How buying from us works
This page exists so that the first conversation starts from the right expectations. Where a figure is settled it is here. Where it is not, this page says so rather than offering an indicative one to plan against.
§1 · The sequence
Sample. We send cube; you test it. Nothing is agreed at this stage and you owe us nothing for having asked.
Evaluation. You burn ours beside what you currently buy. If it does not do what your product needs, the conversation ends here, and that is a good outcome for both of us.
Quotation. Once you have told us the cube dimension, the packaging configuration and the destination, we quote FOB with a validity window on the price.
Contract. Specification, packaging, artwork and the document pack are written down before anything is manufactured. What is not in the contract is not agreed, including anything said in a chat thread.
Production. The run is scheduled from artwork approval rather than from the contract date, which is the distinction that catches out a buyer planning backwards from a launch.
Shipment. We prepare the document pack your destination requires and hand over at the port named in the quotation.
§2 · Minimum order
Our minimum order is 1 × 20 ft FCL. That is a constraint rather than a preference: a container is the smallest unit at which OEM packaging, dangerous-goods documentation and a dedicated production run make commercial sense, and beneath it the paperwork costs more to produce than the cargo is worth. We do not sell cartons or pallets, and this is not a retail product.
§3 · Payment, and the order things happen in
Payment is by telegraphic transfer, and the schedule is 30% deposit, balance against draft B/L. The split is the part every supplier quotes. The sequence is the part that decides how much you have at risk at any point, and it is why this section is four steps rather than a percentage.
- Deposit, and the run is scheduled. Production starts from artwork approval rather than from the deposit clearing, which is the distinction in §5.
- We ship, and the draft bill of lading comes to you. What the balance falls due against: draft B/L, before payment. The draft carries the cargo description, the consignee, the ports and the marks, so you are reading the shipping document before you send money rather than after.
- Balance, against that draft. If something on it is wrong it gets corrected first. A description that does not match what you ordered is worth finding at this point rather than at a destination port, where it is somebody's problem and expensive.
- Documents released — telex release or originals, issued after balance received. That is what you present to take delivery.
The limit of that, stated plainly: a draft is not a release. You see the document before you pay and you take possession of it after, which is what keeps both sides in the transaction — we are not asking you to send the balance blind, and you are not asking us to release the cargo before it lands.
§4 · How we price
Quotations are FOB, per container, and carry a validity window. A price without one is not a quotation, it is a conversation starter, so no figure appears here until it can carry one. What moves it: cube dimension, packaging configuration, and the documentation your destination requires.
§5 · Lead time
Production runs about 2 weeks from artwork approval, not from the date the contract is signed. That distinction is where a buyer planning backwards from a launch date gets caught: the clock starts when the artwork is signed off, and anything still being decided about the box is time that has not started counting yet.
It is approximate and it is confirmed at quotation, because the figure that matters to you is the one for your configuration in the month you order it. Two things sit outside it and are worth knowing about. The proof stage runs before artwork approval, so it is your schedule rather than ours — the three proof options and which one to ask for are on the private-label page. And the weathering the maritime code requires before charcoal is packed has already been spent on the stock we hold, so it does not extend anything.
Reviewed by Mohamed Noor, Director —
§6 · What supports the terms above
| Claim | What supports it | How we state it |
|---|---|---|
| A container is the smallest commercially sensible unit for OEM bakhoor charcoal. | What OEM packaging, documentation and a dedicated run cost us per shipment. | Our commercial position, not an industry rule. |
| Production is scheduled from artwork approval, not from the contract date. | How our own production is scheduled. | Stated as fact about our process. |
| Cube dimension, packaging and destination documentation are what move a quotation. | How we build a quotation. | Stated as fact about our process. |
| Lead time from artwork approval. | Our own production scheduling. Approximate, and confirmed at quotation for the configuration you order. | Stated as fact about our process, with the approximation left in rather than rounded into a promise. |
| The payment schedule, and that the balance falls due against a draft bill of lading. | Our own terms. | Stated as fact about our process, as a sequence rather than a split, because where the payment sits is what a buyer is actually asking. |
| The price band. | Not fixed, and a price without a validity window is not a quotation. | Omitted rather than estimated, per the verification policy. |
§7 · Start with the sample
None of this needs deciding before you have burned the cube, and we would rather you tested it than took our word for any of it. Start there, run your own comparison, and come back with figures. Request the sample, and see what arrives with it.