外贸函电课程重点_外贸函电Unit 6

第六章 还盘

Leading-in Tasks （任务导入）

Try to finish the following tasks and predict the objectives and focus of this unit.

Task 1. 假设你是英国威娜贸易公司（Wella Trading Co. Ltd.，联系地址：15 Newell Street, London, Britain，Tel：0044-20-76712345 Fax：0044-20-767670 E-mail: wella@hotmail.com）进口部的经理。最近，你公司收到广州金叶鞋业公司（Guangzhou Jinye Shoes Company，联系地址：138 Yanjiang Road, Guangzhou, China，Tel：86-20-88888888 Fax：86-20-888888 E-mail：jinye@163.com）发来的关于AMI牌鞋子的实盘。你们对该公司的报价不满意，打算就价格方面的问题与其磋商。现在，请代表公司拟一封还盘函。注意信中务必包含以下内容。

1) 感谢贵公司9月1日给予我方100双AMI牌鞋子成本加保险费、运费至利物浦(Liverpool)每双40欧元的报价。

2) 很遗憾我们不能考虑按贵方价格成交，因为贵方价格与市场不一致。同等品 质的鞋子，本地的百货公司零售价格低很多。

3) 鉴于我们之间长期的贸易关系，我们愿意给你们一个还盘，希望贵方可以将价格降低10欧元。

4) 如果贵方能接受我们的还盘，我们将会考虑订购200双

5) 希望贵方对我们的还盘给予认真的考虑并在北京时间2010年9月10日下午5 点前答复我方。 6) 盼佳音。

Part One Basic Knowledge Concerned

1． The Significance and Effect of Counter-offers

In international trade, when the offeree accepts the terms and conditions stated in the offer, the transaction is concluded. However, in most cases, the offeree would reject the terms and conditions or state his own terms and conditions by return. The rejection or partial rejection of the offeree to the offer is called counter-offer. A counter-offer is virtually a counter proposal initiated by the original offeree. In a counter-offer, the buyer may show disagreement to the price, or packing, or shipment and state his own terms instead. Once the counter-offer is made, the original offer is no longer valid, and the offeree now becomes the offeror as the counter-offer becomes the new offer.

Counter-offer constitutes the main part of business negotiations. During the negotiation, many issues (such as quality, quantity and packing of the goods, price, shipment, insurance, payment terms, commodity inspection, disputes and settlement of disputes, force majeure, and arbitration, etc.) will be talked about by the sellers and the buyers. So counter-offers are usually time consuming and may go many rounds before business is concluded or dropped.

2. Main Contents of a Letter for Counter-Offer

A satisfactory letter for counter offer generally includes the following: 1) Thank the offeror for his offer, mentioning briefly the contents of the offer. 2) Express regret at inability to accept the offer, giving reasons for non-acceptance. 3) Make an appropriate counter-offer.

4) Hope the counter-offer will be accepted and there may be an opportunity to do business together.

Part Two Letter-writing Guide

Steps / Contents Typical Expressions For letters making counter-offers 1. Thanking the Thank you for your offer of …（谢谢你方……时候的报盘。） offeror for his Many thanks for your reply to our inquiry for….(很感谢贵公司offer. 对我方关于…询盘的答复。) Thank you for your prompt reply and detailed quotation.(感谢您的及时答复和详细报价。)

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2. Expressing regret at inability to accept the offer and giving reasons for non-acceptance. 3. Making a counter-offer if, in the circumstances, it is appropriate. 4. Expressing your hope and expectation. Thank you for the samples you sent in response to our inquiry of ...(谢谢贵公司对我方…询盘的答复并寄来样品。) See also the previous units for other similar expressions Much to our regret, we cannot entertain business at your price, since it is out of line with the prevailing market, being 20% lower than the average.(很遗憾我们不能考虑按你方价格成交，因为你方价格与现时市场不一致，要比一般价格低20%。) The price you offer is out of line with the market, so it is beyond what is acceptable to us.(你方报价与市场不一致，故我方无法接受。) We are sorry to tell you that we can not take you up on the offer since the price you are asking is above the market level here for the quality in question. (很遗憾地通知你方，我方不能接受你方报价，因为你方所要求的价格高于本地同等质量产品的市场价格水平。) We regret to inform you that your offer is unworkable, as some parcels of Japanese makes have been sold here at a much lower price.(很遗憾你方报盘无法接受，因为这里有几批日本货以低得多的价格出售。) We regret to say that the price you quoted is too high to work on. (很遗憾，你方所报价格太高，无法进行下去。) In view of our long-standing business relationship we make you the following counter-offer. (鉴于我们之间长期的贸易关系，特向你方作如下还盘。) Your price is on the high side and we have to counter-offer as follows, subject to your reply received by us on or before... (你方价格偏高，我们不得不作如下还盘，以我方在…时候或以前收到你方答复为有效。) We counter offer as follows: …(我方还盘如下：) Your competitors are offering considerably lower prices and unless you can reduce your quotations, we shall have to buy elsewhere. (你们竞争对手的报价要低很多。除非你们降价，否则我们得从他处购买。) If you accept our counter-offer, we will advise our endusers to buy from you.(如你方能接受我们的还盘，我们将劝用户向你方购买。) We hope that you will take our counter-offer seriously into consideration and reply very soon.(希望你方对我们的还盘给予认真的考虑并很快地答复我方。) We hope you will consider our counter-offer most favorably and fax us your acceptance as soon as possible.(希望你们很好地考虑我方还盘并尽快用传真接受。) Please keep us informed of the supply position in your place.(请随时告知你处市场的供货情况。) 2

For letters in reply to a counter-offer A negative or uncertain reply to a counter-offer is actually another counter-offer. The following are some typical expressions. It is impossible for us to entertain your counter-offer.(我们不能 考虑接受你方的还盘。) The price you counter-offered is not in line with the prevailing market.(你方还盘与现行市场价格不符。) This is our rock-bottom price. We can’t make any further reduction.(这是我方的最低报价，我们不能再降价了。) We appreciate your counter-offer but find it too low to accept.( 谢谢你方还盘但我方觉得太低了无法接受。) We will not consider accepting your counter-offer.(我们不会考虑接受你方的还盘。) We regret to learn that you have turned down our counter-offer. (遗憾得知你方已拒绝了我方的还盘。) A positive reply to a counter-offer is actually an acceptance. Writing a letter to accept a counter-offer is the same as writing a letter to accept an offer. Please see the next unit for reference.

Part Three Other Commonly Used Expressions and Sentences

Expressions:

1. make (sb.) a counter-offer (as follows) （向某人）还盘（如下） 2. (price) on the high/ low side （价格）偏高/低

3. current price / ruling price / prevailing price/the present price/ the going price 现行价格

4. long-standing business relation 长期业务关系 5. be in (out of) line with the market 与市场(不)一致 keep with the current market 与现行市场一致

6. (price) is rising/advancing/going up. (价格)在持续上扬 (price) is falling/dropping/going down. (价格)在持续下降 7. to entertain business at … price 按……价格成交 8. give/ allow/ make/ grant a discount 给折扣 9. leave …with only a small profit 使得……获利低微 10. at a price …% lower than … 价格比……低……% 11. meet sb. half way 各让一半；折中处理 12. previous quotation 先前的报价

13. market is weak；market is declining 市场疲弱；市场正在下滑 14. make any further reduction 再次降价，作进一步的降价

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15. (price) fixed at a reasonable level 定价合理

16. (products) moderately/ too highly priced (产品)定价适中/过高

17. (the price) has advanced …% / considerably (价格)已上涨…% / 明显上涨 18. a jump/slump (in price) 价格飞涨/暴跌

Typical Sentences:

1. Expressing regret at inability to accept the offer and giving reasons for that. (表达不能接受报盘的遗憾并说明理由)

1) Unfortunately we cannot accept your offer for steel furniture. The prices you quoted are much higher than those of other manufacturers.

2) We regret that your counter-offer is unacceptable to us since your counter-offer leaves us with only a small profit. We believe that the price we quoted is quite realistic.

3) We have cut the price to the limit. We regret, therefore, being unable to comply with your request for any further reduction.

4). Although we are anxious to open up business with you, we very much regret that we cannot reduce our price to the level you indicated.

5) The price we quoted is quite reasonable. It has been accepted by the other buyers at your end.

6) Our price has been narrowly calculated and it is impossible to make any further reduction.

7) I’m afraid there is no much room for further reduction. You know, the price is advancing considerably recently.

8) Your price is reasonable, but the listed payment conditions are not customary in our trade.

9) Owing to heavy bookings, we can not accept fresh orders at present.

10) Owing to a shortage of stock, we regret that we are unable to accept your repeat order.

11) As this is an order of substantial size, we cannot safely undertake to complete its manufacture in a month.

2. Making a counter-offer concretely (给出一个具体的还盘)

1) We would suggest that you make some allowance, say 10%, on your quoted prices

so as to enable us to introduce your products to our customers. 2) You must reduce your price by 2% otherwise business is impossible.

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3) We are sorry that the difference/gap between our price and your counter-offer is too wide. The best we can do is 5% off.

4) Our counter-offer is well founded and workable. We can also offer a 10% discount for orders over 10,000 pieces.

5) We do not see any advantage in your quotation, and would like to know whether you have any better price to offer.

6) May we suggest that you could make some allowance on your quoted prices that would help to introduce your goods to this market.

7) I regret that your terms are unsatisfactory and unless you can amend those terms we will have to place our order elsewhere.

8) It is in view of our long-standing business relations that we make you such a counter-offer.

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Part Four Sample Letters

Sample 1: Buyer’s Counter-offer Carrol Machinery Trade Co. P.O.Box 657, Lagos Nigeria Tel：2341-2531457 Fax：2341-32768 E-mail: cmtc@hotmail.com May 18, 2010 Mr. Hu Xinhua Dongfang Foreign Trading Co. Ltd. 32 Wuyi Road Changsha, Hunan, China Dear Mr. Hu, We acknowledge with thanks the receipt of your letter of May 15th, 2010 for 300 sets of Butterfly Brand sewing machines at $60 per set CIF Lagos. In reply, we regret to state that your price has been found too high to be acceptable. As you know, the price of sewing machines has gone down since last year. Some countries are actually lowering their price. Under such circumstance, it is impossible for us to accept your price, as the goods of similar quality are easily obtainable at a lower figure1. If you can make a reduction in your price, say 8%2, there is a possibility of getting business done3. We expect your early reply. Sincerely yours, Gillian Reeve, Gillian Reeve Notes:

1. figure 这里指数字，即价格

2. say 8% 这里是Let’s say 8%的简化，意思相当于for example，即“比方说8%”。 3. get business done意思是“成交”，同样意思的表达方法还有很多，如：come to business, come to terms, make a bargain, close a deal, conclude business, conclude a transaction等等。详见第七单元常用表达部分。

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Sample 2: A Reply to the Letter of Sample 1

Dongfang Foreign Trading Co. Ltd. 32 Wuyi Road Changsha, Hunan, China Tel：86-0731-45673 Fax：86-0731-53327 E-mail: dftc@hotmail.com May 22, 2010 Mr. Gillian Reeve Carrol Machinery Trade Co. P.O.Box 657, Lagos Nigeria Dear Mr. Gillian Reeve We have received your letter of My, 18th, 2010 that the price offered by us for the Butterfly Brand sewing machine is found to be on the high side. We regret to say that your counter-offer is not in keeping with the current market and it is too low to be acceptable. We have received a lot of inquiries from buyers in other places and we believe our price is fixed at a reasonable level. To be frank with you1, if it was not for our good relations, we wouldn't consider making you a firm offer at this price. I’m afraid there is not much room for further price reduction. If later on2 you see any chance to do better, please let us know. Meanwhile, please keep us posted3 of developments at your end. We will make sure that all your inquiries will receive our prompt attention. Sincerely yours, Hu Xinhua, Hu Xinhua Notes:

1. To be frank with you意思是 “frankly speaking”。 2. later on意思为“at a later time”或“afterwards”.

3. keep us posted of “指随时告知我们….。”同样意思的表达方法还有：keep sb. informed of…; keep sb. advised of…;

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Sample 3: Buyer’s Counter-offer

Boston Trading Co., Ltd. No. 59, Davis Avenue, Norwood, U.S.A. Tel: 1-781-7698550 Fax: 1-781-7699468 E-mail: btcl@hotmail.com August 24th, 2010 Mr. Cai Dongliang China National Foodstuff Import & Export Corporation No. 23, Renmin Road, Xigang District, Dalian, China Dear Mr. Cai, Thank you for your letter of the 20th inst1. offering us 5,000 kilos of Walnutmeat at $5 per kilogram. We are interested in your product but regret to say that we find your price rather high. We believe that we would have a hard time convincing our clients at your price. There is also keen competition2 from suppliers in South Korea and Thailand. That can not be ignored. Should you be ready to reduce your price by 5%3, we might come to a business4 agreement. We are making this counter-offer based on the long-standing business relationship between us. As the market is declining, we hope you will consider our counter-offer most favourably and cable us as soon as possible. Yours Sincerely, Steve Frank, Steve Frank Notes:

1. the 20th inst. 指本月20日。inst.是instant的缩写，意思是“本月、当月” 2. keen competition 激烈的竞争

3. reduce your price by 5% 降价5%。注意介词by的用法。用by是指价格整体降 5%，如果用介词to，则指价格降到某一个数字。如：

1）In view of our long-standing relations, we decided to reduce the price by 5%. 2）In view of our long-standing relations, we decided to reduce the price to $ 4 4. come to a business参见本单元信例1 的Note 3。

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Sample 4 A Reply to the Letter of Sample 3

China National Foodstuff Import & Export Corporation No. 23, Renmin Road, Xigang District, Dalian, China Tel: 86-0411-7698550 Fax: 86-0411-7699468 E-mail: cnfc@163.com August 28th, 2010 Mr. Steve Frank Boston Trading Co., Ltd. No. 59, Davis Avenue, Norwood, U.S.A. Dear Mr. Frank, We note from your letter of August 24th, 2010 that you are interested in our Walnutmeat but find our quotation of August 20th, 2010 too high to conclude business1. We wish to inform you that our price has been accepted by other buyers in your city, where substantial2 business has been done, and that inquiries have been kept flooding in3 over the past few months. Such being the case4, we can not see our way clear to cut our price5. In fact, it is in view of our longstanding business relations that we offered you such a favourable price. We hope you will reconsider it and cable us your order for our confirmation at your earliest convenience. We await your favourable reply. Sincerely yours, Cai Dongliang Cai Dongliang

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Notes:

1. conclude business参见本单元信例1 的Note 3。 2. Substantial 大量的，可观的

3. flood in 汹涌而来。指大量的询盘信雪片般地涌来

4. such being the case在这种情况下；情况既然是这样。相同意思的表述还有 “under such circumstance”, “in this case”等。

5. see one’s way clear to do sth. 意思是“设法做某事”或“有把握做某事”。

Part Five Practical Training

I. Beginning Training

1. Put the following English into Chinese 1）to make a counter-offer as follows 2）this price leaves us with only a small profit 3）a price 5% lower than previous quotation 4）the price fixed at a reasonable level 5）the price has advanced considerably

6）be not in a position to make any further reduction 7）entertain business at a most competitive price 8）(products) too highly priced

9）In order to conclude the transaction, we are prepared to reduce the price to 30 pounds.

10）Let’s meet each other half way and reduce the price by 2%.

11）There has been a slump in price recently. We believe we'll have a hard time

convincing our clients at your price.

12）We regret that we can’t see our way clear to accept your counter-offer as your

price is on the high side.

13）As well known, some suppliers are actually lowering their prices to push sales. 14）If it were not for the friendship between us, we would not have made a firm offer

at such a low price.

15）As the market is weak at present, your quotation is unworkable.

2. Read the following letters and choose the best one from the given answers for the missing prepositions.

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to; at; of; with; in; on; for; from; onto; into; by Letter 1 Dear Sirs, Re: chinaware We have noted your fax (1) October 10th, 2010, regarding the captioned goods and regret that our offer has not been accepted. We have to point out that your counter-offer is obviously (2) the low side. The price we offered is entirely (3) line (4) the market level and has been accepted by many other customers. However, we now agree (5) your interest to renew our offer till the end of this month and recommend that you fax us your confirmation without delay. Yours faithfully, Letter 2 Dear Sirs, We are in possession of your letter dated July 5th, 2010 offering us Jinling Brand automatic washing machine at USD 120 per set FOB Guangzhou inclusive (1) our 5% commission. While appreciating the quality of your lines, we made a careful study of your offer. We find that your prices are too high to be acceptable. In fact, some suppliers are actually lowering their prices to push sales in the past three months. In order to make your product more competitive (2) our market, we suggest that you reduce prices (3) 10%. If you will agree to our counter-suggestion, regular orders (4) large numbers will be placed. Otherwise, we would have to place our order elsewhere.

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Please let us have your E-mail confirmation (5) your earliest convenience. Yours sincerely,

II．Intermediate Training

1．Put the following Chinese into English 1）价格偏高/低 2）现行价格 3）价格飞涨 4）价格在持续下降 5）给折扣

6）各让一半，折中处理 7）成交、达成交易 8）长期的业务关系

9）贵方还盘与现行国际市场不一致。

10）这确实已经是我们的底价，恐怕我们不可能再做任何让步了。 11）作为友谊的表示，我们破例接受你方的还盘。 12）很遗憾我们无法接受你方2010年5月10日的还盘。

13）我们的价格定位在比较适中的水平，按这种价格我们已经收到了大量定单。 14）我们所报的价格是非常具有竞争性的。不过如果你们的订单超过一万件，我

们可以提供10%的折扣。

15）按你们所报价格我们将无利可图。我们最多只能让价5%。

2. Supply the missing words in the blanks of the following letter. The first letters are given. Dear Madam or Sir： Thank you for your (1)o of February 20th, 2010 and the Teddy Bear sample you kindly sent us. In reply, we (2) r to say that we can not accept your offer at your (3) p . You may be aware that some products of Indian origin have been (4) s here at a (5) l about 10% lower than yours. We do think that the quality of your 12

products is better, but the (6) d in price should not be so big. Meanwhile, the current market is also weak. To conclude this (7) t , we make a (8) c as follows: Teddy Bears as the (9) s sent to us on February 20th, 2010, US$ 8 per piece CIF London, other terms and conditions as per your letter of February 20th, 2010. We await your early (10) a . Yours faithfully,

III．Advanced Training 1. Letter Composing:

On behalf of the addresser, compose a letter according to the given information and message. Remember to arrange the necessary parts in proper form as they should be set out in a business letter. Information:

1) Sender’s name: Guangdong Foreign Trade Development Corp.(exporter) 2) Sender’s address: 779 East Dongfeng Road, Guangzhou, China 3) Sender’s cable address: 5527 GFTDC 4) Sender’s telex: 44388 GFTDC CN 5) Sender’s fax number: 86-20-83328156 6) Date: September 15, 2010

7) Receiver’s name: H.J.Wilkinson & Co. Ltd. (importer) 8) Receiver’s address: 245 Lombart Street, Lagos, Nigeria

Message:

感谢对方的还盘。

2) 明确表示很遗憾无法接受对方降价10%的还盘，并说明按所报价格你们已

经收到了大量定单。

3) 强调你们的报价是适中合理的，如果降价10%你们将无利可图。

4) 建议对方重新考虑你们的报价并表示希望能在双方互利的情况下达成交 易。

1) 告诉对方你已经收到其2010年9月13日关于中国绿茶(green tea)的还盘信，

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2. Letter Replying:

Read the following letter and then compose a letter in reply to it. Atlantic Trading Co. Ltd. 26 Coast Road, Copenhagen, Denmark Tel: 045-8-7536592 Fax: 045-8-7536593 E-mail: atcl@yahoo.com April 10th 2010 Mr. Huang Qidong Shandong Native Produce Imp. & Exp. Corp 12 Road, Qingdao, China Dear Mr. Huang: Subject: Soybeans 2009 Crop We are in receipt of your letter of April 15th 2010 offering us 5,000 metric tons of the captioned goods at RMB 1,600 per metric ton on the usual terms. In reply, we regret to inform you that our buyers in Europe find your price much too high. Information indicates that some parcels of Turkish origin have been sold here at a level about 10% lower than yours. We do not deny that the quality of Chinese soybeans is slightly better, but the difference in price should, in no case, be as high as 10%. To get the business done, we submit this counter-offer as follows, subject to your reply being received here by April 26th, our time: 5,000 metric tons soybeans, 2009 crop at RMB 1,300 per metric ton, CIFC 2% Copenhagen, other terms as per your letter dated April 15th 2007. As the market is declining, we recommend your immediate acceptance. Yours Sincerely, Steve Frank, Steve Frank

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