The questions that come before the first order

Written down once, properly, because we were answering them on the phone over and over. No registration, no email gate, nothing to download.

12 guidesNo email gateUpdated as rules change
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Why a trading company publishes this

Half of what goes wrong in a first import goes wrong because nobody explained the rule before the order was placed. A buyer who understands where risk passes and who is liable for a classification is a better counterparty, and a better counterparty is cheaper for us too.

01

Start here if you have never imported

Read Incoterms first, then what a landed price must include. Between them they cover the two things that make quotations incomparable: the terms they are quoted on and the costs they leave out.

02

If you already have a supplier

Read how to verify a supplier is a factory and the letter of credit at sight. The first catches the counterparty problem, the second is how you stop paying for a promise.

03

If you are buying food

Read veterinary certificates before anything else, because an inadmissible establishment makes the price irrelevant. Then cut nomenclature and the cold chain.

Keep reading

All guides

Twelve, in the order we would read them.

Incoterms 2020 explainedWho pays for what, where risk passes, and why CFR splits the two.What a landed price must includeEvery line between a factory price and your own gate.How to verify a supplier is a factoryLicence, export right and the bank account name that gives it away.A letter of credit at sightWhat it protects, what it costs and where it fails.How customs data shows the real priceWhy a quotation and a transacted value are different numbers.Who is liable for the HS codeThe importer of record, and what that means in money.ISPM 15: how a pallet stops a containerHeat treatment, the mark, and where the check belongs.FCL, LCL and consolidationWhat fits, what it costs, and when to share a box.Veterinary certificates for frozen meatEstablishment approval, the certificate form and who issues it.Wing, drumette, flat: four different productsThe cut nomenclature that makes two offers incomparable.What a reefer programme requiresTemperature, recorders, plug time and the pack nobody checks.The trade remedy check before you orderWhy a deposit can exceed the value of the goods.Bill of lading and telex releaseReceipt, contract and title in one document, and how to release cargo.Demurrage and detentionThe two clocks that run after arrival, and who stops them.Certificates of originPreferential and non-preferential, who issues them, what breaks them.The proforma invoiceAn offer, not an accounting document. What it has to contain.
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Send a specification. Get a landed price.

Product, quantity and destination port is enough to start. If you only have a problem, describe it and we will write the specification with you.

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