The standard payment term on a Chinese jewelry factory's proforma invoice is 30% deposit, 70% balance before shipment, by T/T wire. That term is not a rule. It is a starting position, and it moves depending on how large your order is, how long you have worked with the factory, and how credible your alternatives are. First-time buyers pay 30/70. Mature accounts negotiate 20/80, 10/90, or milestone-based splits. Here is how the negotiation actually goes.

The standard terms and what they mean

Term	Deposit	Balance	Best for
30/70 T/T	30% on PO	70% before shipment	First orders, new suppliers
20/80 T/T	20% on PO	80% before shipment	Repeat accounts, medium orders
50/50 T/T	50% on PO	50% before shipment	Custom tooling, gold-heavy orders
L/C at sight	0%	Bank pays against documents	Large orders ($50k+), established importers
Trade Assurance / escrow	Held by platform	Released on acceptance	First orders with unverified suppliers

Why factories ask for 30% deposit

The deposit covers the non-refundable costs of starting production: buying the gold or silver alloy, casting the first batch, committing the workshop slot. If you cancel after casting, the factory is holding metal and work-in-progress that they cannot easily sell to someone else. The deposit is their protection against that. Understanding that makes the negotiation less adversarial: you are not asking them to work for free, you are asking them to carry less of the production risk.

When you can push for better terms

Terms move in your favor when one of three things is true:

Repeat orders with a track record. After three or four clean orders, ask for 20/80. The factory has seen you pay on time and take delivery. The ask is reasonable and most will grant it.
Large order value. Above $25,000, you have leverage. Above $50,000, a letter of credit becomes realistic. L/C costs you bank fees (roughly $200-$500 per L/C) but means you pay against shipping documents, not before.
You have a credible alternative. If two factories want your order, you can play them off. This is leverage, but use it sparingly - burning a supplier over 5% on the deposit is short-sighted.

Trade Assurance and escrow: the safety net for first orders

Alibaba Trade Assurance holds your payment and releases it to the supplier when the order ships to specification. It is not a cure-all - disputes still happen, and the platform resolves them slowly - but it is a meaningful protection for a first order with a factory you have not worked with. Expect the factory to prefer wire, and expect them to add a 2-4% surcharge for Trade Assurance to cover the platform fee. For a first order under $5,000, that surcharge is cheap insurance.

Independent escrow services (such as those offered by inspection firms) work similarly and are useful for orders where you are paying for custom tooling that only you will use.

Letter of credit: when it is worth it

An L/C at sight is a bank instrument: your bank promises to pay the factory once the factory presents the shipping documents (bill of lading, commercial invoice, packing list, inspection certificate). It is the most secure structure for both sides, and it is standard on orders above $50,000 in most industries. For jewelry, L/C is less common because order sizes are usually smaller, but on a $100k gold program it is worth asking for.

The catch: L/Cs are legal instruments. Every document must match the L/C terms exactly. A typo in the port name or a weight mismatch on the packing list triggers a discrepancy and a delay. Use L/C with a freight forwarder and a broker who have done it before.

What never to agree to

100% T/T before production. No reputable factory asks this. If they do, walk away.
Western Union or crypto to a personal account. These are untraceable and common in scam supplier profiles.
Balance to a different account than the PI lists. A last-minute 'our bank changed' request is a known interception fraud. Call the factory on a known number to verify before sending.
No written PI. A verbal price and a wire to a personal account is how you lose money with no recourse.

Currency and exchange risk

Most Chinese factories quote in US dollars, which means the currency risk sits with you if your domestic revenue is in euros, pounds or Australian dollars. For orders above $20,000, consider locking the exchange rate with your bank at the time of the deposit rather than at shipment. The cost of a forward contract is small; the protection against a 5% currency swing on a $50,000 order is real. Factories rarely accept payment in RMB, and when they do, the exchange rate they offer is usually worse than your bank's.

We accept T/T on standard terms and Trade Assurance for first orders; larger programs can run L/C. The terms we offer are on the wholesale ordering page, and we will talk you through which structure makes sense for your order size. The negotiation is less about winning and more about matching the term to the risk: first order, protect yourself. Tenth order, relax.

Authoritative References

For buyers who need to verify the technical and regulatory basis of this guide, the following independent institutions publish authoritative reference data:

ISO 9001 Quality Management - the international standard for consistent production quality.
Wikipedia: Jewellery - manufacturing processes, materials and global trade background.