Chapter 4: Place an order & Manage order

Get samples

For larger orders, you should ask the supplier to provide samples before placing the order formally to evaluate whether they can produce products according to your requirements or whether their existing products are exactly what you want.

Or if you hesitate between two suppliers, then the sample is the best solution.

No matter how high-quality the supplier describes itself, what you ultimately need is a high-quality product.

Although you may need to pay the sample fee, this is to avoid greater losses after you place the order.

Sign the Proforma Invoice

When you decide to work with a supplier to place an order, the supplier will draft a Proforma Invoice for you.

This form is the standard before you pay anything.

Pay deposit

After you both sign the PI, you need to pay deposit for the order.

The order is effective from the moment you make the payment.

Then balance payment will be required before the goods shipped from China. Usually the balance is against the Bill of Lading.

Many buyers choose to trade and pay through Alibaba Trade Assurance orders.

For some suppliers who cannot provide Alibaba Trade Assurance order service, the most commonly used payment is wire transfet(T/T）.

Follow-up order production

For stock products, the supplier only needs to pack the product before it can be shipped.

So you only need to remind the supplier to pack the product as required and ship it within the agreed time.

For custom orders,  suppliers must arrange the product production according to your requirements.

In this process, the factory may encounters various problems. 

So Chinese suppliers often delay delivery. Almost every importer has experienced production and delivery delays.

Therefore, for customized orders, it is very important to follow up the supplier’s production process, otherwise the supplier will hardly deliver the goods within the specified time.

The method of tracking production is very simple. The most important thing is to keep close communication with your factory during the production process and track important time nodes in production.

You can learn more about tips on avoiding supplier delays in delivery here.

How To Prevent & Solve Delay Delivery From China Supplier?