How to read a chandler's quote: the hidden line items that inflate your final invoice
Four line-item categories where the quoted number and the invoiced number rarely match — and how to write the RFQ to close them off.
The lowest quote is almost never the lowest invoice. If you have been in the office long enough you already know this. Below are the four line-item categories that account for most of the drift, and how to word the RFQ to remove them.
1. "Handling" and "port coordination"
A quote that is priced line-by-line and then adds a percentage "handling" or "coordination" charge at the bottom is an invitation to inflate on the invoice. Ask for a fixed coordination fee at RFQ stage — not a percentage. If the answer is "we don't work that way", you have your answer about the vendor.
2. Currency and FX
On a mixed USD/XAF requisition, the FX rate used on the invoice matters. A quote that names an FX rate at RFQ and an invoice priced at a different rate is a very common way to add 3-5% quietly. Fix the rate in writing at PO stage.
3. Fresh provisions at "market price"
Fresh items priced "at market" on the quote and then reconciled on the invoice is fine in principle — market prices genuinely move day to day. In practice, unscrupulous vendors reconcile upward and never downward. Ask for a market-price ceiling on the RFQ. "Market price, capped at X per kg" is a fair term and most chandlers should accept it.
4. Delivery, launch and port charges
At anchorage especially, launch and port charges can be presented as pass-through. In practice they are often invoiced with a markup. Ask for pass-through with a stated maximum and receipts on the invoice.
The wording that fixes it
"Fixed coordination fee, no percentage. FX rate frozen at PO. Fresh items capped at RFQ-quoted maximum. Pass-through port charges with receipts and a stated maximum."
Our standard quote is already structured this way. If you would like to test it against a live requisition, send it over and we will quote to those terms.