Global Sourcing & Export Information

FOB Ningbo, FOB Shanghai, CIF, DDP, DAP and EXW. Both Ningbo and Shanghai are available as the loading port and we choose between them for the better schedule or rate on your route; CIF, DAP and DDP are quoted for your named destination port or address, and EXW is collection at our works in Zhuji. The term used on your order is stated on the quotation and the commercial invoice.

Advance payment by T/T, or open-account terms of NET 30 or NET 60 for qualified customers, agreed in the contract. A tooling deposit is required before tooling starts. Open-account terms are set per customer and per order rather than published as a standard, so the payment schedule that applies to you is the one written into your quotation.

No. Samples are free of charge — we do not invoice a sample fee. The freight of the samples is covered by you. What we do ask for is a complete drawing and the specification, so that the sample we send is one you can actually approve.

It depends which of the three cases applies. If we already hold the complete tool and at most small changes are needed, we absorb them and there is no tooling charge. If we hold part of the tool and it has to be extended or substantially reworked, you pay part of the labour and material at cost with no profit added. If the tool has to be built from scratch, you pay labour + material when you do not want ownership but need exclusive manufacturing, or a commercial tooling price when you do want ownership. Send a drawing with tolerances and an annual volume and the tooling figure comes back with the part price.

Balford does, unless you ask for ownership. We are not in the business of selling tools, so where the tool already exists the charge to you is zero or cost-only and no ownership changes hands. Where a new tool has to be built and you want ownership, we quote it at a commercial price — that price covers the after-sales support that follows the tool and the transfer of the design — and ownership transfers on the agreed terms. If what you actually need is that the part is never made for anyone else, take the exclusivity route instead: we sign an exclusive-manufacturing agreement, with liquidated damages of five times the tooling price you paid and a minimum of USD 100,000 per occurrence where you bought the tool at its commercial price, and RMB 50,000 to RMB 2,000,000 on every other programme.

Maintenance and repair are ours for the life of the part number the tool was quoted for, on a schedule set by the volume and the tool rather than only after a failure — that stays true whichever of the three tooling cases applies, including when the tool belongs to you. After production the tool is registered in the die store with permanent identification tied to your part and programme, so it is found, checked and maintained as your tool and not mixed with anything else.

Delivered parts are warranted free from defects in material and workmanship for 60 days from the date of delivery, and are guaranteed to conform to the approved sample and the agreed drawing tolerances, with first article inspection and in-process checks recorded against the control plan. Where a defect is ours and it is reported within that period, we take it to the end: sorting or rework at your site at our cost, or remanufacture at our cost if the parts cannot be salvaged.

Tooling is kept in production condition for the life of the part number it was quoted for, so the capability of the tool does not decay quietly between orders. Where you have bought the tool outright, the commercial tooling price is what covers the after-sales support that follows it.

Blister trays, zip bags, cartons and wooden cases, specified to suit the part and your handling and storage. We match the packing list to the carton numbering so that a receiving check is quick. If you have a standard returnable container or a specific inner packing, send it with the enquiry and we quote to it.

We advise on rust prevention for the specific material and surface finish, then apply the agreed protective measures before the parts are packed. Because shelf life depends on the finish, the packaging and your storage conditions, the recommended storage conditions and inspection interval are stated with the shipment instead of one number being applied to every part. If you need a defined re-preservation interval for your own warehouse, tell us and it is agreed per order.

Cases and pallets are made from plywood / processed wood, which ISPM 15 exempts from the heat-treatment mark required for solid-wood packaging; any solid-wood component is heat-treated and marked. Where your destination or your own receiving rules call for something different, we can ship on plastic pallets or in steel frames instead of wood — just tell us at order stage so it is specified in the packing list.

Commercial invoice, packing list, material certificate, inspection report and delivery note, plus batch traceability records. The commercial invoice and packing list travel with the shipment for customs; the quality documents are the ones your incoming inspection needs.

Yes. Mill certificates for the material actually used are available, and EN 10204 3.1 inspection certificates are supplied on request. Tell us at order stage if your specification requires 3.1 rather than 2.2, since it is a purchasing decision for the steel or brass, not something that can be added at shipping.

Yes. A delivered batch can be traced back to the material batch and the production run that produced it, so a question about a specific carton can be answered from the records rather than from memory.

Yes. Material, material supplier, process, tooling, sub-contracted operation or inspection method — any change that affects the part is notified before it takes effect, with the submission your quality system requires. Nothing changes on a running part without your approval.

Yes, before you send drawings. We can sign your template or provide ours, and we are used to NDAs that carry a defined term and a defined scope. Drawings and models are used only to manufacture your parts.

Separately from the NDA, we sign an exclusive-manufacturing agreement whenever you need the guarantee that your part is not produced for anyone else. It covers your tooling and your part, and the liquidated damages are agreed with you at order stage.

The manufacturer is Zhejiang Balford Mechatronics Co., Ltd. The export collection account is in the name of ZHEJIANG INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS GROUP WULIU CO., LTD, our foreign-trade collection company. Seeing both names across a single order is normal and is explained in full at the top of this page. Confirm the account with your existing contact before the first payment.