Should i pay the balance china supplier
A practical guide to should i pay the balance china supplier: what to check on site, what a photograph cannot establish, and what to write in your purchase specification.
You have paid a deposit. Production has finished. The factory is asking for the balance, and they have sent you photographs that look fine. The question in your head is not about the photographs. It is about whether you would be able to prove, later, that the goods were not what you ordered.
What "release the balance" actually means in practice
In most export transactions the balance is the largest single payment in the transaction. It is often 60 to 70 per cent of the order value. Once the container is sealed and the vessel sails, that money has left and the goods are thirty days away.
The buyer who releases the balance without a check is not being reckless. They are relying on the photographs. The photographs are genuine. They are simply incomplete, and incompleteness is the risk.
Five things photographs cannot establish
| What the buyer is asked to believe | What only an on-site check establishes |
|---|---|
| "The count looks right" | Actual units per carton, carton by carton |
| "It matches the sample" | Whether the batch matches, unit by unit |
| "The wood looks correct" | Actual moisture content — 12 per cent or 18 per cent |
| "The load test passed" | Whether it passed at the figure in the contract, or a lower one |
| "The cartons look fine" | Whether they survive a 30-inch drop |
What to do before you release the balance
- Send your PI and your agreed specification to how to verify goods before you release the balance before production finishes, not after.
- Have the goods checked against those documents, not against general expectations.
- Hold the payment until the report arrives and you have read section 8, which lists what could not be verified.
- If the report is positive, release. If it is negative, you still have the container unloaded in Foshan rather than in your own country.
The commercial argument
One day of verification is a fraction of the cost of one rejected container. A 40HQ rejected in Foshan costs freight, demurrage at both ends, return shipping, storage, and the goods you have already paid for. Against that, the inspection is one line item on a payment you were going to make anyway.
The question should i pay the balance china supplier comes down to is not whether you can afford the check. It is whether you can afford to be wrong without it.
Common questions
What does AQL mean in furniture inspection?
AQL is the Acceptable Quality Limit under ISO 2859-1 — the quality threshold used to accept or reject a sampled lot. It is an input to a decision, not a statement about how good the goods are.
How many units are inspected on a furniture order?
Under ISO 2859-1 general level II, a lot of 501 to 1,200 units is sampled at 80. A lot of 3,201 to 10,000 is sampled at 200. The report states the lot size, sample size and accept/reject numbers.
Can I verify goods without sending anyone to the factory?
Partially. A remote photo review can identify gross problems but cannot establish count, dimensions, materials or physical performance. Those require someone on site.
Verifying a furniture order?
We check your goods at the factory against your PI, your agreed specification and your approved sample. Three levels, published prices, report within 24 hours.