Trade Finance - Getting Paid - A Trader's Guide

Every exporter has felt it: the ship has sailed, the invoice is sent, and somewhere between your warehouse and your buyer's bank account, the certainty ends.

International trade is built on a fundamental tension — the seller wants payment before they ship; the buyer wants goods before they pay. Trade finance is the centuries-old system designed to resolve that tension, and this book is your plain-language guide to how it works.

Drawing on years of experience as an international trade and transport lawyer, John Gates walks you through the complete payment landscape: how letters of credit work and why the documents must be perfect; when a documentary collection is adequate and when it is not; how to extend open account terms without carrying the full credit risk of your buyer; how currency movements can silently destroy a healthy margin; how export finance bridges the gap between shipment and payment; and why sanctions compliance is no longer optional for any trader dealing in US dollars.

Real stories. Plain language. No jargon.

Whether you are shipping your first container or your thousandth, this book will change how you think about getting paid.

Book Four of the International Trade and Transport Law Library.