Paying a Gel Polish Factory: T/T, L/C and the Deposit Trap

Short answer: the standard structure is a 50% T/T deposit with the 50% balance against the bill of lading, a letter of credit at sight once the order is large enough to justify the bank fees, and a platform escrow for a first trial order. What you should never do is pay 100% up front to a factory you have not audited, or send money to an account whose name does not match the company.

The four structures you will be offered

Structure	How it works	Who carries the risk	When it makes sense
100% T/T before production	Full payment, then the factory buys materials	Buyer carries almost all of it	Only after an audit and an approved sample from that factory
50% deposit, 50% against B/L copy	Deposit starts production, balance releases the documents	Shared	Most first orders, and the default we quote
L/C at sight	The bank pays against compliant documents	Banks, but documentary discrepancies are the buyer's problem	Orders where the L/C fee is small relative to the value
Platform escrow	Funds held until shipment is confirmed	Platform rules decide	Small trial orders with a supplier you have not met

What the deposit actually pays for

A 50% deposit is not a goodwill gesture. It buys pigment and packaging before the run starts, and it books line time. Custom shades, printed cartons and private-label bottles are all purchased against your order, which is why deposits on custom work are usually non-refundable once materials are bought — and why the deposit percentage tends to rise with how custom the job is. What matters is not the percentage but the milestone it buys: a deposit that releases nothing until the whole order ships, or a balance demanded before documents are issued, is where the risk actually sits.

The bank-detail scam that catches experienced buyers

An email arrives "from" your contact saying the bank details have changed. Treat any change of account as fraud until proven otherwise.
Call the person on a number you already had, not the number in the new email, and read the account back to them.
The account name must match the company name on the contract and the invoice. A personal account or a third-party trading company name is a stop sign.
Check the SWIFT/BIC against the bank's own published list, not against the PDF you were sent.
Keep the payment in the contract: amount, currency, account, and the rule that details only change by signed amendment.

Incoterms move more money than the unit price

Term	What the seller covers	Where risk transfers
EXW	Nothing beyond making the goods available at the factory	At the factory door — you arrange export clearance too
FOB	Export clearance and delivery to the named port	When goods are on board the vessel
CIF	Freight and insurance to the destination port	Still at the origin port — insurance is for your benefit, not your control
DDP	Everything, including import duty and delivery	At your door, which is why DDP quotes look expensive

A cheap FOB price and an expensive DDP price can describe the same goods. Compare landed cost at your warehouse, not the price on the quotation, and be explicit about who books the freight — a factory that books it will choose the cheapest routing, not the fastest.

What should travel with the balance payment

Commercial invoice and packing list that match the cartons, not the proforma.
Bill of lading or air waybill, with the consignee exactly as your customs broker expects it.
Certificate of origin if your market gives preferential duty treatment.
The SDS, because Section 14 tells the forwarder how the goods may travel — see our export documents checklist.
Insurance certificate when the term is CIF, and a copy of the survey report if anything arrives damaged.

Contract terms worth insisting on

Tolerance on shade and fill volume, in numbers: how far can batch 2 drift from the approved sample before it is a defect?
Cure validation on a named lamp, so "it cures in 30 seconds" becomes a testable promise.
Late delivery: a date, a grace period and a remedy, not just "we will try".
Defect remedy: replacement, credit or refund, and who pays the freight each way.
Governing law and the arbitration seat, agreed before there is a dispute.
Ownership of your brand assets, artwork and moulds, stated in writing.

Before you send a deposit, run the 7-point supplier check and read our note on MOQ and sample costs so the numbers you are comparing are the same numbers.