None Boaty. Letters of credit

  • Thread starter Thread starter hlb
  • Start date Start date
hlb

hlb

RIP
Joined
16 May 2001
Messages
26,773
Location
Any Pub Lancashire or Wales
Visit site
My son has got this buineess going and we need to buy this stuff from China. Ive got the money. He wants the stuff. Any advise??

<hr width=100% size=1> <font color=blue>No one can force me to come here.<font color=red> I'm a volunteer!!.<font color=blue>

Haydn
 
Haydn,

Deal only with bankers draft and pay as little as you can up front. Pay balance only when goods have been received and inspected/analysed. Make sure that you retain sufficient moneys to protect yourself should goods be faulty and you are left carrying the can. Insist that any goods bought conform to U.K. standards and check what licenses are required for import. It's easy to be stung and left with a mess on your hands gathering demurage at port of entry, so hire a good clearance agent and make sure that paper work arrives in plenty of time before the goods so that the proper Customs lodgements can be made.

Good luck

Jim

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
It may also be worth insisting on CIP or better still DDU or DDP shipping terms as these will put the onus on the seller to clear the goods out of China (not a minor task!) and providing you play the terms right will mean no payments until the goods are cleared into in the UK.

Also if the goods are high value consider a performance bond (called if they are not fully to specification), and bond any advance payment you make...

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
25 tons of very cheap Soltron..../forums/images/icons/laugh.gif

No Granite actually.

<hr width=100% size=1> <font color=blue>No one can force me to come here.<font color=red> I'm a volunteer!!.<font color=blue>

Haydn
 
Go speak to your bank Haydn, they should be able to advise on best route and arrange them for you.

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
well I know thats where I'll end up anyway. But these days banks just have a couple of girls there for colecting loose change from shop keepers. Thought some of you lot might be more experienced in these things, so I can ask the girly in the bank the right questions.

<hr width=100% size=1> <font color=blue>No one can force me to come here.<font color=red> I'm a volunteer!!.<font color=blue>

Haydn
 
Well I used Letters of Credit when buying in Croatia during and after the civil war and it was OK if time consuming and expensive. The level of protection is not that terrific either, but I wanted to check the goods were free of bullet holes and within the EC before I paid.

In daily practice my decision has always been, "what can I afford to lose here?" As most of you know I buy clothing, dividers, and binoculars in the Far East, I have always paid up front and always received the goods. In some cases I found the suppliers on the Internet, and in other cases they found me on the Internet. I have subsequently met the clothing supplier in person, and the binocular supplier at an optical show in Cologne, but it didn't start that way.

The Night Vision deals in Russia were different, but it was a long time ago and I now have pretty well established trading links there and a good Russian friend who looks after my affairs.

I think I'd try to find out something about the supplier, ask them if they've traded in the EU or USA before, ask for some contact references, see if other people got their goods OK. Determine some kind of comfort factor. See if they'll go 50/50 with you, 50% up front and 50% on delivery, I've done that before too. Actually I've agreed "payment in three days after the goods land at Heathrow" and had it accepted, there is after all nothing you can't ask for and see where it leads.

The other thing is a signed or sealed contract sample. Useful to determine the standard of what they are supplying so that if there is a later arguement both sides can look at the sample and know it's what was agreed.

Good Luck.


<hr width=100% size=1>John
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.allgadgets.co.uk>http://www.allgadgets.co.uk</A>
 
Tell him to buy his own "stuff"

Thanks for the help with uploading the pic. It only went and worked!

Ian


<hr width=100% size=1>I'd rather have a bad day boatin, than a good day workin ! ! !
 
My next door neighbour (and good friend) had his patio rebuilt this year. Notwithstanding the fees he earns as a solicitor, he imported his stone from China (which was a glorious rosy coloured Yorkstone like material). He was very pleased with both the stone and the price - but some nosy parker kicked up a hell of a fuss over the very 'rural' nature of the 'crates' they were delivered in - apparently the word hadnt been sterilised or something. As for sterilising wood - I thought thats what Enoch Powell suggested for one of the waves of refugees in the '70s. "compulsory sterilisation?", he answered an interviewer, "quite inconceivable" !!!

Anyway, he found the process relatively straightforward I believe.

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
HLB,

I have an old chinese friend who I deal with, I used import Telphony equipment for use on our UK network, The stuff is made in china, if you want I will give you his name and email, I will speak to him before you mail him, PM me if you wnat me to give you his details?

Hagrid

<hr width=100% size=1>
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top