外 贸 英 语 函 电 Business English Correspondence

Chapter Five Counter-offers

Contents of Chapter 5 Section One Introduction Section Two Useful Words & Expressions Section Three Specimen Letters

A counter-offer is made when the prospective buyers find any terms or conditions in the offer unacceptable; they will then place before the sellers terms or conditions they set fit for the latter to consider. Notes prospective buyer 潜在客户 take the initiative 采取主动 bid 递盘 drop 取消 stand 立场 be persistent in matters of principles and policies 坚持原则 with an eye to 着眼于 standpoint 立场 Section One Introduction （ P76 ）

In international trade, when the offeree accepts the terms and conditions stated in the offer, the transaction is concluded. However, in most cases, the offeree would reject the terms and conditions or state his own terms and conditions by return. The rejection or partial rejection of the offeree to the offer is called counter-offer. A counter- offer is virtually a counter proposal initiated by the original offeree. In a counter-offer, the buyer may show disagreement to the price, or packing, or shipment and state his own terms instead. Once the counter-offer is made, the original offer is no longer valid, and the offeree now becomes the offeror as the counter-offer becomes the new offer. 1. The Significance and Effect of Counter-offers

Counter-offer constitutes the main part of business negotiations. During the negotiation, many issues (such as quality, quantity and packing of the goods, price, shipment, insurance, payment terms, commodity inspection, disputes and settlement of disputes, force majeure, and arbitration, etc.) will be talked about by the sellers and the buyers. So counter-offers are usually time consuming and may go many rounds before business is concluded or dropped.

2. Main Contents of a Letter for Counter-Offer A satisfactory letter for counter offer generally includes the following: (1)Thank the offeror for his offer, mentioning briefly the contents of the offer. (2)Express regret at inability to accept the offer, giving reasons for non-acceptance. (3)Make an appropriate counter-offer. (4)Hope the counter-offer will be accepted and there may be an opportunity to do business together.

Steps/ContentsTypical Expressions For letters of acceptance or confirming acceptance 1. Thanking the offeror for his offer. Thank you for your offer of … （谢谢你方 …… 时 候的报盘。） Many thanks for your reply to our inquiry for ….( 很感谢贵公司对我方关于 … 询盘的答复。 ) Thank you for your prompt reply and detailed quotation.( 感谢您的及时答复和详细报价。 ) Thank you for the samples you sent in response to our inquiry of...( 谢谢贵公司对我方 … 询盘的答 复并寄来样品。 ) See also the previous units for other similar expressions

Steps/ContentsTypical Expressions 2. Expressing regret at inability to accept the offer and giving reasons for non-acceptance. Much to our regret, we cannot entertain business at your price, since it is out of line with the prevailing market, being 20% lower than the average.( 很遗憾我们不能考虑按你方价格成 交，因为你方价格与现时市场不一致，要比一般 价格低 20% 。 ) The price you offer is out of line with the market, so it is beyond what is acceptable to us.( 你方报价与市场不一致，故我方无法接受。 ) We are sorry to tell you that we can not take you up on the offer since the price you are asking is above the market level here for the quality in question. ( 很遗憾地通知你方，我方不 能接受你方报价，因为你方所要求的价格高于本 地同等质量产品的市场价格水平。 )

Steps/ContentsTypical Expressions We regret to inform you that your offer is unworkable, as some parcels of Japanese makes have been sold here at a much lower price.( 很遗憾你方报盘无法接受，因为这里有 几批日本货以低得多的价格出售。 ) We regret to say that the price you quoted is too high to work on. ( 很遗憾，你方所报价格 太高，无法进行下去。 ) 3. Making a counter- offer if, in the circumstances, it is appropriate. In view of our long-standing business relationship we make you the following counter-offer. ( 鉴于我们之间长期的贸易关系， 特向你方作如下还盘。 ) Your price is on the high side and we have to counter-offer as follows, subject to your reply received by us on or before... ( 你方价格偏高，我们不得不作如下还盘，以 我方在 … 时候或以前收到你方答复为有效。 )

Steps/ContentsTypical Expressions We counter offer as follows: … ( 我方还盘如下： ) Your competitors are offering considerably lower prices and unless you can reduce your quotations, we shall have to buy elsewhere. ( 你 们竞争对手的报价要低很多。除非你们降价，否 则我们得从他处购买。 ) 4. Expressing your hope and expectation. If you accept our counter-offer, we will advise our endusers to buy from you.( 如你方能接受我 们的还盘，我们将劝用户向你方购买。 ) We hope that you will take our counter-offer seriously into consideration and reply very soon.( 希望你方对我们的还盘给予认真的考虑并 很快地答复我方。 ) We hope you will consider our counter-offer most favorably and fax us your acceptance as soon as possible.( 希望你们很好地考虑我方还盘 并尽快用传真接受。 )

Steps/ContentsTypical Expressions Please keep us informed of the supply position in your place.( 请随时告知你处市场的供货情况。 ) For letters in reply to a counter-offer A negative or uncertain reply to a counter-offer is actually another counter-offer. The following are some typical expressions. It is impossible for us to entertain your counter- offer.( 我们不能考虑接受你方的还盘。 ) The price you counter-offered is not in line with the prevailing market.( 你方还盘与现行市场价格不 符。 ) This is our rock-bottom price. We can ’ t make any further reduction.( 这是我方的最低报价，我们不能 再降价了。 )

For letters in reply to a counter-offer We appreciate your counter-offer but find it too low to accept.( 谢谢你方还盘但我方觉得太低了无 法接受。 ) We will not consider accepting your counter- offer.( 我们不会考虑接受你方的还盘。 ) We regret to learn that you have turned down our counter-offer. ( 遗憾得知你方已拒绝了我方的 还盘。 ) A positive reply to a counter-offer is actually an acceptance. Writing a letter to accept a counter-offer is the same as writing a letter to accept an offer. Please see the next unit for reference.

Specimen Letter 1 Dear Sirs Thank you for your of October 10. As regards your counter-offer, we regret we are unable to accept it because our current price has already been proved workable by many orders received from other buyers.

However, in order to meet you on this occasion, we are prepared to grant you a special discount of 2% on condition that the quantity of other order is not less than 1000 pieces. We hope this will enable you to enjoy the benefit of our special discount. Yours sincerely

Specimen 1 P76 Comments In this letter the writer expresses his regret for being unable to satisfy the counter-offer. In writing such kind of letters, you should give the reasons. Notes 1 workable 可行 2 a special discount of 2% 2% 的特别折扣 Section Two Specimen Letters

Specimen Letter 2 Dear Sirs, We wish to thank you for your letter of June 10, offering us 3000 kilos of Walnut meat at$50 per kilogram. We regret to say that we find your price rather high and we believe we ’ ll have a hard time convincing our clients at your price.

Besides, there are keen competition from supplies in South Korea and Thailand. You can ’ t very well ignore that. Should you be ready to reduce your price by 5% we might come to business. Considering the long-standing business and relationship between us, we make you such a counter-offer. As the market is declining, we hope you will consider our counter-offer most favorable and fax us as soon as possible. Yours faithfully

Specimen 2 P77 Comments The writer in this letter expresses his regret in a very technical way. In fact, this letter is a conditional acceptance. Notes 1 Walnutmeat 核桃仁 2 come to business 达成交易

Specimen Letter 3 Dear Sirs, Your offer of October 10 for the captioned goods and the sample have been received, for which we thank you. We would request you to give us a 10% commission instead of 5% and to accept payment by D/P at sight, as we are working with other suppliers on these terms.

We trust you will be glad to confirm the terms by fax at an early date so that we may send in our formal order with detailed shipping instructions accordingly. Yours faithfully

Specimen 3 P78 Comments The writing method of this letter is not so good. For example, nowadays, the sentence like “ Your offer of October 10 for the captioned goods and the sample have been received, for which we thank you ” is no longer used any more. Notes 1 D/P, documents against payment 付款交单 2 at sight 即期 3 shipping instructions 装船须知

Specimen Letter 4 Dear sirs, We thank you for your letter of October 21 and confirm our fax of October 28, as per the copy attached. As regard your request for a 10%commission and payment by D/P at sight, we regret being unable to meet your wishes as we are doing business with other buyers on the basis of a 5% commission and payment by irrevocable letter of credit.

Consequently, we would suggest that you reconsider our way to fall in line with other buyers. Yours faithfully

Specimen 4 P78 Comments This is a letter confirming the fax sent on October 28. It is a letter rejecting the buyer ’ s request for a 10% commission instead of 5% and payment by D/P instead of L/C. Notes 1 as per the copy attached 内容详见附件 2 Irrevocable Letter of Credit 不可撤消信用证 3 see one ’ s way 尽力 4 fall in line with 与 …… 一致

Specimen Letter 5 Dear sirs Thank you for your letter of July 3, and we are not accepting orders for 2000 ream MG Cap Paper. Recently there has been a heavy demand for this kind of paper, and we are not accepting orders for November shipment we regret being unable to meet your wishes for November shipment.

However, in view of our long connection and as the quantity involved is rather small, we are prepared to entertain your order at $2300 per CFR Amsterdam provided your friends accept December shipment. The date may appear somewhat extended, but it is the best we can do under the circumstance. If you find our offer acceptable, please fax us your acceptance before the end of the current month for our final confirmation. Yours sincerely

it might interest you to know that the buyers concerned are among the leading importers of edible oils in this city. It is very likely that they might want to duplicate their order before the month is out. Thank you for your cooperation. We hope we have more businesses in the future. Yours faithfully

Specimen 5 P79 Comments This letter is an example of good salesmanship. It is sincere and reasonable. No matter whether the new terms are accepted or not, the letter will leave a good impression which will help promote future business. Notes 1 ream 令 2 MG Cap Paper 油光纸 3 final confirmation 最后确认

Letter 6 Dear sirs From your letter of April 20, we are disappointed at learning that you find our unacceptable because other suppliers are offering lower prices. We are not in a position to accept your counter-offer because our price is reasonably fixed. Regarding the qualities of the goods offered by others, we are rather doubtful whether fixed similar to or comparable with those of ours.

Please call the attention of your customers to this point and convince them that not only price but also quality should be taken into consideration. We hope to hear from you before long. Yours sincerely

Specimen 6 P80 Comments Even though the price offered is a little higher, the quality of the goods is better. When you mention this, maybe the buyer will accept your offer. Notes 1 be in a position to do … 打算，有可能 2 call the attention of your customers 提请你方客户注意

Letter 7 Dear sirs We thank you for your letter of February 10, quoting us for 200 metric tons of Wool on terms. We regret however that we prefer to have your quotations on CIF terms. For your information, we have taken out an open policy with the Lloyd insurance company, London. All we have to do when shipment is made is to advise them of the particulars.

Furthermore, we are on very good term. We usually receive from our underwriters quite a handsome premium rebate at regular intervals. In the meantime, we should be obliged if you could supply us with full details regarding the scope of the cover handled by the people ’ s insurance company of China for our reference. We look forward to hearing further from you at an early date. Yours faithfully

Specimen 7 P80 Comments In this letter the buyer made a counter-offer, asking for CFR price terms. Notes 1 CIF 成本、保险加运费 2 open policy 预约保单 3 take out 办理 4 the People ’ s Insurance Company of China 中国人民保险公司 5 for one ’ s reference 供某人参考

Letter 8 Dear sirs We have received your letter of January 23,asking us the captioned order for an amount of 30% above the invoice value.

Although it is our usual practice to insure shipments for the invoice value plus 10%, we are prepared to comply with your request for covering for 130% of the invoice value. But the extra premium will be borne by you. Please take note of the above. Yours faithfully

Specimen 8 P81 Comments This is a reply to a request made by the buyers for an extra insurance amount. Notes 1 usual practice 惯例 2 insure … for an amount of 30% above the invoice value 发票金额加 30% 投保 3 extra premium 额外保险费

Thank you!