You receive a fax transmittal from Japanese buyers you met in New York. They indicate that they want to order 5,000 down bed pillows. The pillows must contain no less than 85 percent cluster prime white goose down. To make the transportation as cost-effective as possible, they want pricing for a full ocean container. Before placing the order, they want to discuss the details of the sale.
Their fax indicates that although the buyers prefer to pay for the pillows on open account terms, they will consider your suggestions for payment options. Also they are unwilling to purchase against the documents unless they can first inspect the pillows on their arrival in Japan. They want this right of inspection to find out if the quality is what they ordered and to look for possible freight damage. They feel strongly about this issue and insist on these conditions, unless you can provide them with adequate protection. In addition, they want to consider the cost of alternative shipping arrangements before deciding whether to handle these themselves.
Please, prepare a proforma invoice that gives your buyer several options for shipping the pillows. Consider how to pack them and transport them to the nearest or the best seaport. What facilities are available for containerized cargo handling or multimodal transportation in your region? Using Incoterms, present a breakdown of the shipping alternatives and costs involved in the transaction.
