Furniture deposit and balance terms in China: tying the last payment to inspection

For a furniture order from China, pay a deposit that starts production — anything from 10% to half the price is common — and hold the balance until the goods have been inspected against the signed specification. Many Foshan sellers ask for the balance before dispatch, or full payment on ordering, so the inspection clause matters more than the percentage. Pay only into the company account named on the order.

How much deposit should you pay for furniture from China?

Enough to commit the maker and buy materials, but not so much that the balance stops mattering. In export trade generally, a 30% deposit with the balance before shipment is a common starting point; Foshan’s retail trade ranges from small deposits to full payment. A Nanjing lawyer writing about custom-furniture disputes warns against sellers who open by asking for 50%, and notes that under Chinese law a formal deposit cannot exceed 20% of the contract value.

Check the wording too. Chinese order forms use two different characters that are both romanised dingjin: one is a binding deposit which, as generally understood, the buyer forfeits by walking away and the seller repays double if it defaults; the other is treated as a simple advance payment. Ask which one your form uses. Whether Chinese law governs an export order at all depends on the contract, so confirm with a lawyer before relying on either — our furniture purchase contract checklist covers where to write it.

Should the balance be paid before shipping or after inspection?

After an inspection you have seen and approved, but before the goods leave the factory or warehouse. Once furniture is at sea, the balance is no longer leverage. The common alternatives each put the risk somewhere different:

The same logic runs through every step of buying furniture from China: decide when money moves before choosing the supplier.

Why do Chinese furniture sellers want the balance before delivery?

Because custom furniture is hard to resell, and sellers carry real cash-flow risk. Under a contract template on Xiaohongshu, a buyer asks whether it is fair that a mall shop demands full payment at order; another replies that it is normal in her city because custom cabinets are often reworked and sellers fear never collecting the balance. An exporter’s post shows the same pressure from the other side: on one large order he had advanced nearly RMB 1 million to factories while his client paid only after loading.

The workable compromise is a deposit the maker can buy materials with, a written inspection standard, and a balance released promptly once the goods pass.

What does the comment section add?

Readers under the complaint and contract posts add the parts that change the advice for someone buying from abroad.

• The legal routes are domestic. Commenters point the Hunan buyer to China’s online court-filing service and to the police — routes that are much harder to use from overseas without a representative.
• The price was not a bargain. One commenter notes that what she paid would have bought similar pieces from a local shop; the discount that drew her in was not real.
• Why sellers insist on full payment. Under a contract template, a buyer from Shenyang says full payment at order is standard there because custom cabinets are so often reworked.

What should the inspection before the balance check?

Every item against the signed specification: dimensions, materials, colour against the approved sample, finish, function and export packing. The Nanjing lawyer’s advice for domestic custom orders translates well: write an acceptance standard into the contract (her example is a right to reject if a piece differs from the drawing by more than 3 cm — overseas buyers will usually want tighter), allow a quality-objection period of at least 30 days, and keep evidence — photographs of materials arriving and a signed, sealed offcut of the board or fabric.

For goods travelling abroad, the objection period matters less than the pre-shipment check, because the goods will not be opened for weeks. Our furniture inspection checklist lists what to test piece by piece, and the paperwork checklist covers what the report should include.

What can you do if a supplier keeps your deposit or won’t ship?

Stop further payments, collect the written record, and take local advice before choosing between negotiation, a platform or bank dispute, or action in China. The Hunan buyer’s case is typical: custom leather that turned out not to be the grade described, a deposit the seller would not return, and goods held until the balance was paid. The lawyer’s domestic route — a formal demand with a 15-day cure period, a complaint to the market regulator, then a lawsuit with an application to freeze assets — assumes you are in China or have a representative there.

That is the strongest argument for small first payments to suppliers you have not used before, and for checking whether the order is worth doing from abroad at all.

How Source Foshan handles it