FAQs

Q. What are the ordering procedures?
A. The ordering procedures will be as follows: You can place an order by email or by fax and the best way is by email. You can of course directly come to our office in Hanoi, Vietnam for the order and then you may visit our factory & showroom if you want. Payment can be made by Bank transfer, Cash, Western Union or L/C and L/C is preferred, especially for large orders (from 15,000 USD/order). The required minimum deposits is 50% of the order total value upon order confirmation and the balance will be paid upon your receipt of a copy of the original B/L for the order by fax or by email. You can of course also pay us the balance around 2 weeks before the order arrives in your country. However, if trade terms for the order is Ex-work Hanoi and the order is shipped by your own shipping forwarder/agent, then you have to pay us the balance before we deliver the order to your own shipping forwarder/agent in Vietnam and as soon as we have received the balance, we will send you the original set of required shipping documents such as B/L, Invoice, packing list, etc. so that you can receive the goods in your country.

 

Q. What is the production lead time?
A. Production lead time depends very much on your order quantity and specific kinds of products that you order because some products can be quickly produced and some takes time. Therefore, we can only advise you over specific production time upon our receipt of your final specific order with specific designs, sizes and quantity, etc.. However, standard production time is often 30-60 days from our receipt of your deposits or payments. However, could you please note that if you order for lacquerware or coiled/spun bambooware products, standard production time is often 45-65 days depending on how big or small your order is because it is extremely labor intensive, time consuming and complicated to produce these 2 items as they are 100% made by hand from natural materials. Even for just one or a couples of samples, it also takes around 15-40 days (at least 30-40 days for lacquer) depending on how complicated your designs and finishes are and so please keep this in mind for your business plan.

 

Q. What is the minimum order quantity?
A. As it is in general extremely labor intensive, time consuming and complicated to produce our items, our required minimum order quantity/MOQ for 1st sample/trial order is from 20-30 pcs (or sets if the ordered items come in a set) per size per color and the total order value must be at least 2,000-3,000 per order it depends. However, your sample/trial order can also be just one or a couple of pieces in total for quality reference only before placing a larger official order with us. And our minimum order quantity for re-orders is from 40-50 pcs per size per color (or sets if the ordered items come in a set) and the total order value must be at least 3,000 USD per order (depending on specific items and designs as well as the total number of designs, sizes and colors you order).

 

Q. Your quoted prices are FOB or Ex-works?
A. Our standard quoted prices are full container base and FOB Haiphong-Vietnam. However, if you by in LCL(less than container load) orders, then the prices are Ex-works.

 

Q. Your prices are negotiable according to quantities or are they fixed?.
A. Our prices are wholesale. However, we are happy to offer you some  discount if you give us repeated large orders. The discounts will be determined upon our receipt of specific orders from you.

 

Q. Do you have any discount rates for big orders?
A. Yes, we do have discount policy for large orders. However, only orders worth of at least around 10,000-20,000 USD/order are viewed as larger orders. In your price inquiry, it will be better if you can tell me the specific q’ty you want to buy so that I can send you a good price. Specific discount rate will be determined upon our receipt of your specific orders.

 

Q. Do you offer labelling and packing?.
A. Basic packaging and labeling are provided free of charge. However, we will charge extra for special requirements.

 

Q. How do you pack?
A. Our standard packing for Lacquerware and coiled/spun bamboo products is usually individual, especially lacquerware items are normally individually packed. That means each product is first wrapped in 2 layers of special packaging paper plus one layer of Poly foam, then put into one 3- layer cardboard box/inner box( If the items are too small small, we will put some pieces instead of one depending on product size) and then a specific number of such cardboard boxes depending on cardboard box sizes will be put into one 5- layer master carton and the master carton size is usually around 0.1-0.14 CBM with maximum total gross weight of around 18-24kg/carton. In addition, if your order is LCL(less than container load) and the order is shipped by sea then the master cartons should be re-packed into plywood boxes or wooden crates in order to really safeguard the products inside/avoid possible breaking problems during transit. However, if the master cartons are re-packed into plywood boxes, then the volume will be increased by around 1.3-1.5 times depending on carton sizes and the cost for plywood packing is 26 USD/CBM (price of 2016).

 

Q. How is my order shipped?
A. We can ship your order either by sea freight or air freight and either door-to-door or port-to-port to anywhere in the world you want at good prices as shipping is now very easy and competitive. In addition, you can have your order shipped either by your own shipping agent/forwarder or by our own shipping agent/forwarder.

 

Q. Do you take care of the shipping arrangements as well?.
A. Yes, we can in general ship your orders to anywhere in the world and in any shipping methods upon your requests.

 

Q. What is the approximate shipping time?.
A. Shipping time depends very much on how you want your order to be shipped like by sea or by air, door-to-door or port-to-port, port of destination as well as what kind of shipping services you choose, etc. and so could you please advise your shipping requirements in detail so that we can advise you over shipping time.

 

Q. How much is the shipping costs?
A. It’s hard for us to advise you over the shipping costs until we have received your final specific order with specific designs, sizes and q’ty as well as your desired mode of shipping like by sea or by air, door-to-door or port-to-port, etc.. If by door-to-door, please give me your complete shipping address together with phone number.

 

Q. How can I pay?
A. We accept such methods of payments as: Bank Transfers, Irrevocable L/C at sight, Western Union and Cash.

 

Q. Do you do custom made orders and designs?
A. In addition to our product range as shown on our regularly updated website at http://vietnamhandcraft.com , we can be able to do custom-made designs to customers' specifications and so if you have your own designs, drawings or ideas, please send us and then we can re-produce for you.

 

Q. Do you have items available in stock for immediate delivery?.
A. We as well as almost 100% of manufacturers of such products in Vietnam do not have items available in stock as things are changing so quickly these days in terms of designs, colors, materials and so on. In addition, quality lacquerware and coiled/spun bambooware really take time to produce. It is extremely labor intensive and time consuming as they are 100% made by hand from natural materials. Standard production time is often 45-60 days depending on how big or small your order is, even for just a couples of samples, it also takes around 25-40 days depending on how complicated your designs and finishes are and each customer/market has different tastes/demands. Therefore, it is not good at all for us to have items available in stock. Finally, we are a manufacturer/wholesaler NOT a retailer or a shop in the streets and that is why we just make to orders and so if you want any design, you have to place an order with us.

 

Q. Can you send samples?.
A. We are happy to send you free samples if it is just a couple of samples and the sample cost is little such as around 10 USD or so. However, if the sample cost is dozens of USD, then you have to pay for both samples and shipping costs. In any cases, you have to pay for all relevant shipping costs.

It will be best if you have an account with some of the couriers such as Fedex, DHL, TNT, etc. so that I can send the sample via your own account and you will pay for the air freight upon your receipt of the sample at your doors.

If you do not have an account with some of the above couriers, I think you can still arrange for the samples to be shipped from your side (you ask the courier in your country to come to my office to pick up & ship the samples, then you just pay them for the air freight upon your receipt of the sample at your doors in your country). If this is still impossible, then I can send you the sample via our own account and then you will pay me for both the air freight plus the sample cost. Very importantly, before we send you samples, can you please send me a short list of the designs you want from our frequently updated website at http://vietnamhandcraft.com/ so that we can send you a quote in order to see if our prices meet your target prices.

 

Q. Do you have catalogues?
A. As for your request for our catalogue, we choose not to make expensive printed catalogues, as we would rather pass the cost savings onto our customers in the form of competitive prices. In addition, as we have new products and designs quite often and so it would be best if you can visit our frequently updated website at: http://vietnamhandcraft.com

 

Q. Do you have a showroom?.
A. Yes, we do have a showroom at our factory as well as at our office.

 

Q. How many colors can you do?.
A. We in general can do our products in all colors. We also work with the Pantone color book/ Pantone Formula Guide and it will be best if you have the Pantone Color Book on which you can find thousands of nice colors that are being used worldwide for such items, then you just tell me the Pantone color code you want and then we can do that color for you. For your reference, please visit www.pantone.com where you can buy the Pantone book. As you can see on the photo, there are 2 different books in the set and they are Solid Coated (for shiny finish) and Solid Uncoated (for Matte finish). If you have a plan to do this kind of business in the long term, you should buy one. It is extremely helpful. In addition, we can do many silver metallic colors for lacquerware products such as silver metallic red, silver metallic orange, green, blue, etc. Or also we can do our lacquerware products in white silver leaf, gold silver leaf, etc. or inlay with different materials such as mother of pearl, buffalo horn, eggshell, coconut shells, timber pieces and so on. Similarly, we can also in general do in any sizes, shapes and finishes upon your request.

 

Q. There are no dimensions for the items on your website
A. We do not put sizes for our items on the website. If you are interested in any designs, just let us know their item codes/item numbers, we will send you a quote based on our standard sizes. If you do not want our standard sizes, then you can ask us to re-quote based on your own sizes. Similarly, we can in general do our items in any colors, shapes and finishes upon requests. We work very well with the Pantone Color Guide.

 

Q. I don't see pricing on the site. Please let me know how I can see the prices.
A. We do not put prices and dimensions onto our website because as you know we have thousands of different products & designs and we do not think you like all of them. In addition, prices may change from time to time, especially for special orders. So it would be better if you could kindly send us a SHORT list of the specific item numbers/codes that you really want to buy and then we will send you a photo quotation.

 

Q. Are your products food safe?.
A. Yes, under the Vietnamese standard, our products are food safe and can be used for hot, cold, cool & dry food, soup and fruit. However, if you want our items to be really food safe in order to meet European & US standards, then please let us know and then we will use clean paint. However, it is a little more expensive than normal paint.

 

Q. What are your lacquerware products made of?.
A. The base/core/inside materials used for our lacquerware production are from many different kinds of materials such as ceramic, bamboo, compressed paper, fibre glass, composite, MDF, plywood, fibre wood, coconut shell etc. and different kinds of local timbers such as Jackfruit wood. Depending on specific shapes and sizes of products or customers' requirements. For example, if you want the items to be waterproof such as to hold water for real/live flowers, then please ask us to do them in ceramic, fibre glass or composite base and the best way is to do them in ceramic or fibre glass base.

 

Q. Are your lacquerware products waterproof?.
A. The base/core/inside products used for lacquerware production can be made of many different kinds of materials such as ceramic, coiled or pressed bamboo, pressed paper, composite, Fibre Glass, MDF, plywood, different kinds of local timber, wood powder, etc. depending on specific shapes of products or customers' requirements. Our lacquerware products can be waterproof only when the base/core/inside products are made of Fibre Glass, Composite or Ceramic. In case, the core/inside products are made of the rest of materials other than Fibre Glass, Composite or Ceramic, our lacquerware can still hold water. However, you should not let them hold water for a long consecutive period of time and please remember to dry them up right after using.

 

Q. Are your Coiled & Spun bamboo products waterproof?.
A. Our coiled/spun bamboo products can hold water. However, not for a long consecutive period of time. However, we can make the bamboo vases waterproof by putting a plastic tube inside the vases.

 

Q. Can your products be used outdoors?.
A. Our products can be used outdoors. However, must be in the shade rather than under direct sun light or extreme heat. The best way is to use our products indoors.

 

Q. Are the items shown on the website your full products & catalogues?
A. The designs on our website are only basic ones . We can not upload all of what we have onto our site as if we upload all of what we have onto our web, then the website will be too large. If the designs on our site do not suit your tastes, please contact us for more design options. In addition, we can be able to do custom-made designs to customers' specifications and so if you have your own designs, drawings or ideas, please send us and then we can re-produce for you.

 

Q. How can I be informed of your new items & designs every time you have?.
A. If you have already ordered from us, we will inform you of new items & designs upon your requests. At the same time, please visit us often at http://vietnamhandcraft.com for our new upcoming items & designs as our collection is regularly updated to suit your tastes

 

Q. May I suggest?
A. Your input is extremely important to us. Please send us any comments that will improve us. For answers to additional questions, please do not hesitate to Contact us

 

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