Most ordering problems we see are not price problems. They are specification problems: the wrong grade, the wrong grade level, or the right resin with the wrong understanding of what was quoted. This checklist gets you to a specification you can order against and compare quotations on.

1. Name the end product

Not the industry — the product. "Pipe" is an industry; "DN110 pressure pipe for potable water" is a product. The end product determines what you cannot compromise on, and there is no point in step 3 if you have not done step 1.

2. Name the grade and grade level

From the published range: SG1 to SG8, in premium, first grade or qualified. If you are switching supplier, check whether your current supplier's grade naming maps onto ours one-to-one — it often does not, and that is where mismatches happen.

3. Set the grade level against what your product can tolerate

Premium, first grade or qualified is a decision about your own defect tolerance, not about the resin. Clear work needs premium because the impurity count is visible. Opaque rigid pipe usually runs on first grade. General soft extrusion often runs on qualified.

4. State the filler loading and the formulation

The filler loading changes the grade you need, as we explain in the filler loading guide. Include the filler type and whether it is coated. If you are buying pre-compounded material rather than resin, say so — it is a different enquiry.

5. State the quantity, the packaging and the destination

Quantity in MT, the packaging you need, and the destination port. These three determine the loading plan and therefore the price, so they belong in the enquiry rather than in a later email.

6. State the terms

The Incoterm and the payment method. FOB which port, and T/T with what milestone. If you do not have a preference, say so and we will quote the basis we would recommend for that destination — but a quotation against an assumed term is still a quotation you have to check.

Questions worth asking any supplier

  • What is the residual vinyl chloride figure for the grade level I am buying?
  • What does the certificate of analysis cover, and does it ship with the documents?
  • Which indicators do you control batch to batch, and which are only to the band?
  • What is your lead time from the order confirmation, and what starts that clock?
  • What is your claim window, and what do you need from me to raise one?

Those five answers tell you more about whether a supplier is workable than the price does.

What to send us

If you send us items 1, 2, 5 and 6 from this list — the product, the grade and grade level, the quantity and destination, and the terms — we can quote. Items 3 and 4 we can help with if you are unsure, and you should tell us if you are.

The chat assistant on this site can take all of it in one message and passes it to the sales desk.