This series uses Dingli, a Patisco demo account. Every system screen and all the data shown here came from real operations in the system, including the exchanges between buyers and suppliers; they are not mock-ups. The people and dialogue are dramatized, and the illustrations are for illustration only. Screens are shown in the system's Chinese interface; Patisco is also available in English and other languages.
In the story: opening day of the show, 10:05 a.m.
The opening line
Jonas walks into the booth and sets a sheet of paper on the table.
"A-Zhe. Your neighbor, three booths down. Same cassette, 30% cheaper."
A-Zhe glances at the quotation. The specs are very vague: no material, no surface treatment, just one very pretty number.
But now isn't the time to study that piece of paper. The questions flashing through A-Zhe's head are: What did we actually sell to Velostrada for last year? Which tier was it? Did that include the packing fee?
When someone's haggling you down, the first move is never to drop the price. It's to find out where you stand.
How it used to go
In the old days, this is where A-Zhe would say, "Let me check with my office."
Then he'd step behind the booth and call the office on LINE. A-Mei is in the warehouse and doesn't pick up. He tries Hsiu-Chin, who goes through the filing cabinet for copies of last year's PIs and calls back fifteen minutes later: "Do you mean the March one or the September one?"
Document 101｜Proforma Invoice (PI): Once buyer and seller have reached terms, the seller issues this to the buyer, stating what's being sold, how much, the unit price, the trading terms, and how payment works. It isn't a formal invoice, but buyers often use it to pay a deposit or apply for import documents, and sellers prepare the goods according to it. If a dispute comes up later, this is the page everyone turns to.
During those fifteen minutes, Jonas has wandered off to the next booth and back, now carrying a coffee and two other people's business cards.
"Let me go back and check" is an especially expensive sentence on a show floor.
How it goes in Patisco
A-Zhe doesn't step behind the booth. He takes out his phone and opens Patisco.
The mobile version is deliberately minimal: view documents, reply, make decisions. But at a booth, "view" happens to be what matters most.
Open Velostrada's proforma invoices.
On the phone, he goes in from the buyer Velostrada, and [Proforma Invoice (PI)] lists only this company's documents. One from March, one from September, both there. He taps September's PI-2509-0187: items, quantities, unit prices, all there. Tap into the line item details, and even the packing method is spelled out.
And what have they been talking about lately?
Back at the office, on the desktop version, he can also open [Conversations] from Velostrada's page: one row for each thread with this company, labeled as Email, LINE, or a discussion in the system, with the most recent on top. Jonas asked about delivery times once before the show, and whatever A-Zhe promised is right there when you open the thread.
One minute later, A-Zhe looks up.
"Jonas, this is what you bought last September: this quantity, this price, with our export packing and our plating spec. Does your neighbor's quote include the same plating?"
Jonas takes a sip of coffee and doesn't answer.
A-Zhe goes on: "We won't match that number. But your order status, documents, and every change we agreed on, you can see them online, the same day. Ask me anything about your orders, right here."
Jonas stares at A-Zhe's phone for a few seconds. "Send me the PI next week. Same price as last year. Not more."
"Not more" is how Jonas says yes. A-Zhe knows he didn't lose this round.
That night, in the hotel lobby
Chairman Lin brews a pot of tea he brought from Taiwan, using the hotel's electric kettle.
"A-Zhe, do you know where that neighbor's price comes from?"
A-Zhe shakes his head.
"Here's how I see it," Chairman Lin says. "Some of the people selling that cheap have other things on their minds. They aren't doing this deal to make money on this deal. It may be a way to move money out. Or the factory took out a loan, followed whatever everyone else was making, and now the only way to clear it is to slash prices. If you ask us to fight that price with our costs, it makes no sense."
"So what do we fight with?"
"The things Jonas cares about. He didn't walk away today. You think that was your price?" Chairman Lin takes a sip of tea. "It's because you answered his question in one minute."
Chairman Lin's view comes from two articles we've written: "Unmasking China's Ultra-Low-Price Exports and the Cross-Border Game of Moving Money Offshore" and "The Capital-Driven Supply Wave." This is our opinion, and you're welcome to read them and judge for yourself.
Before vs. with Patisco
| Before | With Patisco | |
|---|---|---|
| Checking "what did we sell it for" | Call the office on LINE, go through the filing cabinet | Go in from the buyer on your phone and open that PI |
| Who gets involved | A-Zhe → A-Mei (no answer) → Hsiu-Chin | A-Zhe alone |
| How long it takes | Fifteen minutes, while the customer takes a lap | The customer hasn't finished the coffee |
| Where mistakes creep in | "The March one or the September one?" | Every document and every version is there |
A word for the boss: In a price fight, whoever has the data has the backbone. You don't have to fight with your costs. You just have to be able to come up with the answer.
The real-world backdrop: Low-price competition is daily life for many Taiwanese manufacturers. Our take is in two articles: "Unmasking China's Ultra-Low-Price Exports and the Cross-Border Game of Moving Money Offshore" and "The Capital-Driven Supply Wave: How Made in China's Trial-and-Error Production Is Wearing Out Global Distribution Channels."