How to Import Private-Label Firelighters from Vietnam

Importing a private-label consumer product out of Vietnam is a sequence of four agreements: what the product is, what the pack is, which Incoterm the price refers to, and which documents travel with the goods. Programmes go wrong at the third and fourth far more often than at the first.

This article covers the commercial and documentary half of the route. The product and pack decisions are covered elsewhere, and are linked at the end.

Start with the Incoterm, not the price

The International Chamber of Commerce publishes the Incoterms rules as a set of eleven three-letter terms used in contracts for the sale and purchase of goods. Each term allocates who arranges carriage, who bears risk at each stage and who handles which formalities. A price quoted without one is not a quotation; it is a number.

Two practical rules for a first programme. First, compare quotations only at the same term — an ex-works figure and a delivered figure differ by the whole of the freight, insurance and clearance you have not yet costed. Second, write the term with the named place and the version of the rules you are using, because the same three letters have meant different things across editions.

The documents to ask for, and their honest status

The list below is what Ulstraw publishes on the ODM page. Note the second column: a document marked “on request” is not being withheld, it is conditional — usually on the destination market, sometimes on work that has not been completed. Nothing here is claimed as available because it would be convenient.

Put the documents you need into the brief at step one. A buyer who asks for a safety data sheet after artwork approval has just moved their own launch date.

A timeline with the gap left visible

Every duration on this line is unpublished at the time of writing, and is shown as a question rather than filled with a plausible number. When a supplier gives you these figures — this one included — ask whether they are typical or best-case, and whether they assume artwork is approved first time.

Purchasing questions that come up every time

Can you quote before I have artwork? Yes, against a pack count and a format. A firm price needs the final pack and the order quantity, because both change the cost of the run.

Who is the exporter of record? The manufacturing entity in Vietnam. It is named, with its tax code, in the table above; contract with the entity, not with a brand name.

What arrives with the goods? The production batch, a packing list and export documentation, ready for collection in Vietnam. Anything beyond that — certificate of origin, market-specific paperwork — is arranged per shipment and should be named in the purchase order.

How is the first order sized? Against the minimum order quantity per SKU, which is unpublished today and is one of the first three questions to put in your brief.

What happens to my barcode and artwork? They stay yours. The reasoning, and the way to keep them that way, is in the packaging article. The pack-level figures a forwarder will ask you for are on the 50 Cubes product page.

Sources

• International Chamber of Commerce, Incoterms® rules — the eleven three-letter trade terms used in contracts for the sale and purchase of goods.
• Ulstraw ODM and private-label programme — formats offered, pack configurations, markets served, the four-step sampling process and the documentation list, published at /odm-private-label.
• Ulstraw product catalogue — composition, pack counts, pack weights, pack dimensions, shelf life and the stated burn window, published per SKU at /products.

About the author

Written by Nguyễn Xuân Tài, founder and chief executive of ULSTRAW joint stock company (tax code 2803119239), the Thanh Hoa manufacturer that presses rice straw into firelighters. He presented the project when it won the Start-up category of the Social Business Creation competition in October 2023, and he answers ODM and private-label briefs himself. More on the company and how it is structured is on the about page.

Revision history

Published in this revision. Figures shown as “on request” are open questions logged in the repository, not omissions; this article is updated in place on the day each one is confirmed, and the change is noted here.

Next step

If you are evaluating Ulstraw as a supplier, start with the ODM and private-label programme page: it carries the current specification table, the four-step sampling process and the documentation list. To request a sample or a quotation, use the contact form and state your market, the volume you expect in the first twelve months, and the date you need goods on the water.