Sample deliverable · Supplier disputes
Sample Written Dispute Assessment: What You Receive
This is how a written assessment of a supplier dispute is set out. It covers where you stand, what the evidence supports and what your options are.
WRITTEN DISPUTE ASSESSMENT
| Client | An overseas buyer. Name withheld. |
| Other side | A Chinese trading company. The real assessment gives its registered Chinese name and its unified social credit code. |
| Matter | Prepaid orders the supplier stopped delivering, and a deposit paid to a freight forwarder to release goods. |
| Documents reviewed | Quotations, signed purchase orders, bank transfer records, account emails, chase messages and replies, delivery records, and the forwarder's invoices and receipt. |
1. Where you stand
- You have a good claim to the prepayments for goods that never arrived.
- The orders count as contracts, even where only a quotation and a bank transfer exist. The supplier took the money and delivered part of the goods.
- Expect to recover the payments you can prove, less the deliveries both sides accept. That figure is likely to be lower than the total in your spreadsheet.
- You can claim the deposit you paid the forwarder from the supplier. Under your trade term, the export-side charges were the supplier's to pay.
- The main risk is that the supplier will argue your total mixes in other deals. An account that goes order by order answers that.
Recommendation. Rebuild the account, send one final written notice, and prepare a court claim with an application to freeze the supplier's accounts.
2. The facts as I understand them
You had bought from the supplier before, in small amounts. You then placed a series of orders for industrial supplies by email and messaging app. Some orders were confirmed only by a quotation and a bank transfer. Others had a purchase order signed and stamped by both sides. Over time you prepaid a large sum.
The supplier delivered a small part of the goods. It then kept pushing back the rest. Its account emails set payments and deliveries off against each other across different orders. When you chased, it admitted that goods for a large part of the money had not been delivered. It gave no new date.
One packed shipment reached the port. The freight forwarder then held the release documents. It said the supplier owed it domestic transport and handling fees. You paid the forwarder a deposit to get the goods and stop storage costs growing. Your trade term put the main freight and the export-side charges on the supplier.
Please tell me if any of this is wrong. The analysis depends on it.
3. The evidence: what it proves and what is missing
| Record | What it proves | Gap or next step |
|---|---|---|
| Quotations and signed purchase orders | What was ordered, the prices and the trade term | Give each an order number. List the orders that have no signed purchase order. |
| Bank transfer records | What you paid and to whom | Check that each payee is the same company. Note any payment to another account. |
| Account emails | How the supplier set payments off across orders, and its own figures | Pull out every balance the supplier confirmed. |
| Chase messages and replies | The delay, and the supplier's admission that goods are undelivered | Keep the originals with dates. Export full chats, with screenshots only as a backup. |
| Delivery records | What arrived and its value | Agree a value for each delivery. Note any item in dispute. |
| Forwarder invoices and receipt | What you paid to release the goods, and why | Ask the forwarder to state in writing why it held the documents. |
| Not yet seen: the supplier's production and dispatch records | What was made and shipped, from the supplier's side | A court can be asked to order the supplier to produce them. |
4. Analysis
Open each point for the reasoning and the legal source.
4.1 Were there contracts?
Yes. Chinese law accepts contracts made in writing, orally or in other forms. Emails and messages that can be retrieved count as writing (Civil Code art. 469). An order can also be accepted by conduct (art. 480). Taking payment and shipping part of an order is strong evidence of acceptance.
4.2 How much is owed?
The starting point is the payments you can prove. From that, take off the value of the deliveries both sides accept. The emails set payments off against each other across orders. So the account has to be rebuilt order by order. Where one side holds evidence and refuses to produce it without good reason, a court may accept the other side's account of what it shows (Evidence Rules art. 95). That only helps once your own figures are clear.
4.3 Can you end the orders?
Yes, for the part not delivered. The supplier delayed its main obligation. It did not perform after your written reminders (Civil Code art. 563). Once the orders are ended, you can ask for the money back and for your losses (arts. 566, 577 and 584). If you have not done so already, send one clear written notice that names the orders you are ending.
4.4 The forwarder deposit
Your trade term put the export-side charges on the supplier. You paid to release goods already at the port and to stop storage costs growing. That is a reasonable cost of limiting the loss. The party in breach bears it (Civil Code art. 591). Keep it as a separate item in the claim, with the forwarder's invoices.
4.5 Interest
You can claim interest for the time the supplier holds the money. Under the CISG, a seller that must refund the price pays interest from the date it was paid (art. 84(1)). Chinese courts sometimes start interest later, so a claim running from each payment date may be cut back. A safer start date is the end of the period given in your written reminder.
4.6 Which law applies
The orders have no choice-of-law clause. The CISG is the UN convention on international sales of goods. If your country and China are both parties to it, it applies first (art. 1(1)(a)). For non-delivery it gives similar remedies. The buyer can set an extra period to deliver, then end the contract for the missing part. It can also claim the money back, damages and interest (arts. 47(1), 49(1)(b), 51(1), 81(2), 74, 77 and 78). Chinese law fills the gaps. In my view, the result on these points would be much the same, apart from the interest start date in 4.5.
4.7 Where to sue
None of the signed orders names a court or an arbitration body. A contract claim can then be brought where the defendant is based or where the contract was performed (Civil Procedure Law (in Chinese) art. 24). Suing where the supplier is based also puts the claim next to its assets.
5. Options
| Option | What it does | Timing | Main risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Final written notice from a PRC lawyer, in Chinese, to the registered address | Fixes the figure and the deadline. Ends the undelivered orders. May lead to repayment. | The deadline set in the notice | The supplier may move money once warned. |
| Negotiated repayment | Money back sooner if the supplier is still trading | Depends on the supplier | A plan with no security and no default terms may only delay things. Put dates and default terms in writing. |
| Court claim with an asset freeze | Freezes the supplier's accounts before money moves. The court can order the refund, interest and the forwarder deposit. | In my practice, a freeze through the court takes about 10 to 15 days. A first-instance case (the first trial) without expert appraisal usually takes about six months from filing to judgment. | Court fees and the security for the freeze. The supplier may have few assets, so check first. |
There is no arbitration clause, so arbitration needs the supplier's agreement.
6. Recommended next steps
- Rebuild the account order by order. The real assessment attaches a ledger template.
- Get the forwarder's written reason for holding the documents, and its receipt.
- Check the supplier's registry status, enforcement records and known assets.
- Send one final written notice ending the undelivered orders, with a deadline to repay.
- If the money is not repaid by the deadline, file in the court where the supplier is based and apply to freeze its accounts.
7. Limits of this assessment
It is based on the documents listed in section 3, as at the date above. I have not contacted the supplier. A court's decision depends on the evidence at trial. Nothing here promises a result. Questions on the law of your own country are for your local lawyer.
Appendix: legal sources
Civil Code of the PRC, arts. 469, 480, 563, 566, 577, 584 and 591. Civil Procedure Law of the PRC (2023 amendment), art. 24. Supreme People's Court Provisions on Evidence in Civil Proceedings (Fa Shi [2019] No. 19 (in Chinese)), art. 95. UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, arts. 1, 47, 49, 51, 74, 77, 78 and 81. Translations are mine and unofficial.
What this sample leaves out
A real assessment names the supplier and gives its credit code. It works through each order and each payment, and it attaches the rebuilt account. Scope and fee are agreed in writing before the work starts.
Supplier disputes: scope and fees → · Describe your situation →