On Mar 16, 2015, at 1:48 PM, B wrote:
Your approach of "take or leave it" really makes sense when approaching buyers. I keep getting stuck in my head when I imagine the shipment getting stopped by customs on the buyer's side. Yes, it is the buyers problem, but isn't a customer's problem really mine as well?
An annoying hold up at their border or return to sender seems like it will leave a sour taste in the buyers mouth making it unlikely they will want to buy anything from me again. When there are only a certain number of (deleted) buyers in Japan, creating smooth transactions seems key.
Why is Japanese customs holding up a Japanese buyer's product in Japanese buyer's country your problem? How could you have any control over that? Why would you promise something (smooth transaction) you cannot possibly deliver? When they pre-paid the shipment, they tacitly agree all problems are theirs.
As an importer, I have run into just about every problem you can with USA customs. My supplier had nothing to do with it, but in the occasions they did (failure to mark the goods with C/O tags) I just dealt with it.
Reason #48,274 you are offering the smallest order rational is because there are problems with every shipment, especially new connections, there will be problems, and small quantities are easier to deal with, or lose, than large shipments.
Finally, the second you do a favor (Sure! We'll put your ingredients label on) then when their country's customs objects, it is now your problem to solve for the goods sitting on the docks in that foreign country. No good deed goes unpunished. No thanks, take it or leave it. Real importers will take it.
On Mar 16, 2015, at 3:50 PM, B wrote:
On Mon, Mar 16, 2015 at 4:00 PM, John Spiers <john@johnspiers.com> wrote:After kinks are worked out THEN start doing favors....is that what you mean
Your job is consistent pack to grade, reasonably on agreed time.No, no good deed ever goes unpunished. After they prove they make money, then they get charged a super premium for every request. they will want you to put on a label that costs you fifty cents and them five cents on for free. You offer to do it for $2.50 a label, take it or leave it. They pass, and do it for five cents each themselves.And they still prepay, with a view to if there are any problems, it does them no good to appeal to you.Just the way it is in int'l trade.
John
Feel free to forward this by email to three of your friends.
2 comments:
John, the last phrase "Real importers will take" makes me wonder:
You, as an importer, have you ever run into problems of labeling or similar?
and if you did:
How did you solve it without losing the shipment you bought?
and finally as an importer:
Why would you import as FOB instead of convincing the exporter to use CIF?
Is there any advantage (as an importer) to use FOB instead of asking for CIF?
Thanks
Yes, I cannot recall the number of times I received a "notice of redelivery" from USA Customs ( think I mention this in the book) requiring I return the goods to Customs control for lack of C/O marking or some such. Who hasn't?
I've never lost a shipment. Our Customsbroker gets on the phone and works it out. I recall one time, since we had already shipped the goods out, we just mailed our customers C/O tags to put on the product: OK by customs. Many other times we transferred the goods to :"sheltered workshops" where developmentally disabled got to work opening master cases and slapping labels on the retail packaging. ho hum... they love the work and get plenty of it. Recall, we only buy minimums, never fill container loads. These problems are always in manageable bites.
AS to FOB v CIF, CIF is crazy. In FOB the freight charge is paid upon receipt, in CIF the freight is paid when you place the order... Why would I tie up $2000 of my line to prepay freight on an order 120 days out before delivery? Next, the F in CIF is the most expensive Freight quote, the riskless quote on the part of people looking into the future trying to divine freight rates... with FOB, I get the best/cheapest around the few days the shipment is actually ready to load. Ever see those airline ticket matrices that show you how a day earlier or later the price is 1/2? Same as ocean freight.
The only thing I would convince the supplier of in demanding CIF is that I am an idiot.
John
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