Pipe Wholesale Terms: Put MOQ and Delivery in Writing

Make every quote refer to the same pipe

A lower price only becomes meaningful after the two quotations describe the same item. Specify material, outside diameter or nominal-size system, wall series or schedule, length, joint family and required product standard. For a fitting, include the connection dimensions and mating pipe. A pipe sold by metre and a fitting sold by piece need separate quantity units; a mixed total hides that distinction.

Use the IFANPRO product categories to identify the families on your schedule, then ask the supplier to confirm the quoted specification in writing. A catalogue family is not evidence that every listed certification applies to every diameter. For a project approval, name the required report or listing and ask what product and intended use it actually covers.

Importers can send this itemised schedule for confirmation.

Keep the quoted packing and quantity basis beside the unit price. Ask whether packaging, marking, inspection and any tooling are included or separate line items. This avoids treating a bare product price and a customised packed product as two offers for the same purchase. Request a quote validity date and currency; do not assume an old email remains a current offer.

Separate SKU minimums from the shipment minimum

Ask “minimum of what?” before asking for a discount. A shipment minimum and a per-SKU minimum answer different questions. An importer can meet a total order value while still ordering too few pieces of one fitting for the supplier’s proposed production run. Request the minimum and its unit beside every product code, including colour or packaging variants.

For a mixed order, ask which lines may share a shipment, whether each SKU keeps its own minimum, and whether custom marking or packaging changes the answer. Do not assume that filling a container removes every production minimum. Conversely, do not treat a container load as a mandatory minimum unless the supplier actually states that condition.

Record the first-order and repeat-order policies separately. If the supplier offers a trial quantity, ask what price, packing and delivery conditions apply to that quantity. Treat a proposed exception as subject to written acceptance; this page confirms no IFANPRO trial minimum or guaranteed mixing policy. Your decision is whether the confirmed assortment fits forecast demand, not whether a generic “low MOQ” label sounds attractive.

Name the delivery point before comparing freight

Write the delivery rule, the exact place or port, and “Incoterms® 2020” together. The ICC checklist recommends FCA for container or multimodal shipments and terminal handover; FOB is suited to the direct-onboard sea or inland-waterway delivery described by that rule. Containerised pipe should not default to FOB simply because the previous order used it.

Under ICC’s EXW and FCA rules, EXW delivery and risk transfer occur when the goods are available to the buyer at the agreed point, not loaded; the seller need not load or clear export. FCA transfers risk at delivery: at the seller’s premises, after loading onto buyer-arranged transport; elsewhere, when the seller’s vehicle reaches the named point with goods ready for unloading and available to the nominated carrier or person. FCA puts export clearance on the seller where applicable. Under ICC’s FOB rule, risk transfers when goods are aboard the buyer-nominated vessel at the named shipment port.

Ask the forwarder to price the same route from the agreed handover point. Record origin services, main carriage, destination services and final delivery as separate quote fields. Cost responsibility and risk transfer need separate checks; paying freight does not automatically mean bearing risk throughout that transport. Confirm who will arrange cargo insurance and whether its start point and scope cover the agreed risk period. FCA A5/B5 requires neither party to contract insurance for the other; this is a coverage check, not a mandatory buyer obligation. Read the pipe shipping and packaging guide for the shipping detail rather than leaving it implicit in the unit price.

Tie payment to an agreed event

Agree the percentage or amount, due date and release condition for each payment before placing the order. This page supplies no standard IFANPRO deposit split. A payment trigger such as approved inspection, dispatch or presentation of specified documents is more precise than “balance later”. Confirm who can accept inspection and how a disputed result affects that trigger.

The International Trade Administration’s cash-in-advance guidance explains the trade-off: advance payment reduces exporter credit risk while putting the buyer in a less attractive position. A request for full advance payment alone does not prove dishonesty. Verify the contracting entity and beneficiary, then decide whether the proposed allocation of risk is acceptable.

A letter of credit makes payment conditional on the required documents. The Trade Finance Guide makes the limitation explicit: banks deal with documents, not inspection of the goods themselves. If conformity matters before payment, specify what inspection evidence is required and have the bank review whether the wording can work within the instrument. Bank fees, discrepancy handling and deadlines also belong in the agreement.

For a credit term such as Net 30, state the date from which the period runs. Invoice date, shipment date and acceptance date are different triggers. Do not write them as interchangeable alternatives. Obtain the supplier’s actual credit approval rather than presenting a credit period as an entitlement available to every first order.

Turn lead time into a dispatch commitment

Ask for the proposed dispatch date and the event that starts any lead-time clock. An answer measured from payment receipt can differ from one measured from final drawing approval. Custom marking, packing approval, material availability and production scheduling are useful questions for the supplier, not grounds for this page to invent a delivery range.

Separate three dates on the schedule: readiness for the agreed handover, expected transport arrival, and required site delivery. Assign responsibility for each estimate. A production duration does not establish a vessel booking or a customs-clearance duration. If the project has a required-on-site date, ask the forwarder and supplier to work backwards against their own confirmed milestones.

Require notification when an approval or payment dependency threatens the proposed dispatch. Ask which items are stock and whether they can be reserved, whether partial dispatch is allowed, and what happens when one fitting holds up the assortment. No stock reservation, split-shipment service or response deadline is promised here. The commercial decision depends on the supplier’s written answer for that order.

Leave unconfirmed values visibly open on the buyer’s schedule. Replacing a blank with an attractive assumed delivery interval makes comparison easier only by hiding the missing information. Before issuing the purchase order, either obtain the missing date or record the uncertainty and the agreed contingency.

Agree inspection and claim handling before shipment

Separate the acceptance specification from the warranty. Specify what is inspected, which product or batch the evidence covers, when the inspection occurs and what result releases the shipment. Product certification and an inspection result answer different questions: neither should be substituted for the other without checking its scope. The comparison of certification schemes explains why an approval name alone is insufficient.

Ask for the proposed warranty text: covered defects, start event, duration, exclusions, evidence required, notice procedure and available remedy. This guide establishes no company-wide warranty duration or unconditional replacement entitlement. Require the agreement to say who pays removal, return transport, inspection and replacement freight rather than leaving the remedy as “we will support you”.

A guest article on ICC Academy explains the limits of Incoterms: payment, quality and title need separate contract provisions. The delivery rule also does not choose governing law or a dispute-resolution process. Put these subjects in the sales agreement instead of expecting an EXW or FOB line to answer them.

For a pre-order physical specimen, confirm availability, the represented specification, the payer and the proposed approval purpose with the supplier. No specimen-request service or inspection booking is provided on this page. Keep the approved reference identity alongside the production specification, so that the agreed benchmark remains identifiable at arrival.

Send one schedule that the supplier can answer

The first inquiry should be an answerable schedule, not “best price for pipes”. Give the application and destination, then list product codes or fully described items with quantity units. State your preferred handover point and required dispatch or site-delivery date. Ask the supplier to distinguish accepted terms, proposed alternatives and values that still need confirmation.

Require the reply to keep the same row identities. That lets an importer see whether a changed wall series, fitting family or packing unit caused a lower total. A substitution should have its own approval field rather than silently replacing the requested item. Link the confirmed version to the eventual purchase order and preserve its quote date and validity.

Use the blank schedule above as the reply form. Mark each row accepted, alternative proposed or clarification required, and assign an owner and date to each open answer. A quote with an unresolved payment trigger or no named sample approver stays open even if its unit price is attractive. Confirm the completed version before converting it to a purchase order.