Detailed description
A buyer comparing three quotes for the same nominal product is usually comparing three different constructions. This page sets out what is actually in the tape so the quotes can be read side by side.
What the buyer is choosing
The mistake in comparing quotes is looking at the width and the colour and ignoring the yarn. A 25 mm roll at 380 g/m2 and a 25 mm roll at 300 g/m2 look identical in a photograph and behave completely differently after five hundred cycles.
The material question
This is a nylon-polyester blend rather than a single fibre. The nylon share carries the cycle life and the colour depth; the polyester share carries dimensional stability and the price. Blends are quoted by ratio, so if the ratio is not stated, the two quotes you are comparing are not for the same product.
The flame-retardant claim is only worth what the report behind it says: standard, laboratory, lot number and result. Car interiors are tested to FMVSS 302, enclosures to UL94, and protective clothing to whatever standard the customer audits.
How it is quoted
Payment is 30 percent deposit with the balance against a copy of the bill of lading. Mixed widths on one purchase order are quoted as separate lines with a shared lead time, which is usually cheaper than splitting the order.
What ships with the goods
Packing is poly bag plus export carton, palletised for LCL. For humid destinations we add a desiccant and a moisture barrier, because a roll that takes up water in transit will measure wide on arrival.
Checking it on arrival
Weigh a metre of the roll. Weight per metre is the fastest proxy for yarn density, and it is the number that shifts quietly when a supplier tries to hold a price through a yarn increase.
Send the grade, width and colour with the annual volume and the quote comes back against a real construction rather than a catalogue range.
