Contact
Tell us what you need.
We are in Indonesia, on UTC+7. That is the same working day as Asia and the Gulf, the morning for Europe and the evening before for the Americas. A brief sent through the form reaches the whole desk at once.
What to put in the first message.
Five lines and you get a real answer in one reply instead of a fortnight of questions. None of it has to be final.
- 01
The product, as specifically as you can
"Robusta coffee" starts a conversation. "Robusta, grade 4, screen 16, for roasting" starts a quotation. If you do not know the trade terms yet, the product pages here are written so you can borrow them.
- 02
Quantity and how often
One container or twelve a year are different businesses to a producer, and they get different prices. Say which, including that you are testing if you are testing.
- 03
Destination port and country
This decides the documents more than the product does. The same goods into Germany and into Saudi Arabia carry different paperwork, and we would rather find that out now than after a deposit.
- 04
When you need it landed
Production, documents and sailing all take time and they run partly in sequence. A date lets us tell you straight away whether it is possible.
- 05
Anything your own customers require
Organic, halal, FSC, a specific laboratory report, a label in a particular language. These change which producers can even be considered, so they belong in the first message rather than the fifth.
Send it to us.
Everything above, in one place. Nothing here has to be final, and a rough answer beats a blank field.
What happens next.
We tell you whether we can do it before we tell you what it costs. If a product is regulated in a way that makes your timing impossible, or if the volume is below the point where this makes sense for you, that is the first thing you hear.
Where it works, we come back with producer options and an indicative price. The producer's own quotation goes to you as we received it, and our fee is 5 per cent of the order value, paid by you and never by the factory.
Questions buyers ask.
What do you need before you can quote?
Product, quantity, destination port and timing. With those four we can usually say the same day whether it is workable and what the paperwork will involve. Price takes longer, because it means going to producers, and a price given before that is somebody guessing.
Do you charge for the first conversation?
No. Working out whether a thing can be done costs us time and it is time we would rather spend before an order than during one. The fee starts when there is an order.
Can you help if I already have a supplier?
Yes, and it is one of the more useful things we do. Verifying a company you found yourself, visiting the premises and inspecting a shipment before it loads are separate jobs from finding a producer, and buyers often want only those.
Which languages do you work in?
English with you and Indonesian with the producers, which is the point. A great deal goes wrong in this trade because a specification was agreed in a language one side was working through, and neither party knew which words had moved.
Do you buy the goods yourself?
No. We represent you in Indonesia. The seller, the exporter and the party you pay for the goods are identified in each formal offer, and they are the producer rather than us. That distinction is what keeps our advice on which producer to use worth having.