Re: Your Order No. 98765

Thank you very much for the above order covering 1,000 sets of No. 24 Sieves 18/24 (4 pieces per set), and 1,000 sets No. 26 Sieves 18/26 (5 pieces each set). We appreciate the confidence you put in us¹³ and shall do our best to satisfy you.

Unfortunately, we cannot accept your order for delivery in February, the earliest date being April. Furthermore we are sorry to tell you that we cannot sell at the prices you indicate but have to insist on a price of

USD 3.9 FOB St. Petersburg for the 18/24 set, and

USD 4.8 FOB St. Petersburg for the 18/26 set.

We trust that you can accept these prices and should be pleased to have your reply soon.

Yours faithfully,

PS. I suppose that Mr. Wylde of your company will come to the Moscow Spring Fair. Our stand is in the "Moscow Fair Hall", 4^th floor, stand No. 441. We should be pleased to see him there and to discuss future business carefully.

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3. Reply to the above — importer insisting on the original low price.

London, ...

Dear Sirs,

Re: Outstanding14 Order No. 98765

Confirming your telephone conversation with Mr. Wylde on the 24^th January ..., we should like to review the present situation. We have outstanding with you order No. 98765 for Sieves. As Mr. Wylde indicated during the conversation, we have received recent quotation from Germany at 3.3 USD per 18/24 set and 4.0 USD per 18/26 set. This is hardly consistent¹⁵ with your present quotation of 3.9 USD and 4.8 USD. We would ask you to look into this matter very seriously and give consideration to¹⁶ supplying our outstanding order at the prices originally stated. Once¹⁷ you have been able to do this, we shall review the situation again and will, no doubt, reach some agreement with Mr. Petrov when we see him in a few weeks' time.

It is, however, imperative¹⁸ that the above-mentioned order be delivered as soon as possible. As you know, our trade depends on our being able to meet our customers' demands. If you fail to deliver within the time stipulated, it will involve considerable loss of faith¹⁹ both for yourself and our organization in West Africa.

We look forward to your continued support and the confirmation of the prices indicated above.

Yours faithfully,

4. Continuation — importer insisting on maintaining old price.

London, ...

Dear Sirs,

Re: Cook Sieves — Outstanding Order

During the last few days your London Office has indicated that the MVES²⁰ has refused to allow our outstanding order for Sieves to go through²¹ at the old prices.

We informed your people in London that if MVES maintained²² their attitude there would be considerable danger of their losing the majority, if not all, of the business.

We have recently received quotations from manufacturers in Germany at levels considerably lower than those you are quoting at present. Although we have no wish to take this business away from you, there will undoubtedly be a need to do so unless we obtain some satisfaction on the price quotations.

The Russian manufacturers must realize the highly competitive nature of this trade. There has been rarely more than a few cents difference operating between different countries. As we have always tried to maintain a reasonably substantial trade at a low margin²³, it has been necessary to obtain the lowest possible prices. You will then appreciate our amazement when we received your price increases. We wish to give you our full cooperation, but without some help from the manufacturers and the export authorities this is impossible.

We hope that now we have stated our view so frankly²⁴, you will see that to maintain these price levels will give your competitors in Germany the opportunity they have been waiting for, to re­establish²⁵ themselves in this trade.

We look forward to your earliest reply.

Yours faithfully,

5. Continuation — exporter insisting on higher price.

Moscow,... Dear Sirs,

Re: Sieves — Your Order No. 98765

Referring to your letter of 28^th January we are sorry to inform you that MVES have returned to us your above order for Sieves. They refuse to accept the old prices and ask you to pay USD 4.00 for the 18/24 set and USD 4.80 for the 18/28 set, FOB St. Petersburg. For orders covering 5,000 sets a rebate of five per cent will be deducted.

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Please let us know whether you can accept these prices. Otherwise we are reluctantly compelled to return the order.

We are very sorry for the inconvenience. As far as we can see, the only chance to obtain better prices is to send us original offers²⁶ from competitors. Then we may be able to negotiate price reductions with MVES.

Yours faithfully,

6. Continuation — importer still hoping to maintain old price.

London,...

Dear Sirs,

We were informed that MVES insist on the price of 4.00 per set. In spite of that, our office will negotiate once more on this matter. They state, however, that they will probably not have any success because MVES have sufficient orders at the new price. We shall let you know the result of their discussions in the next few days.

Yours faithfully,

7. Continuation — government agency of the exporter's country agreeing not to increase price.

London,...

Dear Sirs,