Prices, Fees, Terms, and Export Agency Services All prices and fees are quoted and are payable only in Dollars of the United States (US$). All sums will be paid by wire transfers only to a Vietnam Consultants account that you will be advised about. Research Fees @ US$ 50 per hour, when required, are charged to a retainer that you must advance usually in the amount of US$ 500 unless we determine that greater effort will be needed.  We will ask for your retainer to be refreshed as needed.  Excess funds will be applied to your purchase. Payment Terms •        Payments ONLY by wire transfer to VNC account as VNC will advise. •        Deposit - Products Shown On Line: *       Orders that are less than US$ 10,000 must be fully paid in advance. *       Orders that exceed US$ 10,000, a deposit of one half the actual cost of your order is due at the time you place your order.   *       Begin service  VNC cannot start to work on your project unless and until this deposit is received. •        Deposit - Custom Products:  A deposit of one half the estimated cost of your order is due at the time you hire VNC to research and place your order.  Adjustments will be made as needed for the final payment. VNC cannot start to work on your project unless and until this deposit is received. •        Research Fee: When needed, an advance retainer must be made to cover for this fee.   All work will stop when the retainer is depleted until it is refreshed. •        Final Payment: Due at least one week before delivery. •        Samples:  All samples, if not supplied for free from the factory, are sold at their per item retail purchase price.  When molds are required, the charge will be higher. There are no exceptions. Shipping by air freight must be paid in advance if VNC is not given the client's air courier account number. •        Vietnam Sales are made Ex Works factory, or FOB Port of Hai Phong (in the north) or Saigon in the south. CIF terms are available.    *      Ex Works means that you are responsible for the risk of loss, cost of transportation & insurance, from the factory's loading dock. Title passes to you from that time. *       FOB deliveries mean that delivery will be made to the ship at which time all costs, insurance, and freight charges must be paid by you - in advance.  You are at your liberty to use your own shipping agent, or VNC will arrange that for you. ^        CIF terms mean that delivery will be made to the ship at which time all costs, insurance, and freight charges will be paid by VNC for arrival at the nearest port of international arrivals of your choice.  VNC will be responsible for hiring the shipping company, paying costs, insurance, and freight to the destination of your choice. *       Loss  In both cases, title to the goods and risk of loss will be yours from the time the container passes over the ship's rail at the port of embarkation. *        Payment for the goods and shipping costs are due in-full & in-advance.   If VNC is to pay for shipping and related costs, payment must be made with the final payment by wire transfer. There are no exceptions.    Note On Wire Transfers When funds are due, all work will be suspended unless and until Vietnam Consultants Ltd receives the funds requested.  Suspension of all work in progress will occur until we receive Actual Payment. Credit Cards & Letters of Credit Due to the nature of banking operations and the added costs in Vietnam, we are not able to accept credit card purchases or Letters of Credit. A US$ 3,000 MINIMUM purchase must be made from EACH factory. Dealer prices  are given when purchases are made in full container loads AND a purchase from EACH factory exceeds US$ 20,000.  Discounts from stated prices start at 20% and will increase with the size of the order. •        Take your custom or copy designs to various vendors to obtain competitive bids to insure your job will be completed, cost-effectively; •        Coordinate all work with you and the manufacturer to insure your order is timely  completed to your specifications; •        Photograph samples when called for and then (a) establish a new, private web page for you to review samples and prices, and/ or (b) ship samples to you for approval. •        Either serve as your guide when you visit Vietnam, or represent your interests when you elect to spend your time elsewhere. In either way, you are assured of getting the best quality and lowest prices because the vendors all recognize Vietnam Consultants Ltd as a repeat and reliable "Agency." Minimums •        Factories - To obtain the lowest factory dealer prices, orders in full 40 foot container loads are needed. •        Retail/Wholesale - US$ 3,000 minimum purchase from any one factory.  Partial container load orders are accepted but only if the minimum is met from each factory. Consumers are welcome to the same wholesale prices as are commercial buyers. •        Dealer Discounts - Purchases must exceed US$ 20,000 from any one factory.  Prices are discounted up to 20% below Wholesale depending on the size of your order. Full container load orders that exceed this value will qualify for discounts Custom Orders & Special Needs Whether ordering a new design of your own creation, an existing design copied from a public source, or making changes to any item posted on our web pages, there is sometimes a need for extra effort to coordinate communications between you and the factory to insure that your needs are properly and fully met, the first time.   There are also times when buyers need extra attention from VNC to insure that they are properly aware and adequately  knowledgeable of the tasks necessary to make international purchases and shipments. VNC will devote the extra time needed to insure you make the correct decision. VNC will talk with you by phone or E-mail as needed, and insure the crafts people we work with are able to create your designs as you need them. VNC staff are at all times in close personal contact with the factory managers and staff to insure your needs are always understood.  As needed, we will prepare a Request for Quotation (RFQ) using the specifications supplied by you, and distribute the RFQ to several factories. VNC staff will personally meet with the factory managers and crafts people, insure that your design is fully understood, revisit the factory to receive and review samples, ship samples, coordinate work between you and the factories as needed to revise the sample, and work on final details to get the order accepted and confirmed. Challenges requiring a Research Fee Sometimes challenges arise on an order that are not expected by any of us. This most often happens when a retailer or consumer does not have prior experience processing sea-freight orders.  However, sometimes: •        Client's don't have proper drawings or models from which to work. •        Models are damaged in transit and/or samples are not properly made to a client's satisfaction. •        Sometimes there is a need to seek other sources then first selected. •        Sometimes products shown on line are no longer made by a factory, or a factory has gone out of business when a master craftsman dies and his children are not as skilled. •        Sometimes a client's design concepts on paper don't work as well when executed on a sample. In these and other rare situations, VNC willingly extends our effort to meet your needs beyond the standard time it takes to process less complicated orders. Because we give to you the important product and manufacturing information you need to make your purchase decision, we may need to charge a Research Fee. In this way, you and we are both receiving value for the services rendered. A Research Fee is charged only when you approve before hand. It is US$ 50 per hour, and time records are kept to the nearest tenth (1/10) of an hour.  It is charged to an advance retainer that you will send to us in a minimum amount of US$ 900. Should there be funds remaining in the retainer, they will be applied to your order.  Should we need to devote more time, you will be asked to refresh your retainer.  You are at liberty to stop our work at any time and no further charges will be made However, if your retainer us fully used, we must stop all our work on that project unless and until you refresh your retainer. We will not charge any Research fee unless you approve before hand.   Then, we will give you all the important information you need to make your purchase decision that would not have otherwise been available. As this information will be unique to your needs and have no value to us or others, we will both benefit from this added service when you pay us for our effort because we are both professionals and this is the way professionals work together. Advance Payment.  All orders that do not exceed US$ 10,000 must be paid at the time the order is placed, both in full and in advance. Deposit with Order.  When orders exceed US$ 10,000, a 50% deposit is required before we start to work for you. Final Payment.  All payments must be made at least one week BEFORE production is completed.  At this time, shipping charges must also be paid. EXPORT AGENT  SERVICES Quality Control - our staff make periodic calls (at least weekly or more often) on the factory to meet with management to follow your order. We carefully examine the order in progress and the finished product to insure that it meets your specifications. Errors will be corrected before you see the final product. Inventory Control - our staff check the factory production run with your purchase order to insure the totals are correct and are shipped. Packing Control - our staff will supervise the important packing stage to insure that factory standard materials are used.  In the event you have requested and paid for additional packing materials, our staff will insure that such has in fact been used to help reduce possible shipping damage. Document Control - our staff will  watch over this important aspect of every shipment and see that the proper documents are with your container and sent by express carrier to you. Deposit - A minimum 50% deposit is required before we start to work for you.