Importing Goods from Abroad? Learn How to Use Purchase Order Finance

The biggest challenges that many import companies have is finding a way to pay suppliers when a customer places a large order. As is common in import transactions, you must pay your suppliers using a letter of credit and then wait until the goods are delivered to your customer before your customer pays you. This creates a window of time, sometimes as long as 90 days, between the time that you pay your suppliers and the time that your customers pay you. But what happens if you don’t have the funds to obtain a letter of credit? Or, if you can’t wait for a long time to get paid? Do you pass on the order? Well, you don’t have to. Not if you decide to use purchase order finance.

Purchase order financing is a tool that allows you to easily make large orders – even if you don’t have the money to pay suppliers and if your company is new. It provides you with up to 100% of the funds needed to pay your foreign suppliers, enabling you fulfill your large orders and grow your company. And it works for almost all companies because of a unique feature. Almost any company can qualify, provided you have a purchase order from a government agency or a strong commercial customer. Indeed, your collateral for the transaction is the reliability of your customer. This make po financing a very unique tool for importers that are buying goods from China, Taiwan, Brazil, Russia or almost any country in the world.

Purchase order financing easily integrates to your company and is easy to use. Here is a sample transaction:

1. Your commercial or government customer places a purchase order with you

2. Your company places an order with your local or foreign supplier

3. The purchase order finance provides a letter of credit to pay your supplier

4. Your supplier delivers the goods to your customer

5. The transaction is settled once your customer pays for the goods

As you can see, this transaction is completed with little if any of your own funds and the financing company covers most costs. This is ideal for new companies or companies that have exhausted their capital. Many times, a customer may take up to 60 days to pay for the goods. This is especially true if you are selling goods to large companies that demand payment terms. In that case, you may need to also use factoring financing.

Combining invoice factoring, which costs less than po financing, with po funding enables you to lower the total transaction cost. Your transaction cost will vary based on a number of variables such as size and credit worthiness of the buyer. Generally speaking, larger orders from credit worthy customer (or government agencies) will have the lowest costs. Both factoring and po financing are offered by factoring companies, although not every factoring company offers both.