China Sourcing 101: Contracts And Negotiations- Payments

China sourcing tips when it comes to payments

During my 20 years living in Asia, I’ve owned a number of different business entities in greater China, ranging from China WFOE’s to HK holding companies to service companies. I’ve represented fortune 500 companies as well as startups in their dealings with Chinese suppliers. In one of our recent busy years at PassageMaker, my team was responsible for sourcing over 200 million USD worth of goods in China.

I was the point person for negotiations and contract review with the suppliers. I’ve taken Chinese companies to court (and won!) over disputes arising from poor quality, broken promises, pirated goods & late deliveries. The legal system has come a long way in China. Foreigners can get a fair shake if you know how the system works.

I have taken the liberty of creating a short series including video tutorials and expanded transcripts that goes into some detail about how foreigner buyers can protect themselves in China.

Let’s dive right in to today’s installment: “ Contracts And Negotiations: Payments.”

This 90 minute video is an exclusive recording from a seminar in Hong Kong on the subject of negotiations with Chinese suppliers. A large portion of the video is dedicated to Q&A with the audience of international buyers. They may be asking the same types of questions you may be asking! The slides are show on the video, so feel free to jump around if you don’t have a full 90 minutes to spare.

What are reasonable payment terms?

Don’t be surprised if a supplier asks for 100% payment in advance. Realize this is negotiable, just as you wouldn’t necessarily accept the first offer of price without a negotiation. I have found that “30-40-30 terms” are often an acceptable middle ground on payment terms, fair to both parties.

Under 30-40-30 terms, the initial 30% of PO value is placed as a deposit. This allows the supplier to buy materials and lock in the price (especially important if you have a long lead time or deal in materials which face great price fluctuations, or example metals.) The second payment, of 40%, occurs at shipping upon confirmation of quality. The final 30% is paid upon receipt and inspection at the final destination. Let’s look at this 30-40-30 from both the buyer’s and seller’s perspectives to find why it was an acceptable middle ground.

The seller is worried that the buyer will default on payment, so getting 70% (40+30) before the goods leave port limits their exposure. As the average factory in China makes between 10 and 30% mark up, the 70% covers at least the majority of his internal costs, so even if the buyer defaults it won’t put him out of business.

The buyer’s biggest concern is that the goods will have quality issues or not arrive at all. By holding out on the final 30% until delivery, the buyer has leverage if quality problems require re-work or replacement parts. It is also important to remember that the 40% is not paid until after the goods are inspected in China, so quality confirmation must be a key part of the payment process if you want to be safe.