Net 30 means the buyer has 30 calendar days from the agreed trigger to pay the supplier.
Weekends and holidays count.
For an importer, that trigger is usually the invoice date, which often lands before the goods clear, and long before they are sellable.
The label sounds like a favor.
The clock does not care where the container is.
Revenue timing and invoice timing are different clocks.
The gap between them is the cash-flow problem.
Write the term on the purchase order.
Stay here for whether Net 30 is buying time or hiding a hole.
What Net 30 Means
Payment is due 30 calendar days from the trigger.
A supplier who invoices on May 1 expects the money on May 31, even if the cartons are still on the water.
The trigger is the part most teams skip:
- Invoice date. Most common. The clock can start before shipment.
- Ship date. Clock starts when goods leave the factory or origin port. Transit sits inside the window. Better for the buyer. Harder to get.
- Goods receipt. Due 30 days after you physically receive the inventory. Best for the buyer. Rare on a first overseas order.
Most factories default to invoice date.
Confirm the trigger when you read the invoice.
Write it on the PO.
If the PO says Net 30 and the pro forma starts the clock on a date you never agreed, you are already arguing.
Why Importers Run Out Of Cash On A "30-Day" Term
Domestic goods in a local warehouse can make Net 30 feel real.
The stock arrives fast.
Sales can start.
The window may cover part of the cash conversion cycle.
Imports rarely line up that way.
- Day 0: supplier invoices on Net 30
- Days 1-14: production finishes, QC, origin trucking
- Days 15-35: ocean
- Days 36-42: customs and deconsolidation
- Days 43-50: 3PL or FBA check-in
The invoice is due on day 30.
The units may not be sellable until day 45 or later.
You are paying for stock you cannot list yet.
That is a working-capital drain with a polite name.
Shopify has the same shape.
The cartons can arrive and still wait on photos, copy, and a launch date.
The due date does not pause for your punch list.
A brand can look fine on a P&L and still run short because deposits, balances, freight, and duty are all cash-out at once.
Net 30 moves one of those dates.
It does not close the gap.
The true cost from factory to warehouse is the cash locked at each stage.
Tracking product costs is whether you can see those dates next to the SKU.
2/10 Net 30 is a 2% discount if you pay within 10 days.
Take it only if early payment does not starve freight, ads, or the next deposit.
The headline percent is not the decision.
Your cash position is.
What Each Side Is Trading
Buyers want the window to count cartons, read the commercial invoice, and see landed cost before cash leaves.
That matters on mixed SKUs and anything with a compliance wrinkle.
Paying on time, repeatedly, is also how you earn a larger PO and a better trigger later.
Factories have already spent labor and materials.
Net 30 is a receivable.
A late buyer gets tighter terms on the reorder they need most.
New brands with a big first order and no history are the accounts they watch.
A supplier evaluation matrix is the other direction of that scoring.
Once several factories are on the calendar, one missed due date shows up at the worst time.
The term only works if someone owns the dates.
Three Places The Term Helps, And One Where It Does Not
FBA seasonal restock. You use the window to finish follow-up, book freight, and plan inbound.
If the units are sellable before day 30, the term did its job.
If production started late or the FBA appointment slipped, you pay before the listing has stock.
Shopify launch. The window covers photography and listing work on a first order.
It works when those dates are real.
Packaging approvals and creative reviews do not move the invoice.
Plan the launch backward from the due date, not forward from "factory done."
The timeline breaks. Production slips a week.
The vessel rolls.
Customs holds.
The 3PL receives on day 38.
You still owe.
Nothing has sold.
This is the common failure.
A reorder point built on actual lead time stops you from using Net 30 as a bandage on a late inbound.
Model the legs in the lead time calculator before the PO goes out.
Negotiate The Trigger, Not Just Net 45
Asking for Net 60 on a thin relationship can raise the unit price, drop your priority, or tighten claims.
The paper term gets better.
The deal gets worse.
Negotiate the structure: deposit percent, when the clock starts, which SKUs qualify, and what happens if production is late or inspection fails.
Those move cash more than the day-count on the invoice.
| Term | Meaning | When It Fits |
|---|---|---|
| Net 15 | Due 15 days from the trigger | New factory, or they do not know you yet |
| Net 30 | Due 30 days from the trigger | Repeat orders with a predictable production cycle |
| Net 45 or Net 60 | Due 45 or 60 days | History, or a competitive supplier market |
| Cash in advance | Pay before production or shipment | Custom molds, seasonal first buys, high-risk first orders |
| 2/10 Net 30 | 2% off if paid in 10 days | You have the cash and the discount beats holding it |
| 30/70 | Deposit, then balance after shipment | Standard overseas manufacturing |
| Milestone | Pay against production stages | Long builds, high QC risk |
Stable FBA replenishment on a known ASIN is where factories give ground.
They have defect data and volume.
Test the quantity in the MOQ calculator before you lock a deposit schedule.
Shopify launches should stay tighter until the SKU has a reorder cadence.
Push on the winners.
Do not ask a factory to bankroll an unproven listing.
A longer net period helps.
A better trigger helps more.
If Net 30 runs from invoice date and you still have inspection, trucking, ocean, customs, and FBA receiving left, the usable window may be a week, not a month.
Ship date or goods receipt changes that math more than Net 30 to Net 45.
Write the trigger in the agreement.
Ambiguity shows up when you are already late.
Currency, Delays, And A Cost You Have Not Closed
Three things shrink Net 30 without changing the invoice.
FX. If the bill is in another currency and the rate moves against you in those 30 days, the goods cost more before you pay.
Thin margin SKUs feel this first.
Transit. Each week of delay is a week off the usable window.
Two weeks late on a 30-day term can leave you paying a few days after receiving.
Landed cost still open. Surcharges, duty, and 3PL fees that land after the invoice date change what the PO is worth.
Paying on day 30 against a factory invoice you have not tied to freight is how you fund the wrong number.
What landed cost is is the term.
Calculating it for imports is the method.
Put Due Dates Next To The Shipment
Invoice dates are not a finance-only list.
Ops has to know whether the PO passed inspection, whether the cartons shipped complete, and whether freight changed.
Otherwise "pay on day 30" is a habit, not a decision.
PDFs in inboxes and chat threads are how due dates get missed.
Organize supplier invoices by PO.
Tie each invoice to the PO, the shipment, and QC when it arrives.
Put the due date next to shipment status.
Flag 2/10 only when cash can actually take it.
That is the same coordination problem as landed cost spreadsheet vs software.
The first system a growing importer usually needs is the PO record, not a second calendar in accounting.
SupplyAutomate keeps the PO, the supplier invoice, and landed cost on one record so the payment date sits next to what actually happened.
That is the difference between using Net 30 and getting caught by it.
Net 30 only helps if the goods become sellable before the invoice comes due.
On a lot of import POs, due arrives first.
Put the next order's terms in writing, and model the inbound in the lead time calculator before you ask for Net 45.