A Nigerian importer asks an agent how much naira it will take to pay a Chinese supplier. The reply is a rate and a local account number. That is not yet enough to approve the payment. You need to know what leaves your account, what reaches the intended recipient and what the supplier agrees to deduct from the invoice.
The examples below are fictional and use invented amounts, not market rates or customer transactions. This article is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice. It does not establish the availability of an NGN funding route with A2vanta or any other provider.
Start with the invoice obligation, not the rate
Confirm the invoice currency and unpaid amount with the supplier. RMB is the currency commonly referred to as renminbi; CNY is the currency code you may see in the quote. Ask for the exact currency and amount on the payment instruction rather than relying on a chat shorthand.
If the invoice is in USD but the proposed payout is in CNY, get the supplier's written agreement on the CNY amount that settles the specified instalment. The agent's conversion alone does not change what the seller says you owe. The CNY-or-USD invoice guide covers that separate agreement.
Ask for three amounts in one written quote
| Amount | What the quote should explain |
|---|---|
| NGN you pay the agent | Total debit, conversion rate, fee breakdown and any charges outside the quoted total |
| CNY intended for the beneficiary | Recipient, payout amount, possible deductions and who bears a shortfall |
| Amount credited against the invoice | Supplier-agreed currency, instalment reference and remaining balance after receipt |
For an invented example, suppose an invoice instalment is CNY 40,000 and the agent requests NGN 9,000,000 in total. That NGN figure is a funding cost, not proof that CNY 40,000 will be credited. If the recipient receives CNY 39,800 and the supplier credits only that amount, CNY 200 remains unpaid unless the seller agrees otherwise. These figures illustrate reconciliation, not a current exchange rate or fee.
Ask when the quote expires and what happens if your funding arrives late or short. If a rate changes, require a revised quote and approval before the agent sends a different amount. The quote-reading guide uses stablecoin examples, but its distinction between funding cost and recipient amount also helps with this comparison.
Establish what the agent is doing
Is the agent arranging a payment to your supplier, buying goods on your behalf or selling goods to you at its own resale price? Name the contracting parties and record the service, fee and document commitments. Different arrangements need different reconciliations.
For a payment service, obtain the intended beneficiary details and the supplier's authority for any collecting company. For a purchasing agent spending your advance, agree the goods schedule, supplier-payment reporting and treatment of unused funds. For a reseller, establish its own invoice and sales obligations rather than assuming your price equals its upstream cost. The agent-and-factory document guide explains those distinctions.
Verify the agent and payment instruction before funding. Ask which entity receives your NGN, which entity makes the payout and how support can trace it. Do not assume every agent uses the same route or that a local receipt identifies the supplier-side sender.
Agree the document package before sending money
Keep the supplier invoice, approved beneficiary instruction, agent agreement and accepted quote together. Ask the agent what funding receipt and payout record it will provide, including the amount, currency, date and traceable reference. Agree how your order will be identified if the supplier sees a third-party sender.
After funding, retain your NGN transfer record and the agent's acknowledgement separately from its payout evidence. Then obtain the supplier's acknowledgement stating the amount credited to the invoice and the remaining balance. A local transfer receipt or an agent's “done” message does not complete that chain. Use the payment-proof guide for the same separation of evidence across payment legs.
Reconcile a shortfall before paying a top-up
Compare the accepted quote with the payout record and supplier credit. Ask whether a difference comes from conversion, a disclosed charge, an incorrect amount or allocation to another order. Identify who agreed to bear it before approving additional funds.
A request for another local payment should identify the missing invoice amount and explain the first payment. Do not let a new rate replace that explanation. Keep unused advances, returned amounts and outstanding supplier balances visible in the order file.
Use pay an invoice to ask A2vanta whether it can accept your buyer, invoice, recipient and proposed funding currency. Do not send NGN or assume a local collection account is available without explicit confirmation. Compare only confirmed routes for the same supplier credit amount; payment handling is not a guarantee that the goods will arrive.