Telling a buyer about a delay or a price increase

Every exporter has to send these emails sometimes: production slipped, a vessel was rolled, a material doubled in cost. Buyers can usually plan around bad news. What damages a relationship is hearing it late, vaguely, or more than once. This guide gives the structure and four templates you can adapt.

When to tell the buyer

• As soon as you're reasonably sure. If you know on day 10 of a 30-day production that you'll miss the date, say so on day 10. Your buyer may have their own customer, a shop launch or a container booking that depends on it.
• Before the buyer asks. An update they didn't have to chase reads as control. One they had to chase reads as hiding.
• Once, with a firm new date. "A few days late" followed by another delay a week later is worse than one honest "two weeks late". Add a small buffer to the new date before you send it.
• Before long holidays. If the delay pushes production into a factory shutdown at your end, or the arrival into a holiday at theirs, say so now. See working weeks and holidays.

The four things the email needs

1. What happened, in one or two plain sentences. No long excuses, no blaming named suppliers.
2. The new date or the new price, as a firm number, with the old one beside it.
3. The buyer's choices. For example, ship part now and the rest later, change the shipping method, accept the new date, or cancel the open part. Only offer what you can really do.
4. What you're doing to limit the damage, and when you'll update them next.

Write it plainly enough to survive a translation tool. Dates with the month in words, prices with currency and unit; see plain English for non-native buyers.

Template: shipment delay

Subject: Order [PO number]: new shipping date [new date]

Dear [name],

I want to let you know early about a delay on order [PO number].

What happened: [one sentence, e.g. "The fabric for this order arrived 9 days late from our mill."]

Shipping date: was [old date], now [new date].
Expected arrival at [destination]: [date], depending on the vessel schedule.

Your options:
1. Accept the new date. We will ship the full order on [new date].
2. Partial shipment: [quantity] ready on [date], the rest on [new date]. [Who pays the extra freight.]
3. [Another real option, e.g. air freight for part of the order, at [cost / who pays].]

What we are doing: [e.g. "Production is running an extra shift. I will send you a photo update on [date]."]

Please tell me which option you prefer by [date], so I can book the right space.

I'm sorry for the delay.

Best regards,
[name]

If the buyer pays by letter of credit, check the credit's latest shipment date and expiry date before you send this. A delay past those dates needs an amendment from the buyer's bank, and you should ask for it in the same email.

Template: price increase for future orders

For new quotations and orders not yet confirmed, you can change your price; your quote's validity date is there for this reason. Give notice and a clear date. The structure of a quotation itself is covered on relaysolo.com in how to write a quotation email.

Subject: New prices for [product] from [effective date]

Dear [name],

I am writing to give you notice of a price change for [product / range].

Reason: [one sentence, e.g. "The cost of [material] has risen by about [x]% since our last quotation."]

New price: [currency] [new price] per [unit], [Incoterm and place] Incoterms 2020
Current price: [currency] [old price] per [unit]
Effective for orders confirmed from: [date]

Orders you confirm before [date] will be at the current price, for delivery by [date].

If it helps your planning, I can [real option: e.g. hold the current price for one more order of up to [quantity] / quote a version with [alternative material]].

Best regards,
[name]

Only state a reason and a percentage you can show if asked. "Costs have gone up" with no detail invites a negotiation; a specific, true reason usually doesn't.

If the order is already confirmed at a price

Once a buyer has accepted your quote or proforma invoice, and especially once they've paid a deposit, the price is normally part of the agreement. Whether you can change it depends on what you both signed: a price adjustment clause, a hardship clause, or nothing at all. The International Chamber of Commerce publishes model force majeure and hardship clauses for this kind of situation, but they only apply if the contract includes them. If you're unsure, ask a lawyer before you insist.

Without such a clause, what you can do is ask, not demand:

Subject: Order [PO number]: request about [material] cost

Dear [name],

Order [PO number] is confirmed at [currency] [price] per [unit], and we will honour our agreement.

I want to be open with you about one problem. Since we confirmed, [material] has risen by [x]%, which takes this order below our cost.

I'd like to ask whether you would consider one of these:
1. Sharing the increase: [currency] [new price] per [unit] for this order only.
2. Keeping the price, with [change you can offer, e.g. a later shipping date of [date], or a different packing].

If neither works for you, we will deliver as agreed.

Best regards,
[name]

The last line matters. A buyer who feels squeezed on a confirmed order will remember it at the next quotation.

After you send it

• Record the new date or price on the order, and update the same figures everywhere: the next invoice, the packing list, and the shipping instructions.
• Send the update you promised, on the day you promised, even if there's nothing new.
• If the buyer doesn't answer, follow up by date, not by feeling. relaysolo.com has a guide to following up when a buyer goes quiet.
• If a buyer replies with a request to send the deposit refund or balance to "new" bank details, stop and check by phone first. See bank detail change fraud.

Sources

• ICC, ICC Force Majeure and Hardship Clauses.
• ICC, Incoterms® 2020 introduction: trade terms don’t deal with remedies for breach of contract, so delays and price disputes depend on your contract.

Read next

• Sample requests and proforma invoices; all of Samples, orders and documents.
• Export payment terms compared, in Getting paid.
• Incoterms 2020: which rule to quote, in Quoting and trade terms.
• Fake inquiries and phishing, in Fraud and safety; Working across markets. How we check sources: about this handbook.