You are at a Canton Fair booth examining stackable shop trays. The salesperson offers a lower price if you confirm before leaving the hall. Your colleague back home still needs to check the sample, and you have not agreed the packaging. You want time to decide without losing the goods price. Ask the seller for a defined extension before signing an order or sending an advance.
The purchase and proposed messages below are fictional illustrations, not customer transactions or standard supplier terms. This article is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice. A request to hold a price does not guarantee an extension or prevent a binding commitment.
The official Canton Fair calendar lists the first phase of the autumn 2026 session for October 15-19.65 Each seller sets its own offer conditions; the fair calendar does not establish when your discount ends.
Establish what the seller will hold
For the trays, write down the model, material, quantity and packaging version alongside the quoted currency and unit price. Include separate charges and exclusions. A promise to keep "the fair price" leaves your colleague guessing whether it covers the plain display product or the branded version you discussed.
The extension should identify the quotation revision and the configuration it covers. If packaging remains open, ask for an explicit price basis, such as the plain tray price with retail packaging still to be quoted. Purchasing can then assess the remaining cost rather than treating an incomplete offer as a finished purchase budget.
Changing the quantity or material may require a new quotation. Ask the seller to distinguish changes that require repricing from conditions already included in the offer. A price hold for one purchase is not a promise to supply whatever specification you later choose.
Separate the decision deadline from the payment deadline
"Valid until Friday" needs a date, time zone and event. Does the seller require your order acceptance to reach it by then, or money to reach its account? Those conditions expose you to different obligations.
The CISG's Article 18 recognises acceptance through a statement or conduct indicating assent; under the conditions in paragraph 3, that conduct can include paying the price.66 Applicability, the parties' practices and any relevant reservations need legal review for the transaction. Do not assume that avoiding a signature leaves you free of obligations after saying "confirmed" or making a payment.
Ask the seller to confirm what remains undecided during the extension and how you would place the eventual order. Your internal approval process alone does not establish what the seller understands you to have accepted. If the quotation or earlier correspondence already creates a commitment, have that reviewed before proposing a new hold.
Request an extension that leaves room to decline
For the fictional trays, you could send this negotiation message:
We are still evaluating the trays described in quotation revision B. Please confirm whether you can keep that goods price available until 17:00 China Standard Time on 22 October 2026 while we review the sample and packaging. We are requesting time to decide, not accepting a production order or authorising materials purchases. We propose no reservation fee, automatic order or minimum purchase obligation during this extension. Please identify any conditions you require and confirm how a later order would be accepted.
The date is illustrative. Choose a review window your team can use, then have the seller acknowledge the arrangement. Have a legal adviser adapt this proposed message to your transaction. Article 16 of the CISG addresses revocation of offers, including circumstances involving a stated acceptance period or reliance; a word such as "hold" does not settle those questions by itself.66
A reply saying "OK, proceed with deposit" does not accept the arrangement you proposed. Resolve that difference before treating the price as extended. The proforma and commercial invoice guide helps preserve the agreed version rather than replacing it with a payment demand containing new terms.
Compare the discount with the commitment it requires
Suppose the seller agrees to the lower tray price only if you place the full production order now. It also requires the balance before the inspection your buyer wanted. You are evaluating the lower goods cost together with earlier financial exposure and less opportunity to examine the batch.
Purchasing should compare that offer with the later, higher-priced offer on the same specification and quantity. Include any added charges and changed release conditions. Finance then sees the amount at risk and the event that makes it payable, rather than a discount presented in isolation.
The first-deposit guide covers approving the purchase before funding. Here you have another possible outcome: decline the time-limited discount and ask for a quotation after the review. The seller may refuse. You can leave the purchase unplaced instead of using a deposit to buy time under terms you do not want.
Carry the accepted price into the eventual order
If the seller grants the extension and your buyer approves the trays, compare the final purchase documents with the held quotation. Reopen approval if the seller changes the packaging charge, delivery condition or payment milestone. Preserve its extension response alongside the accepted order so the next colleague can follow the sequence.
A goods-price extension does not extend a payment provider's conversion quote. Use the payment-quote guide for the separate funding amount, fee and validity check. Use pay an invoice to ask A2vanta about the proposed payment before funding. The seller decides whether to hold its price; payment handling does not secure that discount or approve the purchase.
Sources
[65] https://www.cantonfair.org.cn/en-US: China Foreign Trade Centre: 140th Canton Fair schedule [66] https://uncitral.un.org/sites/default/files/media-documents/uncitral/en/19-09951_e_ebook.pdf: UNCITRAL: United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods