I had a discussion with a buyer several days ago.

I contacted a supplier for a product the buyer required and tried to negotiate the price on behalf of my buyer.

The supplier sounded sincere and seemed to be willing to cooperate after I introduced a little bit about this buyer (like this buyer is serious and big buyer).

I wrote to my buyer after talked on phone with the supplier as follows:
From the dialogue, I am condifent that there is flexible in their price.
XXX said, as they didn't know if the specification of their products are same as what you required.They tried to quote a round price.
If you have the pictures or details products information, they can try to work out a better price and send you the samples.
In my view, when the importers are going to give a real order, most of the suppliers are willing to give a better prices to get the ball rolling.

My buyer said the following:
My philosophy is; If the price is not right, there is no order.
I can't get the business or make orders, assuming the factory will give the right price. Right now there are six cans on the water to test from other factories.
If this factory wants to be considered, they can't play games with the price. It just wastes everyone's time.

Then I tried to tell him something about China culture:
When you said,if the price is not right, there is no order, I understood it well.
And this is also quite typical western mind and western way.
So there is culture differences between China and western countries.
In China, most of the suppliers are "flexiable".
When they see a real chance is there, they will be "easier" and flexible to deal with.
If they are happy with the business relationship, they can spend money to treat you as a freind with a nice diner or wonderful gift.
I know this sounds crazy for western people.
Thanks for sharing me with your philosophy.
I try to communicate with my western buyers to know what they think, so i can know how to work well with them, I also try to tell something i know about Chinese cultures.

My buyer replied again:
Dear Jasmine. You understand well. It is just a different point of view. It is the same in the west. The western supplier looks at an account to see how much they can buy. They look for efficiency in production costs by producing larger orders.
The they quote the price. The western buyer studies the market and finds the target cost where he can be competitive and asks for a certain cost. But he may not be able to satisfy the manufacturer's needs for production. It is the same everywhere.

I think this is an interesting topic to discuss and communicate.
Chinese are more flexible in ways.
I understand we Chinese well. Everyday, the sellers receive many inquiries, most of the inquiries are "fake".
So the sellers use a rough quotation(or email format) to reply to those inquries.
When the buyer reply with more details and seems to be their potential buyers, they will pay more attention and work out a better price according to their exact order quantity.
In China, things can be negotiable (most of the time).

Chinese seems like to "bargain" when shoppings.
For example, in some shops, the prices are negotiable, they are some tips there.
When the vendor quote a price, you feel too high to accept, then you plan to go away.The vendor would ask you how much you can go.
After several bargains, the transaction can be done. (waste time and efforts, but it is really funny)

This may sounds crazy for westerners, they just feel being cheated when the vendor sell at a high price then quote a cheaper prices when they want to go.

Because Westerners are "systematic" in ways . When the quotation is not matching, they just delete the supplier from the list.
Although the Chinese supplier may write to them like, we can give a better price when you settle the order quantity and inform me more information about the products.

We can't say which way is correct or wrong. It is just culture differences.And nowadays China links to the world, we need to communicate with each other more and more to overcome the culture shock, not only in the business field.

Jasmine, I think only a small percentage of Westerners act in this robotic, mindless way. They are insecure people who don't want to show their lack of preparation and therefore follow some kind of strict script. A real business person will understand that you will hardly ever find a situation that from the very beginning is almost "custom tailored" to your needs. Consequently they will accept negotiation.

There are also a lot of green horn out there, thinking they can get good deals from Chinese factories and make millions in their home country.

Certainly these people doesn't know the ins and outs of negotiation. I meet these people every day and it's a pain in the butt to do business with them.

You are bidding for a job, the target price is $1. So I ring these people, tell them there is opportunity to do business together. They say OK, they offer me $2. What the fish?

germex wrote:

Jasmine, I think only a small percentage of Westerners act in this robotic, mindless way. They are insecure people who don't want to show their lack of preparation and therefore follow some kind of strict script. A real business person will understand that you will hardly ever find a situation that from the very beginning is almost "custom tailored" to your needs. Consequently they will accept negotiation.

i think most of them will accept negotiation

yes ,i agree with you .
in fact ,the business is same in the world.

I am Phoebe

We once had a talk on the lamp CP-S210. i understand this. In fact, every businessmen would like to bargin. Sometimes, even if we quote the real price, but clients also need to ask reduce a little.

As u said, we need more communication to overcome this culture shock, and also get more cooperation.

It is a difference in the way we are taught to purchase


As an American we expect to contact the company and have them quote a price

we are not trained to bargain . we expect each company to know what they need for a price point and to have quantity discounts available .

  

 most American suppliers have set price sheets and will just email them or mail them

if a customer wants a sample a price is set and actual cost of shipping is added


It is not that complicated to expect each company to be familiar with what the cost to produce a given product is


 customer requests quote for product and states materials to be used  we really do expect that the first price given will be the true price  .  The easter manor of barganing back and forth wastes time and makes it hard to compare suppliers

we just want to get samples from several companies so we can compare value

best price is not lowest price is it the product that will sell best so if the sample comes in and a slightly higher price product is made nicer and will sell better than we will go with that as it is a better value .

    to capture the American order learn to think more like us and tell us up front what the price is   for each minimum quantity ,  what is the good point of your product that will make it sell better and last longer . why will our customer come back and buy more

friend ship is good   but that is not what makes us buy.  we need to be sure the product we purchase will fit what our company needs .,

   Sue



 

What Sue is saying is right under certain conditions. If it is about the simple purchase of a standardized and clearly defined merchandise, there isn't much room for negotiation. As a seller you give the prospect buyer the price and he decides if he wants to buy or not. That's it!

But if you want to integrate a product, things change. You have to deal with different suppliers, assembly plants, etc. In this case you better be prepared for a lot of back and forth negotiating or you will get nowhere. If you want to market a novel product, implicitly nobody has it yet, so you have to adapt to a huge number of circumstances, options, etc. In this case you better are good at negotiating, not losing your cool ever, or you are toast.

 

In the USA if some in a professional business will start bargaining, i have heard the other person say as a joke " what do you think i am a wore or chinese ? "

In truth it has a lot of truth to it.  in the american mind things have a price. based on supply and demand and qty yes. but there is a price , a market price for al legitimate items , business and production. the only things that you can bagain about is not legitimate business because, then you are a wore.

 

 

As an importer for many years who understand both cultures. i will tell you as follows. most of the chinese who are doing this are playing a game. it is a way to lure you in, and then once you have spent time and money working on something , it will not be worth to go to another supplier.

From the American point of view those who will negotiate usually in the end will not get the prices they need and the business they run will fail. from the my start way back i saw all those that are sucessful work this system.

you must be strong about your target or the chinese will waste all your time.

basically they way i see it these days id that there have evolved 2 types of suppliers from China

1) the ones who serve the bigger customers and work with the buyers target price

2) the ones who play price games.

while the majority might still be from number those that play price games , i still think that most serious buyers will lok for those that dont and will delete the ones that do , and in these times her should have nor problem having 10 trial orders from someone who can meet his prices.