How to write a request to a Chinese supplier of goods?

Now let's discuss how to correctly write a request to the Chinese supplier, so that you will get a response and give you the most useful information.

First! We will communicate in English, which is neither native for us nor for the Chinese, so even if you are fluent in English, I would recommend using the simplest words and without participial turns.

Second. It is best if you do not write a sheet of text, but ask questions point by point.

We will write a request to the Chinese and ask them questions that will help us decide who to order the goods from.

Let's greet people, I will write through a slash line variants of this or that offer

Hello / Hi / Good day!

Then we will introduce ourselves briefly, so that the supplier understands that he is communicating with a purchasing manager of a large company and understands from what country this purchasing manager is from.

I am purchase manager of Furniture Trade Limited, from Moscow.

I am purchase manager of Furniture Trade Limited, from Shopitovka, Ukraine.

We are whole sale company and we are interesting for your round table.

Could you please provide follow information:

The typed text of the whole letter can be downloaded from this link sample letter.

And list at the beginning a list of questions about the product that you want to clarify, because you do not understand or do not see this information in the product description.

1. What is the thickness of the legs?
2. How the legs connect to the surface?

However, try to read the product description carefully and ask as few such questions as possible, as a large list of such questions can tire the seller and he will think that it is easier to refuse such a meticulous buyer and spend time on a more promising buyer. However, to ask 1-2 two such questions is quite acceptable.

Next, we list the questions that will allow us to determine whether this supplier is interesting to us:

3. What terms of shipment?
    
4. What terms of payment?
    
5. What price for order of 1 piece /30 pieces/ 100 pieces?
    
6. What minimum order quantity?
    
7. What is lead time for 100 Pieces?

Thank you in advance,

--

Respectfully,

Mr. Ivan Ivanov

Procurement manager

Furniture Trade Limited

+7 (000) 775-07-94
 

Now let's look at questions three through seven in detail:

3. What terms of shipment? We are asking on what terms of shipment the seller quotes the price. In simple terms, what is included in the price of the goods? Later there will be a separate post about terms of shipment, there are 11 main terms of shipment in total. But that you can start writing right now I will say this - in China 90% of all shipments go on the terms of delivery FOB, stands for free on board, which means that the cost of goods includes all costs until the moment the cargo crosses the board of the ship, that is, when the cargo was on board the ship - the seller has fulfilled all its obligations and from this point you separately begin to pay for sea transportation from the port of departure to the port of destination, unloading the cargo from the board of the ship in the port of destination and all further costs. For example, you may be told that the terms of delivery are FOB -Shanghai or FOB - Ningbo. This means that the supplier is located somewhere near the port of Shanghai and he will deliver and load the cargo on board the ship in the port of Shanghai. If you are offered other terms of delivery, you should ask the seller to give you the FOB price, it will be much easier to work with.
    
4. Next question What terms of payment? what terms of payment ? 90% of containerized shipments are on 30/70 terms. This means that you sign a contract, agree on the volume of purchase, receive an invoice for payment, pay 30% of the invoice amount, then the Chinese usually within 30 days produce the goods, load on board the ship, provide you with a scanned copy of the Bill of Lading and then you pay the second part of the payment in the amount of 70%. You will then receive the original Bill of Lading via courier (post) so that you can collect the goods at the port of destination. You must have the original bill of lading on hand to collect the goods at the port of destination. The seller will send you the bill of lading only after you have paid in full for the purchased goods.
    
5. Next question What price for order of 1 piece /30 pieces/ 100 pieces? What is the price for order of 1 piece / 30 pieces / 100 pieces ?Often the price varies with the quantity ordered, more you take less you pay per piece. And to see the difference in price it is better to ask this question.
    
6. Next question What minimum order quantity? What is the minimum order quantity? This question should also be asked, because for example, you may want to buy only three tables and the factory does not sell less than 10. You need to either increase the order or look for another factory or seller who will sell you 3 pcs. In China there are a lot of companies that are engaged in that organize the supply of a small number of goods from different factories and for them it is not difficult to buy at least 1 table at the factory. Yes, these intermediaries take a small commission for their work, but it is much easier to work with them and you can buy any quantity of goods you need from several factories at once and send it all in one batch.
    
7. Next question What is lead time for 100 Piece? What is the lead time for 100 pieces? Usually 1-2 samples are available at the factory, but if you want to order a large quantity, you need to know the lead time for the production of the quantity you need, it can be a week or even a month. Everything is individual, you need to ask this question every time.

At the end of the letter insert a signature with the name of your company and phone number. It is very important that you are taken more seriously.

That's all for this topic. I hope everything is clear to everyone. You can ask additional questions on this topic in the comments.