What happens if your buyer rejects cargo? What are the major problems if consignee not taken delivery of cargo? Posted on 06 April 2023 Category : Export The information provided here is part of Export Import Online Tutorial What happens if your buyer rejects cargo? Importer not accepted goods – How to handle? What are the major problems if consignee not taken delivery of cargo? How to handle rejected goods at destination port? Consignee not accepted goods at final destination - actions to be taken by seller/exporter. How to handle a rejected container at destination? Goods arrived at destination; importer/buyer does not require goods – Tips to exporter/supplier. How to handle rejected cargo by importer. How to handle abandoned goods by importer. Normally, chances are very rare in rejection of cargo. As per my experience of years in import and export trade, I always believe - ‘business’ is ‘relationship’. I will call “relationship” as “understanding” in trade. In most of the cases disputes arises when relationship fails. Any problem can be solved between exporter and importer, if both have a good business relationship each other. The major threat in rejection of cargo is nothing but poor quality of goods. So in order to avoid any rejection by your overseas buyer, you need to be very strict in quality as per buyer’s requirements. If your quality of goods is not met with the specifications of buyer, no one can help you other than you. You can not get any support from any agencies or government within the country. When discussing about maintenance of quality in export import trade, beware of some fraudulent buyers/importers who deliberately blame on quality of materials exported. The exporter/seller is fully confident on quality of goods he supplied; however some of the overseas buyers purposely find a reason to reject goods on quality, if proper sampling procedures had not been followed before export takes place. Ok, it happened – the overseas buyer rejected your goods. You are confident on quality of goods you exported. Now let us discuss, the actions to be taken immediately. Export goods rejected/abandoned before completion of import customs clearance at port of final destination: If goods exported rejected/abandoned by buyer, what are the steps to be taken? a. You can request the same buyer to accept the goods at discounted rate if any default at your side as a supplier of goods. Here, you as seller/exporter believes buyer’s voice stand on the reasons behind rejection of goods. b. You may have other contacts in the importing country. You can approach them to buy the said product with discounted rate. If you do not have contact with other buyers of similar products, you can try to find some body who can accept goods. c. If you have buying agent in the said country, they help you in re-selling goods. If you do not have, approach your competitors’ agent at destination to resell goods. d. You can appoint a commission agent to find a buyer and resell the goods. There are commission agents working in each country who are experienced in handling such goods. e. Work out costing of freight and other expenses to take it back to your factory, if worth you can call back the cargo back to your factory. Rejection of goods by overseas buyer, after arrival of goods at buyers factory after customs clearance: If goods are rejected after import customs clearance, the strength in holding cargo is very less for the exporter as the goods could be already at the buyer’s custody. The possibility of re-selling, taking back to seller’s place etc. may cost you more. The best way is to request the same buyer to accept the goods and arrange to provide discount for forthcoming shipments to compensate the loss. Export goods rejected due to dispute between buyer and seller. The cargo can be abandoned at port of destination with other reasons such as dispute between importer/buyer and exporter/seller. Here, you can arrange to re-sell the goods to other competitors or call back the goods to your factory at port of loading, appointing an overseas agent to handle the goods to re-sell etc. Goods un cleared/abandoned due to improper co-ordination between exporter and importer. As I have explained in different articles in same website, an importer has to file necessary bill of entry documents with destination customs location of the country to complete necessary import clearance procedures and formalities, failing which the consignment is automatically declared as UN CLEARED GOODS/ABANDONED goods. The goods can be ‘un-cleared’ due to non awareness about arrival due to the lack of proper intimation by shipment advice, non receipt of Cargo Arrival Notice (CAN) by carrier to importer etc. This default is commonly happened where in two or more parties are involved in between the actual seller and final buyer. I hope, this article helps you to enlighten about rejection of goods by buyer/importer/consignor, steps to be taken if buyer rejected export goods, tips to exporters/supplier on rejection of export goods. You can also share your experience about rejection of export goods/ abandoned export goods/ un cleared import goods etc. Would you like to add more information about this subject – tips to exporters if goods rejected/abandoned? The above information is a part of Import Export Training onlin How to send export samples to foreign buyer? Tips to send samples to foreign buyer What happens, if Bank not received money from buyer after discounting of export bills? What does ECGC do on default of payment of any overseas buyer? What happens if overseas buyer not paid export bills discounted. Can goods of different buyers to one country under one shipment be shipped? Guidelines to overseas buyers of Paper and paperboard, articles of paper pulp Tips to foreign buyers on importation of Articles of non knitted or non crocheted apparel and clothing Direct dispatch of export documents to buyer Write below your comments about rejection of export goods/ handling of abandoned goods / importer not accepted goods/ tips to exporters on reselling of rejected goods etc. Other details on how to import export Can the goods be taken back for quality inspection after shipping? What happens if proper tracking of goods not effected in export import business? How to know the quality, quantity or contents of goods before import customs clearance Difference between first check appraisement and second check appraisement in imports Consignee “To Order” in Bill of Lading What happens if overseas buyer not paid export bills discounted. How to start Export Business? How to get Export Orders? What are the risks and solutions in Export Business? Click here to know India Trade Classification(ITC) Service Tax - Click here to read complete notification under Budget 2014 What is Bank post shipment credit to exporters? Types of export containers Measurement of export containers Exim Policy of India 2015-2020 MEIS, Merchandise Exports from India Scheme SEIS, Service Exports from India Scheme Merge your Commercial Invoice and Packing List for all your future exports Export procedures and documentation Comments awni al jamal : On 25 February 2014 The goods are unauthorized to enter a particular country is possible that different laws in other countries and allow them to enter into other countries, but that some of the tests in some states militant and not the necessity that the goods are rejected are invalid because there are several mistakes possible minor problems hinder entry into the country because the problems of materials food in the dates of production and finishing a fact is not a problem in other problems insistence of the authorities and its intransigence in preventing the process of clearance and fear merchants of these irregularities with it you may get it why do not bear the Petroleum Exporting Countries to Tltk goods mistakes occurring from exporters with respect Awni Lance: On 09 September 2014 Are there circumstances when the rejected product is donated? I work for a non-profit located in Florida, and to keep the cost down for the shipper we'll cover the shipping cost and provide a donation receipt to write off up to 200%. Pradeep Gupta: On 28 January 2015 Dear Sir In any case if the goods (Power Generation Components for rotating machinery) not cleared by Indian importer even after advance intimation to importer. Can foreign supplier returned it back from Indian Port. Please advise. Best regards Arun: On 04 March 2015 Dear Sir / Madam, I am a regular visitor of your website it is very informative and helped me to understand many things. I am working in a biotech company based in Mumbai as a Manager Exim and overseeing overall EXIM activities. In 2013, we shipped a food grade biotech product to our customer located in Europe and they cleared the cargo from destination port. After checking the quality, they found some contamination in the product. The payment term was DA 30 days for euro 85000 and they refused to pay the amount due to contamination. Apart from payment refusal, they also imposed a big claim on our company. Now the legal procedure is going on between the company lawyers . Now i need to close the shipping bill from Bank. But the payment is not going to happen for sure . We are not getting material also not getting back. Under such situation, how do we close the bill from bank. Now the bill reporting under XOS team of RBI Your kind advice will be appreciated Regards Arun Inayat ullah khan niazi: On 23 June 2015 Its highly informative artical Ganesh: On 30 September 2015 Need to give a free supply of a ABB drive to Thailand customer. WE have a ABB drive supplier in Thailand and he can supply the same to customer. But i need to pay the money to ABB Thailand, can this kind of transaction possible in India. Where physically material wont come to India and no fund will transfer to India. neethipathi36: On 14 October 2015 i have rohith export GM company work sir.please how get buyer order detail and link realtion ship management sir. import contact wnen the website see the please give me for idea sir...... QQ: On 19 November 2015 Ship out a container load of agrochemical to Egypt. Egypt custom want to reject this container. Main reason packaging label is in correct. Any solution not having this container load being return? Thank you QQ ARUMUGAM: On 21 November 2015 what is the time limited to removal of duty paid exbond goods from warehouse, any circular or notification Tayefur Al Daud: On 14 December 2015 Dear Sir, Can you provide a detail financial effects of all cost regarding export. It will help new entrepreneurs to calculate Production to shipment expenditure. Benoy Majumder: On 27 February 2016 Importer not accepted goods – How to handle? Mob. No. 9831008679 Murali S : On 24 April 2016 I am Murali, CEO of Shine Export & Import,India. We want to international buyer in commission based We would like use this opportunity to introduce ourselves, that we are dealing with export and import Quality Spices, Herbal, Agricultural, Essential oil, Paper bag, Chemical products,etc to the reputed clients all over the world. Our concern based from Chennai,India. We export various spices & herbals grown various places from India to many countries after completing various quality checking. We offer our clients only superior grade products,we assure you the Vilas dale: On 17 August 2016 Myself vilas dale from maharashtra, sir i have interest in exporting the product to other countries, so sir plz help me that, how to export the products,2) buyers for that products,3) port for that products, sir plz help me this types of queries sir, also my last question to u is that, i am wholesaler not a manuafacturer sakthivel s: On 24 September 2016 export material rejected goods any material textiles Ahsum Haleem: On 06 October 2016 Dear Respected Sir, I am pleased to read a comprehensive article but I have a point to extend this conversation. Let us consider a case in which cargo left port A on 06.09.2016 and arrived at port B for Trans-shipment purpose. Its destination at Port C. Shipment was delayed due to bankruptcy of shipping line. The anomaly was created due to delay in arrival of cargo at port C and client of our customer has arranged the same material from other source. Meanwhile an information received that cargo has reached at port B for trans-shipment. Now my question is: Can we sell this material at Port B because the customer had refused to purchase this material? Is it possible legally. pratap G: On 07 November 2016 Dear Sir, our importer in india rejected the cargo after taking out of charge order from customs. exporter at load port accepted to re-export the cargo.duty paid by our importer can we claim for refund the amount to indian customs..pls explain in detail wrt re-export of the same cargo Shahrukh Ansari: On 09 December 2016 I m Shahrukh Ansari my problem is our Importer not accepting goods due to some increasing destination charges as they are assuming. Now our agent telling me that if your buyer not agree to take good then we will take back all goods and then all charges i have to pay which is not good. How to handle please let me know asap Thanks. Mahesh shah: On 13 January 2017 I am looking for list of commission agents in mumbai who provide ready made export orders Maheshshah Cell8446310999 Prashant Deshpande: On 24 March 2017 Hello If any Buyer has taken the delivery of Imported Goods in India and came to know that these are not the goods ordered for. Rejected the Goods. The Exporter has some connections in India. Say Overseas supplier asks C to take the delivery of the said Material. Overseas supplier ready to meet the cost of the Clearing the material. How this can be handeled ? Will this be treated as Import Purchase or Purchase in the course of import Will it be treated as local sales as A has already paid the duty and taken the delivery of the goods. Please explain. Thanks in advance. Prashant Deshpande Harkirat Singh : On 07 April 2017 We have exported two shipment of readymade garment and accessories. In these shipment few pcs are bleeding. So, these pcs are rejected buyer we have to bring these pcs back and export the difference pcs to buyer again. Please advice complete procedure. GAnny: On 03 May 2017 My overseas supplier has rejected my component on quality issue and we have availed MEIS benefit for that export, we are going to pay him back - should i refund the benefit value back to DGFT/Government. James: On 19 May 2017 Very informative article. If a commission agent agrees to buy merchandise the original buyer does not accept (quality issue or other reason), he would need to register the purchase for tax reasons so he can legally declare the purchase and profits. Who would the seller be in this case, assuiming the merchandise has been unloaded from the ship? Jay Energy: On 24 June 2017 What is the best way to get on a list of buyers for resale of abandoned cargo? We purchase abandoned Energy equipment. Nicole: On 17 July 2017 I have a question that if importer/buyer bankrupt what issues to its FF company? iftikhar hussain: On 07 November 2017 sir, If cnee's and destination shipping line have old shipment dispute and cnee's have not collect deliver order because of this perishable cargo damage, who is responsible ?? in this case pod shipping line disposal cargo and responsible to shipper and claim all related charges under shipper at pol. what is your opinion about this case. Krishnamurthy: On 23 March 2018 We made export of Soapstone for heaters material blasted and rejected at Buyer end. so I have not received Money it is nearly $6000/-. and Money will not pay by Buyer, Consignment can't bring back to India, it will be cost more for bringing back, and since it blasted, can't collect it. Please inform Me RBI will ask for why the Money not received? what I have to inform them? or is there any form to inform RBI about not received Money. Or what We have to inform RBI? if some body know it Please inform Me. thanks P k mondal: On 09 June 2018 Goods already exported. Importer not accepting the goods due to bad quality. Can exporter sell the goods to the another importer. I.e. change of importer name is possible or not. Ajay Patel: On 25 February 2019 one of the supplier has exported goods from Australia to an indian importer, but due to some unavoidable circumstances , importer has denied taking the delivery of goods.now the supplier at australia is willing to call back goods .What are laws and rules for sending the goods back to the Australia. Mahesh: On 26 February 2019 Onion exported from India to Malaysia, consignee not cleared the containers,however submitted original BL and shipment docs to liner in Malaysia after one month of ship reaching to the destination. Not reponding not giving any reason. On our request , being perishable material, liner ready to dispose of the containers but asking for charges , demurrage, detention disposal chqrges from exporter. Who is responding nsible to pay charges consignee or exporter. Mahesh: On 26 February 2019 How to get back cost of the product from consignee in Malaysia for the goods exported from india if consignee,without any reason not cleared the goods and liner is going to dispose off the cargo, being the in perishable nature. RaoSk: On 03 April 2019 Hi... I am a regular visitor of your website it is very informative and helped me to understand many things. We have availed Packing Credit against which produced POs to the bank. But due to color issue Buyer rejected the order. Now need your guidance to move forward with the bank. GANESH: On 13 December 2019 NEED NOC FROMAT FROM IMPORTER THAT RE-EXPORT OF CONTAINER TO POL DUE TO not placed any order BY IMPORTER. PLEASE PROVIDE IF YOU HAVE NOC FORMAT URGENTLY Rajasekar Rao: On 19 October 2020 Hello We have exported goods and received payment. The buyer now rejected the goods. There is no clause of refund or replacement anywhere. The item is specially made for them so we cannot refund. We are willing to do rectification if they send the goods. Now in such situation what should we do Eloisa: On 18 May 2021 Hi I am from Phils. we are importer of raw mats . I would like to seek help and advise what are the best steps to do if the customer rejected our items from our principal JOE ABRAHAM: On 01 September 2021 I am Santhosh Korah, trader in export. I am in a trouble due to the rejection of Rice shipment by the destination customs saying rice is damaged and unusable. So the customs is not allowing the buyer to clear the shipment and issued final notice to return to origin country/exporter. I contacted my supplier but they are not cooperating. The shipment is coming back. What should I do? The product is IR64 Parboiled rice 5% brocken 104 tonnes (20ft * 4 container).Please advise me what to do now. Darshan: On 09 September 2021 if the rejected material received back and need to sell after reprocessing. can we sell the same in the domestic market. the supplies were made under advance authorisation. maria: On 09 October 2021 I have a FOB sale to China, the vessel loaded and sailed and when the analysis came back you are off grade (cannot meet the contractual specs), your buyers are the charterers of the vessel and are saying that they do not want the cargo any longer. At this point: Who has the risk? who has the title? After many discussions between the parties, it was decided that you have another buyer who can take the cargo in Norway under a CIF or C&F contract. The charterer agrees to take the cargo to Norway instead. How would the contracts be changed? What are the new contracts to be put in place? The goods were fumigated by Re-circulation, usually you do not fumigate for Norway is this a problem? If your documents do not get there on time what will be your risk? What can be done to discharge and what is the process Dolrich Alvares : On 12 October 2021 What is freight forwarder liability incase delivery order released to consignee without receiving original b/L endorsed from bank.. Considering this is an Letter of credit shipment and consignee to order of bank, moved on house and master salim: On 24 December 2021 how can I return back my rejected goods from Dubai? its been rejected by the buyer but I don't want to sell it anymore in uae, I want goods to take back to india,? siti: On 20 March 2022 Hi, I have a cargo shipped from finland to vietnam under cfr incoterms with a seaway bill issued. Customer is rejecting the cargo due to non receipt of arrival notice. Cargo has not cleared customs in vietnam. Instead of returning the cargo to origin, can we redirect the cargo to singapore instead? prakhar g: On 15 June 2022 If I as a exporter send goods to other country on the basis of consignment, but if the company doesn’t like the goods can I sell the goods to some other company in the same country and in same state? Chetan: On 21 July 2022 I read your import export page as (wha to do if your consignee not taking delivery of goods at final destination port ) and i want to say thank you for very useful tips . but if i aware from this issue in 2013 realy i can save more .as bcz my chines buyer is did same thing with me in 2013 he deny to take delivery after sailing goods and i am new in this field so after that i agree with his all condition and i face a big loss in 2013 pls guide me bcz now i going to doing again export after long gape i have plan to star from beginning of next year 2019 sir pls advice me is it possible to take back goods to our factory . and aware me from the risk factors i realy impress from your blog thank you once again pls reply and guide me sir pawel: On 21 July 2022 First of all, I'd like to thank you for the information you publish on the portal howtoexportimport.com. This is perfect example how specialized knowledge can be shared with other people needing information about various aspects of customs regulations. I am specializing in European Customs Code and sometimes people asking me for advise for very specific topics related to different countries. This time I am looking for information what are the consequences for the importer if he reject delivered goods before import customs clearance. Natural expectation is that goods can be utilized by selling or scrapping, but I'd like to know if there are any negative consequences for the company who ordered goods and decided not to clear them. Can be any negative consequences for him, for his permissions or authorizations in the future or maybe one case can be fully neutral for future business activity ? Shreeram Joshi: On 24 August 2022 We alwags have to take no objection certificate NOC from importer , mentioning that if importer fails to take goods within x days , exporter can take goods back. Otherwise importer will not sign the document and you cant take goods back. And if goods are perishable we have to always take some percent advance so that buyer will not refuse order. Chandan Roy: On 11 November 2022 We have shipped 3x20' castings to a UAE importer. They rejected the materials for quality issue. what is the formalities to taken back the cargo's to India? How we will settle the Bank along with RBI procedure? Dinesh : On 04 February 2023 Sir I am cattle feed manufacturer Bhavnagar Gujarat I am Purchase West Biscuit, Atta, Meda all Grains all Food Product Expired Ots , Ots Flour, Ots west expire protein powder ashi: On 26 April 2023 Dear Sir pls guide we had imported the goods from egypt exporter. as per the PI terms and conditions we have to done the 70% payment against the scanned copy of original shipping document and balance 30% after 7 days. We had done the 70% payment but exporter is not sending the original documents and container has also reached to the indian port. What can we do now? he had shared the scanned copy of original documents to us but now when we are asking to send the originals to release the container then he is not sending the same and is delaying them. the shipping line free days are also finished. Please guide what to do now in this condition? Vinod : On 04 October 2023 My goods was hold by custom and it is not yet clear and my buyer has cancelled the order now how can I get my goods back