This content is for eCommerce merchants and sellers, as well as overseas suppliers that provide these types of businesses with inventory.

Read on to learn how as both a seller and a supplier, you can save time and money when it comes to sending and receiving funds, gain more security and take care of business all in a single platform at a pace that beats the status quo - every time.

Stats to get us started:

Wanna guess the average number of days it takes a company to pay a supplier (Days Sales Outstanding - DSO)?

Shockingly (or maybe not so shockingly), the answer is 66 days based on global data. Subject matter experts project that the average DSO is likely to further increase in 2021, too.

CHECK THIS:

In China, suppliers wait an average of 92 days for invoices to get paid compared to businesses in New Zealand , which wait an average of 43 days; South Africa, Denmark and Austria also saw relatively shorter invoice payment times.

What’s to be done about this?

DID YOU KNOW?

PingPong is strategically positioned to allow companies to be able to process international suppliers payments in real time.

SUPPLIERS AND PAYERS BENEFIT FROM

  • ability to have greater ownership of capital
  • Building better relationships to grow how they do business
  • the ability to get money to mainland China FAST
  • Suppliers will get a great benefit as they can streamline the process for payers, avoiding reconciliation and transactional delays
  • Avoid risks associated with currency fluctuations

PingPong has the ability to allow both customers and suppliers greater access by opening mainland, saving both sides on the transaction (Payers avoid wire fees, Suppliers can be paid in local currency without a conversion)

Here’s More about Avoiding Wire Fees and Paying in Domestic Currencies

Paying Suppliers in Their Domestic Currency

Tier one banks like HSBC, CITI, WellsFargo, Fidelity and Chase hold our customers’ money - and that’s just one way to know your dinero is safe.

For a flat, transparent cost PingPong enables eCommerce merchants and businesses to send money to more than 170 countries in any currency.  

This is convenient for YOU and YOUR supplier, as your supplier is either

  1. Used to accepting only USD
  2. Eating the fees for foreign exchange
  3. Marking up your costs to cover these fees
  4. Seeing a growing price of products ordered
  5. All of the above

A lot of people use money-sharing apps and wire transfers to pay their suppliers (yes, even veteran-sellers). They don’t fully understand the risks.

DID YOU KNOW?

In the last year a total of $423 million was lost in in wire transfer scams

Wire transfers are virtually untraceable. Once you’ve sent that money, it’s gone.

And if you so much as spell a name incorrectly, get a number out of place or accidentally send 10,000 instead of 1,000 -  it could be 3 weeks (or more!) before you are able to recuperate your money. That’s if you can.

Many money-sharing apps charge fees between 3-6% to send money. A supplier will likely want the payer (seller, eCommerce merchant, business owner, etc.) to pick up that cost.

If you’re in the United States or Europe but need to pay a supplier in a currency different from your domestic currency, guess what: more fees.

SIDENOTE: Services exist that offer trade insurance on payments like supplier payments. If a supplier doesn’t ship your merch, they’ll cover it. This insurance is often costly, (think an additional 8%, or something crazier) in addition to foreign exchange and application fees.

KYC (Know Your Customer) - What...This is SO Important


SIDENOTE: If You’re Using a Service That Isn’t Offering KYC as a Standard, You’re Missing Out on Killer Customer Care

What is KYC?

Straight forward, Wikipedia definition: The know your customer or know your client (KYC) guidelines in financial services requires that professionals make an effort to verify the identity, suitability, and risks involved with maintaining a business relationship. The procedures fit within the broader scope of a bank's Anti-Money Laundering (AML) policy.

PingPong implements KYC for every customer to

  • Prevent money laundering
  • Match suppliers to their company name, bank accounts, and passports
  • Ensure the person you’re doing business with is who they say they are

This means your supplier has to pass security checks before PingPong gives you the green light to start paying them.

Imagine opening a bank account. An ID is provided, with a social security number. A personal (or business, in the case of a business account) address and phone number is provided - as a minimum standard. This is for your protection!  

You cannot waltz into a bank, be assigned an account number and begin banking without this verified information.

This is what PingPong provides its customers. This heavy layer of protection gives you more confidence to send money to a supplier than blindly sending a wire transfer to a name and account number you’ve been given by a person you’ve never seen or met.

Here’s how it Works

Traditional methods for making supplier payments can take forever, banks charge astronomical wire fees and suffer time delays, handling fees and reconciliation issues. Not with PingPong.

ADDITIONAL TIPS AND REMINDERS:

If you’re new to the Amazon selling space and you’re in search of useful knowledge that will help you cut to the chase when it comes to the other dos and don’ts of paying your suppliers, you’re in the right place.  

There are a few universal best practices to keep in mind when it comes to choosing a supplier, paying them and safely receiving your goods. To make it easy, we’ve compiled them here. Vets, feel free to weigh in with any additional tips in the comments.  

Common Best Practices
Payment Agreements - The most commonly accepted agreement we see when it comes to striking a deal with suppliers is a 30/70 contract.  

What does this mean?
It means you’ve found a supplier you want to buy goods/products from (you may have even had several different suppliers send you samples by this stage), you’re going to order 1,000 rollers from them (or whatever you and your customers are into), and it’s time to show them you’re serious.

Never Send 100% payment Up Front.
Why? Because you don’t know these people. They live in a different country and you haven’t met them. Establish a rapport.

Pay 30% of your invoice upfront - to start production, and the remaining 70% later when production is complete. Think about it. If anything goes wrong for any reason, you’ll only be out 30% of your money instead of 100%. Make sense?

There’s an additional step before you should sign off and send the remaining 70%.

PRODUCTION -> INSPECTION -> PRODUCTION COMPLETE

The supplier says they have everything ready. They’re prepared to ship to you or to an Amazon warehouse (if doing FBA).

Hire someone to do an inspection on what you ordered. Don’t blindly accept and store or ship your goods to a warehouse without doing this. It’s common to hire someone to ensure you’re getting what you ordered. Suppliers expect this. An inspector can check all sorts of things:

  • Drop test
  • Packaging
  • Amount
  • Correct Barcodes
  • Labeling
  • and so much more

A lot of sellers do this for at least the first 3 orders when working with a new supplier. Also, double-check that you aren’t violating infringement laws/risks. Confirm patents and trademarks. If another brand is selling a similar product, you want to make sure legal action won’t be taken against you for attempting to sell that product.

Ready to get your free PingPong account and begin paying you suppliers? Click here to check out more info and to get a new sign-up offer (landing page)

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