A "letter of credit" is a document prepared by a bank that guarantees that Eventide will be paid by the bank when we ship goods to a customer. The letter of credit is procured by the customer by giving money to the bank in question or to its correspondent or affiliated bank in the customer's country. In theory, this is good, because we know we will get paid, and the goods must be shipped before we do. Like many theories it is flawed:
| Procuring letters of credit is expensive for the customer |
| Negotiating letters of credit is tedious and time consuming for us |
| Banks get money that could remain in the pockets of us or our customers |
For all of these reasons we discourage the use of LCs. However, we recognize that they may be necessary, sometimes for legal reasons, and so do our best to accommodate customers who must pay by LC. If you are proposing to procure an LC in Eventide's favor, please note that certain terms must be included to make it possible to negotiate. Any LC that fails to meet these standards will likely be rejected and have to be amended by the customer, which will then require further time and money.
Important Terms
| All LC charges are for account of opener, including bank charges, etc. |
| All freight, insurance, and handling charges are paid by the opener. |
| LC Must be IRREVOCABLE. |
| LC must be confirmed by a United States bank. |
| Leave plenty of time for shipping. Expiration date should be at least 30 days after goods are expected to ship. |
| Don't even CONSIDER an LC for transactions of less than $10,000. |
| Either specify a freight carrier or leave the choice to us. For legal reasons, we cannot accept terms that say "use any freight carrier BUT." |
| If you appoint your own freight forwarder, their name, contact name in the United States, and a telephone number must be specified on the LC. We recommend that you appoint our freight forwarder. Their name and address will be supplied on request. |
| If you appoint your own forwarder, note that we are convenient to EWR and JFK airports, and a New Jersey number and location are preferable, although New York is also satisfactory. |