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Five Requests Our Fulfilment Operation Has to Decline, and the Fix
Every account asks for something the operation cannot give. The five below come up often enough that their answers are written down, and each has two halves: what is declined, and what is done instead. A refusal without the second half leaves a seller with a gap.
Key facts
- The limits are structural. None of these five is a matter of price or of how firmly a request is repeated; each breaks a control or a document signature belonging to someone else.
- Every decline has a published substitute. A chargeable collection line, the real transaction price on the paperwork, a return routed to origin, a check that leaves each signature with its owner, and an estimate band.
- Nothing here widens the terms. The compensation basis and liability split live on the liability and compensation page, and this article changes neither.
| Requested | Declined because | What we do instead |
|---|---|---|
| Collection bundled into the lane | A blended figure cannot be re-quoted when the loading point changes | Quoted from the supplier's address, shown as its own line |
| A declared figure below the price paid | It becomes a misdeclaration and undermines a later claim | Use the transaction price; correct the paperwork |
| An overseas returns address | In-market points are outbound operations without receipting | Return to origin, in-market write-off, or refund without movement |
| Our signature on a product document | The signature belongs to the lab, the treatment facility or the producer | Verify presence and consistency; file movement declarations as agent |
| A fixed delivery date in writing | Most of the legs that build it belong to other operators | Estimate bands, plus a two-hour and twenty-four-hour response |
One: collection folded into the lane at no charge
A supplier three kilometres from a dock invites the request to treat that hop as a rounding error. Collection is still a movement with a vehicle, a loading window and a measurement at the far end, and bundling it hides both its cost and the fact that a change of loading point can change which lane the cargo may travel. We quote it from the supplier's own address and show it separately, taking account of carton or pallet count, packing shape, whether the cargo suits the booked channel, day flexibility and any timber. Self-delivery is the alternative, described on our services page: a booking reference on every carton and a packing list the goods-in count can reconcile against.
Two: a declared figure written below what the goods sold for
A lower number, so the entry is cheaper or quicker. The declared figure is the value the transaction happened at and also the number a loss is settled against, so both ends break at once: an entry built on a price nobody paid is a misdeclaration carried by the importer, and a claim against a value never declared cannot be paid at the figure the seller later remembers. We use the price the order was really sold at, and where it is wrong the correction goes to the paperwork, not the value. A promotional or bundled price is a legitimate structure, declared as what it is with the discount visible.
Three: an address in the destination country for customer returns
The in-market locations we work with are outbound operations with clearance duties at the border. They do not take customer parcels back, they do not open cartons, and they do not inspect goods already delivered once, so a return sent into one arrives as unverified stock in a place with no receipting process for it. A returns decision is therefore made before the parcel ships: return to origin, where the item is counted and photographed like any other inbound; disposition in market, where it is written off where it lands; or a refund that leaves low-value stock in place. The options are on the FAQ page.
Four: our signature on a document we did not produce
A stamp or a test summary provided at our end, because the goods move faster than the paperwork. Four document classes carry a signature that is not ours: a cell or battery test summary is issued by the laboratory that ran the tests against the design it tested; a heat-treatment or fumigation mark on timber is applied by the accredited facility that treated the wood; a declaration of conformity is signed by the producer or the party placing the goods on a market; and a customs entry is lodged by the importer and its broker. What we do instead is check that documents exist and agree before a booking rather than after a hold, and make the filings that belong to the movement: the dangerous-goods declaration is filed by us acting for the shipper as its authorised agent, on data from the party holding the test report, and crating runs either way, by the factory to specification or itemised on our side.
Five: a delivery date printed as a promise
One fixed date, in writing, that a customer can be quoted and a marketplace pointed at. A door-to-door date is the sum of a sailing or flight schedule, a clearance queue, a terminal appointment and a last-mile backlog, and most of those belong to other operators. A date printed as a commitment is therefore a different document from an estimate, and one we cannot honour when the delay sits outside our control. What we publish instead are estimates, labelled as estimates: air DDP is matched by channel to three estimated bands — 4–6 working days on the fast lane, 5–9 on the standard lane, 8–12 on the economy line — while sea DDP is estimated at 18–25 calendar days for a US West Coast voyage and 28–38 days reaching Europe. What is committed is a response, with named ownership of an exception inside two hours of it being raised and a stated resolution path inside twenty-four, and a dispatch side anchored to the published 16:00 China cut-off.
Frequently asked questions
Why decline work that somebody is offering to pay for?
Because the request moves a risk the partner cannot carry onto a document it does not own, and accepting payment changes neither fact. A collection leg bundled into a freight figure stops being re-quotable when the loading point changes, and a declared value adjusted downward becomes a misdeclaration carried by the importer. A signature on a test summary or a declaration of conformity is false unless the signer ran the tests or placed the goods on the market.
What can I do instead of giving customers an overseas returns address?
Three shapes are available and the choice is made on unit value rather than geography, because the in-market points are outbound operations that do not receipt customer parcels. Return to origin sends the item back to the China warehouse, where it is counted and photographed like any other inbound, which suits expensive goods. In-market disposition writes it off where it lands. A refund without movement lets a buyer keep a low-value item.
Which filings does the warehouse make on my behalf?
Where a filing belongs to the movement rather than to the goods, we make it as an authorised agent: the dangerous-goods declaration for a DG lane is filed by us on data supplied by the party holding the test report, and export paperwork follows the booking. Evidence about the product itself stays outside our signature, meaning cell test summaries, timber treatment marks, declarations of conformity and the appointment of an EU-based responsible person.
Sources and update note
Reviewed 29 October 2026. The five limits, the chargeable collection rule, the two-hour and twenty-four-hour exception commitments, the 16:00 China cut-off and the estimated channel bands are this site's own published parameters rather than citations from elsewhere. Operating details remain subject to confirmation at booking.
Built and run by SBT FulfillDock from Shenzhen, Dongguan and Suzhou.
