells books that time. But they include CDs in their planned inventory for local artists. Since it’s not so easy to persuade local publishers to post their books in their online store even it is for free, they have turned their attention to recording. Luckily there were recording companies who responded to them: Viva, Sony and Vicor Records. They have also discovered that people were more interested in music that in books and again, with the stroke of luck found a distributor who have access to all the labels.
Like all online entrepreneurs or website owners, traffic or visitor is the most important factor in building a website. This is their next challenge. Since their advertising budget is very limited, they have to exchange links to other websites in order for them to have a good search engine ranking and visitors from other websites to visit them also coming from those links and submissions to well established directories like Yahoo for search engine optimization. And to keep customers coming back, they have to put fresh content frequently and use their feedback to improve sale and serve their customers’ needs.
Since e-commerce was still in its infancy, it is difficult to get customers and shipping problems was one of their obstacles. Added to it is their lack of experience in the retail business. But we all learn from mistakes and like the rest of the successful entrepreneurs, they have overcome it. Starting from US$154.00 and now a whooping US$25,000 monthly gross sale after eight years of patience. Their customers were mostly overseas Filipino workers who use the internet and own a credit card, which was their main objective from the very start. So the lesson here was “Commitment”, as he have said himself, “without commitment, your venture is already half dead from the very start”.
Hi!! I read that Kabayancentral main office is located in Kapitolyo pasig.I just wanna ask if can I go through the main office and just Pay and pick up my desired order on the office? I have no credit card,but I’m near on the main office location.
@ARMIN SANTIAGUEL
Thanks Sir for helping me answer that. You are a great help.
Just go to http://www.eCensus.com.ph and place your order for a certificate BUT this service is designed for clients located OUTSIDE the Philippines and you will be charged in US dollars. Kabayancentral.com is the payment gateway partner of eCensus for this service.
If you are in the Philippines, use any local Census counterpart like LBC, etc. which is going to cost you a lot less and will charge you in pesos only.
I need to find out how pay for my birth certificate through kabayan central.
Hello Vikke,
I am the webmaster of KabayanCentral and we understand how you feel. But we disagree with your claim that we committed fraud against you.
As you know, we sent your parcel and even provided you the registry number of your parcel which we sent via registered mail.
Your parcel was recorded as having arrived in the US by the USPS.COM website. Here was the status of your parcel from the usps.com website:
======================================================
Label/Receipt Number: RR04 3882 458S E
Status: Inbound International Arrival
Your item arrived in the United States at ISC NEW YORK NY(USPS) at 4:22 PM on July 26, 2008. Information, if available, is updated every evening. Please check again later.
========================================================
Somehow your parcel didnt make it to you. Even though it was already sent via registered mail, the US postal service lost it.
Unfortunately, every time the USPS fails to make a delivery (even though their records show they have the parcel), the customer always assumes that we committed fraud. If we will commit fraud, why would we send a parcel in the first place?
As stated in our FAQ page, I said that we will refund you for the lost parcel even though it is no fault of ours. But in your last email, you stated that you are going to file a complaint/chargeback. You are, of course, entitled to this action. But in doing so, we need not refund you anymore because the chargeback claim you made effectively withdraws the amount you paid us from our account and credit it back to your card.
If the amount you filed a chargeback claim against is not yet credited to your account, then please follow this up with your credit card bank.
It is up to them to credit this amount back to you.
If you have any other concerns, please dont hesitate to contact us again.
Hello Vikke,
Sorry to hear that, try to contact them again and maybe they will solve your problem.
Sir I’d like to correct you on one thing. If Kabyayan Central is or was successful, I can almost gurantee it wasn’t because of hard work or “Commitment”. It was probably due to FRAUD. Thats right, FRAUD. I was just taken by this company for $45 bucks after I placed an online order. I was notified by a representative named Salamat that someone had stolen his computer and asked if I wanted a refund or a replacement parcel. I advised him I wanted a refund and never heard from him again. He wont even answer my phone calls. Now my bank has cancelled my card because it was “compromised”. DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS STORE!!!
Hi!! I read that Kabayancentral main office is located in Kapitolyo pasig.I just wanna ask if can I go through the main office and just Pay and pick up my desired order on the office? I have no credit card,but I’m near on the main office location.
@ARMIN SANTIAGUEL
Thanks Sir for helping me answer that. You are a great help.
Just go to http://www.eCensus.com.ph and place your order for a certificate BUT this service is designed for clients located OUTSIDE the Philippines and you will be charged in US dollars. Kabayancentral.com is the payment gateway partner of eCensus for this service.
If you are in the Philippines, use any local Census counterpart like LBC, etc. which is going to cost you a lot less and will charge you in pesos only.
I need to find out how pay for my birth certificate through kabayan central.
Hello Vikke,
I am the webmaster of KabayanCentral and we understand how you feel. But we disagree with your claim that we committed fraud against you.
As you know, we sent your parcel and even provided you the registry number of your parcel which we sent via registered mail.
Your parcel was recorded as having arrived in the US by the USPS.COM website. Here was the status of your parcel from the usps.com website:
======================================================
Label/Receipt Number: RR04 3882 458S E
Status: Inbound International Arrival
Your item arrived in the United States at ISC NEW YORK NY(USPS) at 4:22 PM on July 26, 2008. Information, if available, is updated every evening. Please check again later.
========================================================
Somehow your parcel didnt make it to you. Even though it was already sent via registered mail, the US postal service lost it.
Unfortunately, every time the USPS fails to make a delivery (even though their records show they have the parcel), the customer always assumes that we committed fraud. If we will commit fraud, why would we send a parcel in the first place?
As stated in our FAQ page, I said that we will refund you for the lost parcel even though it is no fault of ours. But in your last email, you stated that you are going to file a complaint/chargeback. You are, of course, entitled to this action. But in doing so, we need not refund you anymore because the chargeback claim you made effectively withdraws the amount you paid us from our account and credit it back to your card.
If the amount you filed a chargeback claim against is not yet credited to your account, then please follow this up with your credit card bank.
It is up to them to credit this amount back to you.
If you have any other concerns, please dont hesitate to contact us again.
Hello Vikke,
Sorry to hear that, try to contact them again and maybe they will solve your problem.
Sir I’d like to correct you on one thing. If Kabyayan Central is or was successful, I can almost gurantee it wasn’t because of hard work or “Commitment”. It was probably due to FRAUD. Thats right, FRAUD. I was just taken by this company for $45 bucks after I placed an online order. I was notified by a representative named Salamat that someone had stolen his computer and asked if I wanted a refund or a replacement parcel. I advised him I wanted a refund and never heard from him again. He wont even answer my phone calls. Now my bank has cancelled my card because it was “compromised”. DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS STORE!!!