When importers forget to specify product details

by Renaud Anjoran on 3 February 2013

I got a great comment from fellow blogger Jacob Yount on a previous article. I thought it was worthy of being republished here.

Here is Jacob’s piece of advice to Chinese suppliers:

I’d advise suppliers “not to fill in the blanks”. This is as much the importers’ fault as the suppliers. Let me give a scenario.

The importer has left off a vital piece of detail or the supplier has a question. Many times, instead of asking the question and NOT BUDGING until they get an answer; the supplier instead makes a choice, fills in the blank and proceeds w/out confirming with the buyer.

One of the main reasons they do this is because of timing, but there are other reasons as well.

So what should the supplier do?

They need to not be shy to ask questions. Then let the client clearly and boldly know that if the client doesn’t provide the info we need by such and such date, your order WILL delay and it will be your fault. If they must proceed because of timing (ie LC payment terms), then let the buyer know in writing “we had this question, you didn’t answer, therefore we’re doing this”. If they are to deal internationally, then suppliers need to get more confirmations in professional writing (avoid too much skype or qq…utilize email more)

Also, the suppliers need to slow down before the start of production and assure all possible questions have been answered.

Usually if the suppliers fills in the blank without asking the client, coincidentally, it’s the cheapest, quickest and worse possible solution they could’ve picked…

From my observations, when something is not specified by the importer and is left up to the supplier’s choice, the supplier will go for what is easiest and cheapest (for him).

For example, if you don’t specify the type of export cartons you want, don’t be surprised if the bottom row of cartons is crushed when you receive the shipment. It is up to you, if you buy in China, to think of all these details.

What do you think?

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  • Cornelius Mueller

    “if you buy in China, (to) think of all (these) details.” Excellent advice, valid whenever you buy from overseas. Buyers frequently don’t understand why we insist to discuss even the most minute detail during the project status, in their opinion it’s ‘common sense’ or the ‘supplier should know it, as a qualified manufacturer’.

    And we will insist to discuss all points again, with the client, which did lead to questions in previous orders since we are not sure that we (or the supplier) did receive any feedback after the shipment arrived at destination resp. we better make sure that the supplier did understand the feedback, in case it was sent.

    Very often when I hear bad stories about suppliers not doing their part of the agreement I wonder if it’s really only the supplier’s fault. In many cases I find, that the client didn’t provide some detail-information which then caused delays or other problems at delivery. The supplier didn’t ask, we all know the many reasons why they don’t, and not necessarily because they want to select a cheap way out. Whichever way you look at it, it’s much easier again if the customer works with a local representative, because he can help to avoid that small problems will snowball into a major hickup. We very often make a decision about a forgotten detail on behalf of the client on the spot, but will always inform the client immediately that we have done so and what are the immediate consequences. Only very seldom will we receive a complaint afterwards. Let’s face it – customers are not very happy either to make a remote decision about an unclear detail while production is running or starting, if they can get some support in such cases they are usually relieved.

  • http://www.procurasia.com/ Etienne C.

    This is so true. While many quality issues arise from supplier’s poor manufacturing processes and weak quality assurance, the number of quality problems due to “unspoken” expectations is very high as well. Specification is key, and is the buyer’s part in the end to end quality assurance homework.

  • http://www.qualityinspection.org/ Renaud Anjoran

    Very true.

  • http://www.qualityinspection.org/ Renaud Anjoran

    You are right. A disorganized buyer who doesn’t spend time defining the details had better work with someone who can bring this to the table.
    In my experience:
    - Disorganized buyer (in 80% of cases) + disorganized manufacturer (in 99% of cases) = a mess.
    - Disorganized buyer + disorganized trader + disorganized manufacturer = a huge mess.
    - Disorganized buyer + very organized trader/agent + disorganized manufacturer = no problem most of the time.

  • http://jacobyount.com/ Jacob Yount

    This is a great breakdown and could probably be an entire post w/graph if you haven’t done so already!

  • http://www.qualityinspection.org/ Renaud Anjoran

    Let me think about this ;-)

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