Detailed description
If the last shipment had edges fraying, a width that measured wide on arrival, or a peel that read low in incoming inspection, the cause is almost always in one of the four items described on this page rather than in the price.
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.
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
Certificates are issued per lot rather than per year, and REACH and RoHS declarations travel with the shipping documents. OEKO-TEX documentation is available on request for skin-contact applications.
Checking it on arrival
Open one carton from the middle of the pallet, not the top. Condensation and compression both show up in the middle of a stack, and the top carton is the one that was packed with the most care.
Send the grade, width and colour with the annual volume and the quote comes back against a real construction rather than a catalogue range.