Paying suppliers in China and Southeast Asia from a Dutch trading company

A Breda homeware brand orders a container of ceramics from a factory near Ningbo every six weeks. The invoice says $54,000, with 30 percent due on order and the balance when the goods ship. The brand's euro account converts each payment at the bank's rate, and once, a convincing email asked for the balance to go to "our new Hong Kong account". It went.

Dollars, yuan or dong

Most factories in China, Vietnam and Indonesia invoice exports in US dollars. Some, especially in China, will quote in yuan, sometimes at a slightly better price because it saves them converting.

Compare the two prices with the cost of each conversion on your side. If you sell in euros and buy in dollars, every order means converting euros to dollars. Doing that at a bank's margin, one payment at a time, adds up over a year. Holding a dollar balance and converting in larger amounts when the rate suits you gives you more control.

Payment structure

A common pattern for repeat suppliers:

1. Deposit: 30 percent on purchase order, so the factory can buy materials.
2. Balance: 70 percent against a copy of the bill of lading, so you pay once goods are on the ship.

For a first order with a new factory, inspect before shipment, and consider a letter of credit for large amounts.

The fraud check

Supplier payment fraud usually starts with a real email thread. Someone gains access to the supplier's mailbox, or registers a lookalike domain, and sends an invoice with new bank details. The tone, the order number and the signature all look right.

A few rules prevent most of it:

• The account name must match the supplier on your contract.
• A new account in another country or another name is a red flag, however reasonable the explanation.
• Confirm any change on a call or video call with a contact you already know, using contact details you already hold.
• Require a second person to approve the first payment to new details.

Documents for customs

Your customs broker files the import declaration. They need the commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading and any certificates for preference or product rules. Keep payment proof with them; auditors and banks may ask how the invoice was paid. Our guide to paying suppliers in China covers the Chinese side in detail.

Paying into the Netherlands: the local rail

Source: European Payments Council: SEPA Instant Credit Transfer. Checked when this guide was last updated; the scheme's own page has the current figures.

Where Rivet fits

A Rivet business account lets a Dutch BV receive and hold US dollars on US account details in its own name, convert euros to dollars at a rate shown before confirming, and pay suppliers in 120+ countries. From the Growth plan, payouts can require a second approver, which is the simplest control against changed bank details. Rivet is not a bank; regulated partner institutions hold the funds.