Earlier this month China Direct was asked by an importer (who became a new client) to assist them with their supplier in China. The nature of the request was to resolve a disagreement in regard to the quality of products that the importer had received. His story went like this.

He had visited China to source products six months ago and met a supplier that had samples of the product he was seeking. About one month after returning to Australia he ordered $10,000 worth of the product. When the products arrived, he found that about 25% of the shipment was similar to, but not exactly of, the same quality as the rest of the shipment. I asked him to show me the purchase order he had sent to the supplier.  The order form he showed me was not a proper order form necessary for the international importation of goods. I immediately realized this was going to be a major part of his problem and not a part of the solution. After years of experience, I have become fairly versed in dispute resolution and have come to realize how important the Purchase Order plays in the process of sourcing and safely importing products from China.

The Purchase Order needs to be a legally binding document that holds the vendor accountable for the quality of products ordered and ensures that they are delivered in good order on or before an agreed upon time. The China Direct Purchase Order (PO) has

held the test of time over many years. It has saved our clients much time and money by making the supplier contractually liable for  their actions that may adversely affect our client’s business. This seven page document, written in English and Chinese, has been purposely skewed in favor of  our client to  reduce risk and protect them as much as possible from any unexpected event during the importation process. Important points covered in our PO are quality assurance, packaging, delivery deadlines, deposits, payments, copyrights, licenses, inspections, and force majeure. This document  has protected our clients for more than five years by providing recourse from product quality failures, late deliveries, design and copyright infringement, and faulty packaging.

Sorry for the digression – back to the story. After learning the history of the case and contacting our client’s supplier, it appeared that a lack of communication and misunderstanding was the primary cause of the mishap. Luckily, I was able to convince the supplier to replace the questionable products at no cost to our client. He was fortunate since he really had little recourse based on the purchase order that had been used.  A clearly stated, properly drawn up Purchase Order is so important that I highly recommend importers use our form at the very least, even if they do not utilize any of the other services we provide.

The China Direct Purchase Order is available at our Import from China Website here.
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