Service
Purchasing on your behalf
You choose the supplier. We negotiate, sign the contract, pay, and stay on the batch until it ships. Where opening your own import contract for a single shipment makes no sense, we buy in our name instead.
01 — Your brief
What clients bring us
I have found the supplier. Negotiate it and buy it for me.
I am not opening an import contract for one shipment.
I want one agreement and one invoice, not an email thread in three languages.
I am not comfortable wiring a deposit to a factory I have never met.
02 — What is included
What we do inside the deal
- 01Negotiation with the supplierPrice, volume, packaging, lead time, Incoterms and payment structure — argued in the factory’s own language.
- 02Contract and specificationWe draft the wording and take it to signature: product requirements, liability for late delivery and for goods that miss the specification.
- 03Payment to the supplierWe pay on the terms written into the contract and hand you the payment documents.
- 04Buying without your own import contractWhen opening a foreign trade contract for a single shipment is not worth it, we sign with the factory and supply you under our agreement with you.
- 05Following the batch to shipmentWe stay in contact with production on volume, completeness and the ready date. If the date slips, you hear it from us rather than from silence.
- 06The shipping document setInvoice, packing list and specification, collected in the form customs will accept.
- 07One manager on the dealHe knows your goods, your supplier and what you have already agreed. Nothing needs explaining twice.
03 — What is not included
What this service does not cover
The boundary is easier to state now than to explain halfway through a deal.
- Freight, customs and deliveryPurchasing ends at shipment. The route, the border and the warehouse are separate services — taken alongside this one or on their own.
- Finding the supplierHere we work with the factory you have already chosen. If there is nothing to choose from yet, start with sourcing and verification.
- Funding the purchaseWe do not lend against the deal, grant credit terms, or buy the batch with our own money.
- Legal and tax adviceWe do not stand in for your lawyer or your accountant. Show them the contract before you sign it.
- A guarantee in place of the manufacturerWe do not make the goods. Liability for quality stays with the factory — our job is to get it written into the contract and enforced.
- Certification for the importing marketPermits and certificates are prepared separately, together with customs clearance.
04 — How the deal runs
Six steps from agreement to shipment
Lead times depend on the goods and the factory, so we quote them in our reply to your brief rather than on this page.
- 01BriefYou hand over the supplier, the goods and the terms you have reached. We look for what is still missing for a contract.A list of open questions for the supplier
- 02NegotiationPrice, volume, packaging, lead time, Incoterms and the payment schedule.Agreed commercial terms, in writing
- 03ContractEverything agreed goes into the wording, including liability for late delivery and for defects.Contract and specification ready for signature
- 04PaymentWe pay once you have approved the contract and the specification.Payment documents and the supplier’s confirmation
- 05ProductionWe stay in contact with the factory on volume, completeness and the ready date.Written status of the batch
- 06ShipmentWe agree the date, the place and the terms on which the cargo passes to the carrier.Invoice, packing list and specification as one set
05 — Who is accountable
Where our responsibility ends
The second column matters as much as the first: decisions about money and goods stay with you.
We take on
- Correspondence and negotiation with the supplier in their own language
- Drafting the contract and specification and taking them to signature
- Paying the supplier on contract terms and passing you the payment documents
- Contact with production on the ready date, and early warning when it slips
- Collecting the shipping document set
- Agreeing the date and terms of handover to the carrier
Stays with you
- The choice of supplier, price and volume — the final word is yours
- Approving the specification and product requirements before the contract is signed
- Funding the purchase: the money for the goods is yours
- Review of the contract by your lawyer and accountant, if you want one
06 — Documents
Who prepares which document
| Document | Who prepares it | Stage |
|---|---|---|
| Supply contract | We draft it with the supplier | Before payment |
| Specification | Supplier drafts it, we check it | Before payment |
| Commercial invoice | Supplier | Before shipment |
| Packing list | Supplier | Before shipment |
| Payment documents | The bank | After payment |
07 — Cost
How the cost of a purchase is worked out
We name a figure in our reply to your enquiry. Below is what sits inside it: what you pay us for, and what is passed on to you exactly as invoiced.
- 01A fixed fee per stageContract and specification, payment and the bank paperwork that goes with it, monitoring the production run, shipment. Each stage carries its own price, named before the work starts.
- 02We do not resell the goods at a mark-upWe are paid a fee for the work, not the margin between two prices. It appears on the invoice as a separate line, not buried inside the cost of the goods.
- 03Third-party charges pass straight throughPayment to the supplier, bank charges, cargo insurance and pre-shipment inspection are billed to you as invoiced, and we take no margin on them.
- 04A percentage on repeat purchasingOnce orders are running regularly, a percentage of the purchase value is simpler to work with. The rate and the basis it is calculated on go into the contract before work begins, and we do not reopen them just because the supplier has put its prices up.
- 05The client pays our feeWe take no commission and no rebate from suppliers. A volume discount from the factory comes off your price; it does not become our margin.
08 — Related services
What usually comes with purchasing
09 — Questions
What clients ask before the first payment
Whose name is on the contract with the supplier?
There are two structures. Either you sign the contract and we negotiate and run the deal, or we sign with the factory and supply you under our agreement with you — in which case you do not need an import contract of your own. We settle which one applies before negotiations start and put it in writing, so the question is closed well before any money moves.
Who owns the goods?
It follows the structure. If the contract with the factory is yours, the goods become yours at the point set by the agreed Incoterms. If we buy in our own name, title passes to you under our agreement with you, and the moment of transfer is written into it. Either way, the transfer point is on paper before the payment leaves.
What about the deposit?
The size of the deposit and what the balance is tied to are matters for negotiation, not a rate we set. We agree the terms with the supplier and bring them to you for approval; the payment goes out only after you have signed off the contract and the specification. The money for the purchase is yours — we do not fund the deal.
What if the supplier misses the deadline?
Liability for late delivery is written into the contract before signature — that is one of the reasons we draft it. From there the decision is yours: wait, claim under the contract, or move to another factory. We do not promise that delays are impossible. We are accountable for you hearing about one from us, with the options set out.
Do you make money on the difference in the price of the goods?
No. We are paid a fee for running the deal, not a mark-up on the goods. There is nothing in it for us if the goods cost more, which is exactly why we can push the factory hard on price.
Do you take a fee from the supplier?
No — from the client only. No commission, no rebate, no discount from the supplier. Whatever the factory knocks off for volume comes off your price in full.
What happens if the batch is defective?
The procedure goes into the contract in advance: what counts as non-conformity, how long you have to raise a claim, and what the supplier then does — replacement, top-up delivery or refund. We run the claim correspondence and press for it to be honoured. We neither manufacture nor insure the goods: we do not reimburse the value of the batch ourselves, but we are accountable for the claim being filed properly and reaching the factory.
You have the supplier. The deal still has to be made.
Tell us what the goods are, who you are buying from and where the terms stand. We will come back with a deal structure and a list of what has to be closed before payment.