Customer makes order with me, but the customer is not the actual shipper

One of my customers who runs his business belongs to the third party trading company. He received an order with his oversea customer, but he is not the actual shipper, the actual shipper is his supplier in china mainland. This is not a rare phenomenon. Instead, it’s quite normal for LCL customers and the third party trading company having their own factories and their own exporting agents. If this kind of customer who runs his business is third party trading and requires changing the name of the shipper, I believe a mostly forwarding agents will compromise.

However, what would these third party companies do under these circumstances to ensure receipt of payment? Well, this is exactly what we are going to discuss with you.

The customer required us to change the shipper to another company. The customer appointed his shipping agent and provided the supplementary info himself. We helped him book the container only. Knowing this, I came up with the idea of changing the term of payment to delivery after receipt of payment. After negotiation, the customer pointed out to finish the payment after receiving the loading details from us, then we arranged to change the shipper, which seemed to be a compromised way from the customer's perspective,  ensuring both sides' benefit without affecting the time of loading and supplier's receipt of payment.

However, from where I stand as a forwarding agent, we need to considerate more on this case. First, since the shipping agent is appointed by our customer, and the supplier will be thrown into passivity. Second, the change of shipper means the transfer of goods property. From this point, if the customer is loyal and reliable, they will promise to make the payment and change the shipper after the supplier receives the money, and the property of the goods is still our customer before that happens, therefore supplier receives the payment as smooth as expected! If not, the worse situation will be a delay with payment led by the bank which results in additional fees? Who should take the responsibility?  Well, I might be too worried. But sometimes we should be careful with the exporting goods and the payment. Even a small mistake could lead to big trouble.

Many of customers problems happen because of lacking deep thoughts before confirmation of orders or delivery. For example, customer “disappears” after delivery without paying the deposit; or choosing the inappropriate term of payment…

It’s good for you to have ordered. But be aware of the hidden dangers caused by the inappropriate term of payment. I know that we all will compromise to some extent for the benefit of the order. But when it comes to the company principle, in no way should we give up our rules. In that case, it is better if we meet our customers in the middle. Remember not to give in as far as the rules are concerned. Better to consider more than regretting afterward.