A purchase order is where a sourcing conversation stops being a conversation and becomes a commitment. Most disputes we hear about are not product failures — they are details nobody wrote down. This is the list we go through before a proforma invoice is signed. Take it to your next supplier as well; it costs nothing to ask.
A quotation should have four blocks, not one number
When a quotation is a single unit price, you cannot see where the money went, and you cannot tell what happens when one part of the order changes. Ask for it in four blocks:
- Product — model code, colour, quantity, currency, unit price, subtotal, and whether customisation is included in that price.
- Packing and customisation — OPP bag, colour box, labels, plate fee, special packing: stated as included or excluded, line by line.
- Shipping — route, mode, chargeable weight or volume, whether duties and taxes are inside, door delivery or not, and how long the quote holds.
- Order total — with the exclusions written down, not implied.
The seven checks
1. The model — and the version of it
An order for “the seven-piece grooming kit” is not an order for anything. Get the model code — XH-T001, XH-D005 — and, if anything was customised, the version that was approved. Samples move through revisions; a version number with a date on the approval is what keeps production off a superseded drawing. If a supplier cannot tell you which version is on the line, that is your answer.
2. Quantity, and whether the price has tiers
Ask what the unit price becomes at twice the quantity, and at half. Ask whether the price already carries the customisation or whether packing and plate fees sit on top of it. A single price with no tier tells you nothing about where the break points are, and those break points are the whole negotiation.
3. Packing, labels and the plate fee
“Colour box” can mean three different boxes. Lock the format, whether the window is film or open, where the label sits, and whether the plate fee is charged once or every run. If the label carries a barcode, it has to be checked against your original file — a redrawn barcode is the most expensive small mistake in this trade, and it is only discovered in a warehouse.
4. Cartons, marks, and what actually fits
Carton quantity, outer dimensions and shipping marks affect your inbound cost as much as the unit price does. Figures from a similar item do not transfer: a carton that held one product at one packing density says nothing about the next one. Ask for carton data for the exact item and packing you are ordering, and if you are buying by the container, ask for the loading calculation in writing.
5. Lead time, as written on the PI
Lead time is the field most often filled in from habit. A published number was true for a different item, a different quantity and a different month. What matters is the production window plus transit, both stated for your order — and whether the item is stock, made to order, or needs checking first. If it needs checking, “we will confirm” is the honest answer, and a date invented to look decisive is the one you will be chasing later.
6. Who receives the money, in what currency, at what milestone
Before paying: the legal name of the receiving entity, the bank account name that matches it, and the settlement currency. After paying: confirm the funds actually arrived — a transfer screenshot is not a receipt. And if anything changes after the PI is signed, the change gets re-signed. A revised order with an unrevised payment schedule is how deposits turn into arguments three weeks later.
7. Inspection and first-article approval
Ask what is checked, when, and who signs. In packing, the sequence runs: material picked, first article pulled, label trial-applied, first article approved, batch packed, count checked, weighed and measured, then confirmed before dispatch. Your order should say where your eyes are needed and where the supplier’s own check is enough. Third-party inspection is arranged per order — raise it in the inquiry, not the week before the vessel sails.
What to send with the inquiry: five and five
An inquiry that answers these ten questions gets one accurate reply instead of four rounds of clarification.
- Product: exact model code or a photo; quantity; colour or material; packing method; logo and label requirement.
- Commercial: destination country and postcode; trade term; whether you want duties and taxes included, door delivered; your payment currency and method; the date you want it shipped or landed.
What we deliberately do not publish
We do not publish one general minimum order, one global shipping table, or a fixed lead-time table, because each of those depends on the item, the packing, the destination and the season. A number printed on a web page would be true for somebody else’s order. Trade terms — EXW, FOB, CIF, DAP, DDP — are agreed per order and written into the quotation, not promised as a default.
Send the model and the quantity, and you get the specifics for your case in writing.