My client doesn't know any international terms!What can i do?

I received his inquiry from ALIBABA a few months ago.After a few emails and calls,he would come to visit my factory.But later,he changed his mind because he wanted to order one machine first for a trial.If the first machine would run well,he promised to purchase at least 20 sets each year.

First,we signed confidential agreements to protect our techanical drawings to be enclosed or used illegally.But he refused to sign the contract.He said he needed to consult his lawyer.My client was totally innocent to international trade.Ironically,his lawyer  also knew nothing about external trade .He even asked what CIF Edmonton stands for?I suggested to my client that it was much better to get advice from banks which can give him professional answers to his questions.

He was even worried about the deposit.At the beginning,he even mentioned that our company had better point an Canadian lawyer to hold the deposit.What the hell?

I invited him to come to China to inspect the machine before shipment.Until now,it is the best way which i can think of.We will deduct the round airfares from the total value .That means we will pay for the round-trip ticketsHowever.He seems uninterested.I have not received his reply yet .

here,i have a few questions about this clients.Please give me your advice.Any suggestion or comment is highly appreciated.

1.Does this client really wanna make cooperate with our company?

2.I quoted to him.He even didn't  negociate with me about the price.Usually,most of buyers asked me to low price.He didn't!

3.If you were me,what would you do?

4.Is there anyone from Canada?

I will come back to check your comments at times.In case i miss any comment,you guys are welcome to talk with me on MSN.Any comment is appreciated!

ALEX

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Latest News :MAY 21st,2008

He replied: "Alex. We are willing to put the money in trust for the machine. We will not buy the unit until it is tested and proved on site in . Please contact my partner".

My question is : Does it mean that he will pay part of the total value and pay the rest later? what does "pay in trust for" mean?

I am looking forward to your kind reply.Thank everybody in advance!

MSN:rocky_chow2003@yahoo.com

Alex

Alex, if a customer does not know the basics as far as terminology then my advice is not to be rude but also not to spend too much time on them.

Any serious customer with serious money to spend would invest their time to protect their financial investment by understanding the business before jumping into it.

It does not mean that you wont get an order from this customer, but I suspect that although his intentions may be true, at the end of the day he will find that it is just too difficult and he will give up on the idea. Perhaps he has already given up which would explain why he hasnt replied to your last contact.

Quoting from [Egernia]:

Alex, if a customer does not know the basics as far as terminology then my advice is not to be rude but also not to spend too much time on them.

Any serious customer with serious money to spend would invest their time to protect their financial investment by understanding the business before jumping into it.

It does not mean that you wont get an order from this customer, but I suspect that although his intentions may be true, at the end of the day he will find that it is just too difficult and he will give up on the idea. Perhaps he has already given up which would explain why he hasnt replied to your last contact.

Thank you,Egernia.It is really a great commend.

I admitted that there was a little joking around when i was talking about my client,just because it had bothered for a while.When i communicated with him via emails or phone,i showed him every courtesy.

As you said,i won't spend much time on him.But i will keep in touch with him.At least,If he would cancle the cooperation,i hope to know what makes him give up.

Egernia ,i read many posts you put. you have a good sense of international business.Most important,you've  helped a lot of people with that.That is why i wanna talk with you on Trademanager.(Unfortunately,i was rejected.)

Alex

Quoting from [samlxd]:

I received his inquiry from ALIBABA a few months ago.After a few emails and calls,he would come to visit my factory.But later,he changed his mind because he wanted to order one machine first for a trial.If the first machine would run well,he promised to purchase at least 20 sets each year.

First,we signed confidential agreements to protect our techanical drawings to be enclosed or used illegally.But he refused to sign the contract.He said he needed to consult his lawyer.My client was totally innocent to international trade.Ironically,his lawyer  also knew nothing about external trade .He even asked what CIF Edmonton stands for?I suggested to my client that it was much better to get advice from banks which can give him professional answers to his questions.

He was even worried about the deposit.At the beginning,he even mentioned that our company had better point an Canadian lawyer to hold the deposit.What the hell?

I invited him to come to China to inspect the machine before shipment.Until now,it is the best way which i can think of.We will deduct the round airfares from the total value .That means we will pay for the round-trip ticketsHowever.He seems uninterested.I have not received his reply yet .

here,i have a few questions about this clients.Please give me your advice.Any suggestion or comment is highly appreciated.

1.Does this client really wanna make cooperate with our company?

2.I quoted to him.He even didn't  negociate with me about the price.Usually,most of buyers asked me to low price.He didn't!

3.If you were me,what would you do?

4.Is there anyone from Canada?

I will come back to check your comments at times.In case i miss any comment,you guys are welcome to talk with me on MSN.Any comment is appreciated!

ALEX

Dealing with 1st timer in international trade often proved to be very annoying and stressful as very often they don't understand on it works. It's where you have to educate them on.

As for the payment term, if he's not comfortable with the deposit, ask him to go for LC then if it's acceptable by your company. LC always proved to be the safest way to safeguard the buyer's interest. Wasn't a BANK proved to be more trustable than a LAWYER?

Usually buyer doesn't compare or ask for much when the goods is coming from China, the reasons? Where else you can get a better rate than in China?

Anyway, Good luck in your trade and hope you secure the deal!

Quoting from [samlxd]:

I received his inquiry from ALIBABA a few months ago.After a few emails and calls,he would come to visit my factory.But later,he changed his mind because he wanted to order one machine first for a trial.If the first machine would run well,he promised to purchase at least 20 sets each year.

First,we signed confidential agreements to protect our techanical drawings to be enclosed or used illegally.But he refused to sign the contract.He said he needed to consult his lawyer.My client was totally innocent to international trade.Ironically,his lawyer  also knew nothing about external trade .He even asked what CIF Edmonton stands for?I suggested to my client that it was much better to get advice from banks which can give him professional answers to his questions.

He was even worried about the deposit.At the beginning,he even mentioned that our company had better point an Canadian lawyer to hold the deposit.What the hell?

I invited him to come to China to inspect the machine before shipment.Until now,it is the best way which i can think of.We will deduct the round airfares from the total value .That means we will pay for the round-trip ticketsHowever.He seems uninterested.I have not received his reply yet .

here,i have a few questions about this clients.Please give me your advice.Any suggestion or comment is highly appreciated.

1.Does this client really wanna make cooperate with our company?

2.I quoted to him.He even didn't  negociate with me about the price.Usually,most of buyers asked me to low price.He didn't!

3.If you were me,what would you do?

4.Is there anyone from Canada?

I will come back to check your comments at times.In case i miss any comment,you guys are welcome to talk with me on MSN.Any comment is appreciated!

ALEX

hello alex:  I am from canada and have dealt with chinese company for 12 years now.  I have business in alberta and edmonton is the capital city of alberta.  I can always call your customer if you wish and talk with him and check out his company.

regards,  rjp   canada

Quoting from [samlxd]:

I received his inquiry from ALIBABA a few months ago.After a few emails and calls,he would come to visit my factory.But later,he changed his mind because he wanted to order one machine first for a trial.If the first machine would run well,he promised to purchase at least 20 sets each year.

First,we signed confidential agreements to protect our techanical drawings to be enclosed or used illegally.But he refused to sign the contract.He said he needed to consult his lawyer.My client was totally innocent to international trade.Ironically,his lawyer  also knew nothing about external trade .He even asked what CIF Edmonton stands for?I suggested to my client that it was much better to get advice from banks which can give him professional answers to his questions.

He was even worried about the deposit.At the beginning,he even mentioned that our company had better point an Canadian lawyer to hold the deposit.What the hell?

I invited him to come to China to inspect the machine before shipment.Until now,it is the best way which i can think of.We will deduct the round airfares from the total value .That means we will pay for the round-trip ticketsHowever.He seems uninterested.I have not received his reply yet .

here,i have a few questions about this clients.Please give me your advice.Any suggestion or comment is highly appreciated.

1.Does this client really wanna make cooperate with our company?

2.I quoted to him.He even didn't  negociate with me about the price.Usually,most of buyers asked me to low price.He didn't!

3.If you were me,what would you do?

4.Is there anyone from Canada?

I will come back to check your comments at times.In case i miss any comment,you guys are welcome to talk with me on MSN.Any comment is appreciated!

ALEX

I have meet with this type of buyer before. There are several reason for he did ask for  floor price. The 1 reason is usually he only buy domestically, which mean, he buy from a middle man and the middle man sell with high price.

Secondly, this person may not know well that, actually buy interna tionally  can negotiate price.

Thirdly, this buyer may be waiting for your moves to lowered the price or hoping to meet the big guy in your company.

Lastly, he is just playing around.

About the international term, there are several website provided those information. Given the bounderless website, rest asure he will found the website.

All your suggestions are highly appreciated.

here,especially i wanna thank rpeters2001,tomm.You did a great job!

It is first time to put up posts in the forum.But i ve gotten a lot of payback and help here.

thank you ,guys.

ALEX

Quoting from [samlxd]:

All your suggestions are highly appreciated.

here,especially i wanna thank rpeters2001,tomm.You did a great job!

It is first time to put up posts in the forum.But i ve gotten a lot of payback and help here.

thank you ,guys.

ALEX

HI guys ,

Frankly speaking ,I  always meet this problem,

such as the customer asked me how to pay by west union, T/T even paypal.

You know, we are doing sexy lingerie business.

Almost all of our products are shipped by express mail. DHL,EMS.FEDEX,TNT.....

But you know what we will do, tell the guests how to pay,how to receive the items.

Keep contact with guests and tell them how to do business,usually ,the customes developped as the time going.

Some of customer just a green hand at first ,but at last place larger order when their business  enlarged.

So keep patient to the customer who is a green hand ,when they grow up they will remember ,if you can offer the items good and excellent service.

Quoting from [samlxd]:

Quoting from [Egernia]:

Alex, if a customer does not know the basics as far as terminology then my advice is not to be rude but also not to spend too much time on them.

Any serious customer with serious money to spend would invest their time to protect their financial investment by understanding the business before jumping into it.

It does not mean that you wont get an order from this customer, but I suspect that although his intentions may be true, at the end of the day he will find that it is just too difficult and he will give up on the idea. Perhaps he has already given up which would explain why he hasnt replied to your last contact.

Thank you,Egernia.It is really a great commend.

I admitted that there was a little joking around when i was talking about my client,just because it had bothered for a while.When i communicated with him via emails or phone,i showed him every courtesy.

As you said,i won't spend much time on him.But i will keep in touch with him.At least,If he would cancle the cooperation,i hope to know what makes him give up.

Egernia ,i read many posts you put. you have a good sense of international business.Most important,you've  helped a lot of people with that.That is why i wanna talk with you on Trademanager.(Unfortunately,i was rejected.)

Alex

It's really a sad experience Alex.  But I  think your client is still planning or studying about it. As you said he is innocent and don't know international terms, so, maybe?

Seriously advice, learn from this experience and be your lesson.

Helen

Quoting from [samlxd]:

I received his inquiry from ALIBABA a few months ago.After a few emails and calls,he would come to visit my factory.But later,he changed his mind because he wanted to order one machine first for a trial.If the first machine would run well,he promised to purchase at least 20 sets each year.

First,we signed confidential agreements to protect our techanical drawings to be enclosed or used illegally.But he refused to sign the contract.He said he needed to consult his lawyer.My client was totally innocent to international trade.Ironically,his lawyer  also knew nothing about external trade .He even asked what CIF Edmonton stands for?I suggested to my client that it was much better to get advice from banks which can give him professional answers to his questions.

He was even worried about the deposit.At the beginning,he even mentioned that our company had better point an Canadian lawyer to hold the deposit.What the hell?

I invited him to come to China to inspect the machine before shipment.Until now,it is the best way which i can think of.We will deduct the round airfares from the total value .That means we will pay for the round-trip ticketsHowever.He seems uninterested.I have not received his reply yet .

here,i have a few questions about this clients.Please give me your advice.Any suggestion or comment is highly appreciated.

1.Does this client really wanna make cooperate with our company?

2.I quoted to him.He even didn't  negociate with me about the price.Usually,most of buyers asked me to low price.He didn't!

3.If you were me,what would you do?

4.Is there anyone from Canada?

I will come back to check your comments at times.In case i miss any comment,you guys are welcome to talk with me on MSN.Any comment is appreciated!

ALEX

If I were you I will forget about this guy and look for another one. What kind of product are you selling? Maybe we can work together.