The RFQ for Industrial Goods — What UK Buyers Should Ask

For context: where else can you get this

GOV.UK tells you what documentation UK customs requires at import — but does not explain how to request that documentation from a Chinese supplier. Alibaba's platform guides explain how to message factories, but treat the RFQ as a chat message, not a procurement document. Freight forwarder blogs cover Incoterms but never address spec discipline or MOQ negotiation phrasing. This article connects regulatory requirements to the actual RFQ document: each of the seven lines maps to a specific comparison axis or compliance obligation, so the quotes that come back are auditable and comparable.

The seven-line RFQ structure

Each line serves a specific purpose. Together, they force the supplier to respond on a common set of axes.

Line 1 — Product specification. Drawing or sample reference, materials, finish, tolerances on critical dimensions. This line eliminates the most common source of incomparable quotes: each supplier interpreting a vague description differently. Include the drawing number, material grade (e.g. "AISI 304 stainless steel, not 201"), surface finish requirement, and tolerances on mating or functional surfaces. Where possible, reference an international standard (ISO, BS, DIN) rather than describing the requirement in prose.

Line 2 — Quantity and repeat-order projection. State the primary order quantity and signal your expected repeat volume over the next 12 months. "200 units initial order, with 150-200 units per quarter for the following 12 months" invites the supplier to offer a volume-based pricing tier. An order for 200 units with no repeat signal gets priced as a one-off.

Line 3 — Incoterm with FOB-separated pricing. Request the quote in this format: (a) FOB unit price, (b) FOB total, (c) ocean freight quoted separately, (d) marine insurance quoted separately. Even if you plan to buy CIF, asking for the FOB breakdown separates the factory price from the logistics bundle. This is the line that flushes out trading-company markups: a factory quotes FOB at their cost; a trading company bundles margin into the CIF spread where the buyer cannot see it.

Line 4 — Packaging requirements. Specify export packaging for ocean freight. This means: export-grade carton or crate dimensions, pallet configuration if applicable, moisture-barrier wrapping for steel or machined components, and marking requirements (shipping marks, handling symbols). Packaging that is adequate for domestic Chinese trucking may not survive 30 days in a container with humidity and vibration.

Line 5 — Lead time (production and shipping separately). Request production lead time and shipping transit separately. "Lead time: 45 days" is ambiguous — it might mean 30 days production plus 15 days shipping, or 45 days production with shipping additional. Separating them lets you plan your production schedule against the factory's, and assess the shipping window against current freight-index conditions.

Line 6 — Payment terms. State your preferred payment structure. For a first order, a common starting position is T/T (Telegraphic Transfer) 30/70: 30% deposit on order confirmation, 70% balance before shipment against approved pre-shipment inspection. Mention L/C (Letter of Credit) as an alternative if the order value justifies the banking cost. The supplier's response to your stated terms reveals their flexibility and their assessment of buyer risk.

Line 7 — Compliance and documentation. This is the line most UK industrial buyers omit and most Chinese suppliers do not volunteer.

Request: (a) the applicable conformity-marking documentation — but do not default to writing "UKCA required." Under SI 2024/696 (The Product Safety and Metrology (Amendment) Regulations 2024), the UK indefinitely recognises CE marking for 21 product regulations on the Great Britain market. Sector-specific exceptions apply for construction products, medical devices, cableways, marine equipment, rail, transportable pressure equipment, and uncrewed aircraft systems. Check GOV.UK sector-specific guidance for your product before specifying which marking regime applies.

Request: (b) material declarations for UK REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) compliance. UK REACH operates independently from EU REACH and has been in force since 1 January 2021. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is the UK Competent Authority. Importers of substances at or above 1 tonne per year must register. If your product contains registerable substances, the RFQ's compliance line should request material safety data sheets and substance declarations.

Request: (c) a non-preferential certificate of origin issued by CCPIT (China Council for the Promotion of International Trade), which is the authorised issuing authority for non-preferential certificates of origin from China. Since the UK does not have a free trade agreement with China, the relevant document is a non-preferential CO from CCPIT, not a preferential CO from GACC (General Administration of Customs of China).

Request: (d) a commercial invoice formatted for UK customs declaration via CDS (Customs Declaration Service). The CDS import declaration requires up to 78 data elements across 8 data groups. The most RFQ-relevant elements are: commodity code (Data Element 6/14), country of origin (DE 5/15), delivery terms (DE 4/1, which cross-references Incoterms), and documents produced (DE 2/3). The supplier's commercial invoice should be structured to support these elements.

Guide 04 diagramThe seven-line RFQ structure visual note

Spec discipline — over-specify vs under-specify

There is a specificity continuum. Over-specify and the supplier prices in risk for every tight tolerance — even on non-critical dimensions. Under-specify and three suppliers interpret the same product description three different ways.

Lock down: dimensions on mating or functional surfaces (with specific tolerances), material grade (not just "stainless steel" but the specific AISI or GB standard), surface finish (Ra value if critical), and any compliance-critical marking (CE, UKCA, or the sector-specific equivalent).

Leave open: component sourcing (let the factory choose their preferred bearing or fastener supplier unless the specification requires a specific brand), secondary processes (if the factory has a more efficient machining sequence, let them propose it), and non-critical surface finishes (cosmetic finishes on internal components waste cost).

A common misstep: writing "ISO 9001 certified factory" in the RFQ. This is too vague. The factory may hold ISO 14001 (environmental management) instead and assume any ISO certificate satisfies the requirement. The correct level is "ISO 9001:2015 certified, with calibration records for production-stage CMM (Coordinate Measuring Machine) equipment available on request."

The FOB-separated quote ask and MOQ negotiation phrasing

The exact wording for Line 3:

> "Please quote: (a) FOB [port] unit price, (b) FOB total for [quantity] units, (c) ocean freight Shanghai/Ningbo to Felixstowe quoted separately, (d) marine insurance quoted separately. We will handle UK duty, VAT, port handling, and last-mile delivery ourselves."

This phrasing does three things. It separates the factory price from the logistics bundle. It identifies whether the supplier can quote FOB (factory-direct) or only CIF (trading company bundling margin into freight). And it signals that the buyer understands the cost structure, which in practice discourages the padding of logistics lines.

For MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity) negotiation, replace "what is your MOQ?" — which triggers a defensive floor number — with:

> "We plan to order [N] units initially, with [M] units per quarter over the next 12 months. What pricing tier does this volume fall into?"

This reframing invites the supplier to volunteer their pricing tiers rather than defending a minimum. It signals repeat business, which Chinese sales managers weight heavily when structuring quotes.

Guide 04 controlThe FOB-separated quote ask and MOQ negotiation phrasing control image

Documentation requests UK buyers commonly forget

Four documents that should be in every RFQ's Line 7 but are commonly omitted:

Certificate of origin (CCPIT-issued). Needed for UK customs origin determination. The CCPIT is the authorised issuing body for non-preferential certificates of origin from China. Processing typically takes 2 working days. Certificates are valid for 1 year from issuance.

Material declarations for UK REACH. If the product contains chemical substances, the supplier should provide safety data sheets and substance declarations. The first major UK REACH registration deadline for transitional substances at or above 1,000 tonnes per year is 27 October 2026. Even if the buyer is below this threshold, requesting material data at the RFQ stage builds the compliance file early.

Test reports under the applicable conformity-marking regime. Do not write "UKCA test report required" as a default. As of March 2026, CE marking continues to be recognised for 21 product regulations on the GB market. Check GOV.UK's product-regulations-by-sector guidance to confirm which regime applies to your product before specifying the test report requirement.

Commercial invoice in CDS-compatible format. The invoice should include: HS commodity code, country of origin (China), Incoterm and named port, unit price, total value, and net/gross weights. These map directly to CDS data elements DE 6/14, DE 5/15, DE 4/1, and DE 2/3.

Gatekeeper view: what is visible from China-side

When a Chinese factory's sales team receives an RFQ in English from a UK buyer, three things commonly cause misalignment.

First, tolerance interpretation. "Tolerance ±0.1mm" is sometimes read as ±0.1mm on every dimension, not only on the critical mating surfaces the buyer intended. This inflates the quoted price because tight tolerances across all features require slower machining and more inspection. The RFQ should specify which dimensions carry the tight tolerance and which carry a general tolerance (e.g. ±0.5mm on non-critical dimensions).

Second, ISO certification confusion. "ISO 9001 certified factory" is sometimes interpreted as "any ISO certificate qualifies." The factory may hold ISO 14001 or ISO 22000 and assume the requirement is met. Specify the exact standard and edition.

Third, UK compliance acronyms. UKCA, UK REACH, and CDS are often unfamiliar to Chinese export sales teams. In practice, the compliance documentation request gets forwarded to the factory's export documentation department — if the factory has one. If not, the supplier may quote without realising that producing the required documentation adds 5-10% to costs. A structured compliance line in the RFQ surfaces this cost at the quoting stage rather than at shipment.

Where this framework breaks

Custom tooling orders. When tooling cost dominates the quote — moulds, dies, or fixtures that represent 30% or more of the first-order value — the seven-line structure needs an eighth line for tooling amortisation. Tooling should be quoted as a separate line item with its own payment schedule, ownership terms (who owns the mould?), and shot-life expectancy.

Multi-component assemblies. When the product requires sub-components from different factories (castings from one, machining from another, electronics from a third), a single RFQ may not produce a comparable quote. The buyer may need to RFQ sub-assemblies separately and manage integration, or find a single integrator who sub-contracts internally.

Service-plus-product bundles. When the supplier offers installation, commissioning, or technical support alongside goods, the seven-line structure does not capture service pricing, warranty terms, or support scope. A separate service agreement template is needed.

Very small orders under £5,000. The full seven-line template may over-specify for a small trial order. A supplier receiving a formally structured RFQ for a £3,000 order may see the formality as disproportionate and deprioritise the enquiry. For trial orders, a simplified three-line version (spec, quantity, and FOB price request) is more appropriate.

Commoditised products with published specifications. For standard fasteners, fittings, or raw materials manufactured to DIN, ISO, or BS standards, spec discipline is less critical because the specification is already defined externally. The comparison axis shifts to price, MOQ, lead time, and certification.

Trends layer

As of May 2026, the UK conformity-marking landscape remains in transition. CE marking continues to be recognised for many product sectors placed on the Great Britain market under SI 2024/696, but sector-specific deadlines and rules apply. This means an RFQ's compliance-documentation line must be product-sector-specific rather than defaulting to "UKCA required." Buyers who send RFQs requesting the wrong marking regime waste supplier time and receive quotes that price in unnecessary re-certification costs. Check GOV.UK guidance for your product sector before filling in Line 7.

Coming up

Issue #16 applies this template to a real product: a complete seven-line RFQ for a specific industrial component, annotated line by line, with the "before" (vague email) and "after" (structured RFQ) versions side by side.

Issue #17 then teaches you to read the quotes that come back — decomposing a CIF figure into its five hidden components and sanity-checking each against public data.

Sources

GOV.UK customs, CDS and product-regulation guidance, HSE UK REACH material, CCPIT and GACC certificate-of-origin references, and ICC Incoterms references support the RFQ documentation, compliance and delivery-term review points in this guide. Accessed or reviewed as part of the 2026-06-02 guide migration/review.