You are probably reading this because someone close to you has convinced you to invest in Chymall.
So, you want to know if you are making the right decision to invest your money into this scheme.
Yes, as at today, Chymall is the rave of the moment when it comes to investing for high ROI in Nigeria, but how legit is this investment opportunity?
Well, I’m as curious as you. I had a friend who already invested in Chymall. Some days back, we happened to be discussing investing and making money in Nigeria, until he brought up the idea of investing in Chymall.
For the records, I’m usually not a fan of giving my money to others or investing in any investment scheme with the hope of capital gains. I love control, and I love to invest in real businesses that I own and control.
But in the case of Chymall, I got really interested, not because of the high ROI, but the concept behind the investment scheme.
I read more about Chymall as a veritable investment vehicle in Nigeria, and I got to know that it is structured as a retail/e-commerce concept.
So, how does Chymal work?
According to my understanding of the Chymall concept, the idea is built around crowdfunding e-commerce in a kind of subtle way.
So, it is basically an ecommerce website for shopping in Nigeria, but the goods and online shops are funded by individual investors.
Imagine Jumia incorporating crowdfunding to its platform. That is exactly what Chymall is and how it is structured.
Chymall claims to allow its investors to buy products at wholesale prices, and in turn, Chymall sells those products at retail prices, thereby, making profits for its investors.
It claims to sell the products to customers all over the world, and give its investors a percentage return (about 5%) every 10 days.
Is Chymall really an ecommerce business?
I was curious to verify Chymall’s claims of being an ecommerce business with the aim of helping investors bring their businesses online.
So, I logged on to Chymall website to see for myself.
Since Chymall claims to sell its products to customers all over the world, it means I could log on to the site and purchase a product like I would in any other ecommerce website like Jumia, Konga, or even Amazon or Aliexpress.
The key for any ecommerce business is to have a lot of buyers coming to their website to buy.
So, I logged onto the Chymall’s website to try to purchase a PSG jersey. To my surprise, I couldn’t purchase it. I was prompted to register as a member.
Hmm. Normally, if a new customer tries to purchase a product from an ecommerce website for the first time, the website would usually add the customer’s products to a cart, bring out the summary of their purchase, before prompting them to register their details.
Well, I wasn’t discouraged. I tried to register on their website, but to my shock, the registration went through without asking for my email address or phone number.
So, if I made a purchase, there was no personal identifier or even a way to send me the receipt for my purchase.
How does that even work?
This is the first sign that Chymall may not really be an eCommerce business like it claims to be.
Well, I was determined to finish the process.
I finally registered on the Chymall website without an email address or a phone number. But I had a username and a password to log in. So, I logged in and tried to purchase the PSG jersey again.
Well, I was told I couldn’t purchase anything on the website.
Grin. Grin. Grin!
Reason for not allowing me to purchase on Chymall: “This member has no level”
Is Chymall A Scam?
Apparently, I need to have a level (aka, be a paid member or investor) to be able to purchase products on Chymall.
But…..But…… Chymall claims to sell its products to customers all over the world…
If I needed to be an investor to purchase products on Chymall, then it means that Chymall’s only customers are its investors.
Are you thinking what I’m thinking?
Who then buys all the products that Chymall claims to sell on their website all over the world?
What is the use of their ecommerce website in the first place?
How sure are you that if you invest in owning an ecommerce store on Chymall, they wouldn’t pack up before you are able to recoup your capital?
Your guess is as good as mine.
So, how does Chymall make money?
To me, it seems that Chymall is not an eCommerce business. If normal people (non-affiliates) cannot buy products on its website, then how does Chymall sell its products?
It seems to be using the eCommerce concept to legitimize its Ponzi scheme. And it seems to be working.
With the current structure, it seems Chymall convinces investors to buy products (virtually) and then sell those same products to new investors.
If Chymall pays its investors a 5% return every 10 days, it would take 200 days (approximately 6 and half months) for investors to get back their capital in full.
Wow. Just wow.
This smells like a big fat Ponzi scheme waiting to burst.
To me, there is no clear business path in the way Chymall’s business is structured. It seems to just recycle the revenues brought in by new investors in the hope that those investors would bring in more new investors, who would in turn bring new revenues to the system.
The Chymall system is basically running on word-of-mouth marketing, which is one of the strongest marketing models you can find.
So, Is Chymall a Good Investment?
Without mincing words, let’s take a look at some of the criteria I consider to make an investment worth the while.
Control:
Even though there is a false perception among Chymall investors that they are in control of their investment, they are not.
The idea that you own a shop on Chymall is only just an illusion. There are no physical products and there are no real customers.
So, basically, if you invest in Chymall. You become both the investor and the customer. How does that work? This is merely false control. Once you are in, you are in.
There is no way to control what you earn like you would in a normal ecommerce shop.
For example, if you invested in owning a shop on Jumia or Aliexpress, you could control how much you earn in a month by increasing your advert spend.
You could also choose to close shop for a month or even choose to sell the whole business if you wish.
But that is not possible with Chymall.
Ownership:
Contrary to what most Chymall investors think, if you invest in Chymall, you don’t own anything.
The virtual shop, the virtual goods, etc, belongs to Chymall and not to the investors. You cannot transfer ownership of your Chymall shop like you would your Amazon store.
So, you are basically investing with trust that Chymall would open a virtual shop for you, fill the shop with products, and sell those products on your behalf.
However, there is no guarantee that Chymall actually does that. There is no proof of anything, only pictures on a website.
Liquidity:
With Chymall, investors cannot choose to liquidate their investment anytime they please.
Typically, once you invest in Chymall, you are tied in for over 6 months, whether you like it or not. You cannot opt out and you cannot close your account without losing all your investment.
A good investment gives room for liquidity. Things change, investors motives and pursuit change.
A good investment scheme gives its investors the chance to opt out without losing too much of their investment. Chymall doesn’t do that.
Should You Invest in Chymall?
To be honest, I wouldn’t invest in Chymall.
Not only is it too risky for me, the business model is confusing at best and only structured to attract gullible investors.
But as with many HYIP and ponzi schemes in Nigeria, the first set of investors get to make the bulk of the money. The biggest losers are usually those who come late to the party.
However, if I was convinced to invest in Chymall as an early bird, the more than 6 months wait-time is too long to get back my capital, not to talk of any ROI.
Final Verdict
Don’t invest.
But if you choose to do so as an early investor, invest at your own risk. I strongly believe the risk-to-reward ratio for investing in Chymall is not compelling enough for me as an investor.
So, not interested.