100 termsProcurement vocabulary
6 groupsQuote to compliance
EN / ZHReady for email and contracts
With contextNot just a translation
WHY THIS LIST
Not Just a Translation
Most sourcing mistakes hide in the details of a term: whether a MOQ is counted in pieces or in reels, whether a lead time is the factory lead time or our stock lead time, and how a COC differs from a COA. Each entry gives a short definition plus one note on what to watch for.
- Too many abbreviationsMOQ, MPQ and SPQ all sound like a minimum quantity, but they mean different things — mixing them up makes quotes incomparable.
- One wrong term, and the quote is wastedTreating a stock lead time as a factory lead time, or EXW as DDP, can shift your landed cost by a wide margin.
- New buyers learn slowlyTerminology often lives in the heads of a few experienced staff. This list makes it shared knowledge.
INDEX
Browse by Stage
Quotation & Pricing询价与报价
| Term (EN) | Chinese | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| RFQ — Request for Quotation # | 询价 / 报价请求 | A buyer sends a parts list and commercial terms to ask for pricing. Full part-number suffixes, quantities and target dates are what separate an accurate quote from a guess. |
| MOQ — Minimum Order Quantity # | 最小起订量 | The smallest quantity a supplier will accept. MOQ is often counted in reels or boxes rather than pieces, so ask which unit applies before comparing offers. |
| MPQ — Minimum Packing Quantity # | 最小包装量 | The quantity inside one smallest package, for example 3000 pieces on a reel. Going below MPQ usually means the reel is cut, which can carry a handling fee. |
| SPQ — Standard Packing Quantity # | 标准包装量 | The factory packing quantity. Confirming SPQ up front avoids repeated clarification when the pack size on arrival does not match the order. |
| Unit Price # | 单价 | Price per piece. It means little until currency, tax status and the quantity tier it applies to are all stated. |
| Price Break # | 阶梯价 / 价格阶梯 | A tiered price where the unit cost steps down as quantity rises. Judge an offer against the same tier, not small-quantity pricing against volume pricing. |
| Quotation Validity # | 报价有效期 | How long a quote can be executed. Passives and memory move fast, so validity is often only days and must be reconfirmed after it lapses. |
| Spot Price # | 现货价 | The price for immediate delivery from existing stock. Usually above contract pricing and highly volatile during shortage cycles. |
| Contract Price # | 合约价 / 长约价 | A price fixed by an annual or quarterly agreement. More stable, and normally tied to a volume commitment. |
| Open Market Price # | 市场价 / 现货市场价 | Pricing from outside the manufacturer or original channel. It moves with supply and demand, so the source of goods matters more than the number. |
| Cost Down # | 降价 / 成本优化 | Reducing material cost through substitution, package change or consolidated volume. Common in volume production, but always count the requalification cost. |
| Price Validity Letter # | 价格承诺函 | A written confirmation that pricing will hold for a defined period. Useful as budget evidence during a rising market. |
| Currency & Incoterm Basis # | 报价币种与贸易条款口径 | A quote must state currency and trade term (FOB, EXW and so on). The same number can mean very different landed cost depending on the term. |
| Sample Fee # | 样品费 | The charge for small sample quantities. Often credited against a later order — confirm that before requesting samples. |
| Kitting # | 配单 / 齐套 | Consolidating multiple BOM lines from one supplier into a single shipment. It cuts the number of incoming shipments and reconciliations, and stops one small part from holding up a whole build. |
| Long-Tail Part # | 长尾料 / 冷门型号 | A low-volume, low-commonality part with thin channel inventory and opaque pricing. These need lead-time planning far more than price negotiation. |
| NRE — Non-Recurring Engineering # | 一次性工程费用 | A one-time charge for tooling, customisation or special testing. It is not part of the piece price and has to be costed separately. |
Lead Time & Supply交期与供货
| Term (EN) | Chinese | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Lead Time # | 交期 / 交货周期 | Time from order to shipment. Always ask whether the figure is the manufacturer lead time or the supplier's own stock lead time — the two often differ by weeks. |
| LTB — Last Time Buy # | 最后一次采购 | The final window to order before a manufacturer discontinues a part. Miss it and the only route left is the open market, with higher price and authenticity risk. |
| EOL — End of Life # | 停产 / 生命周期终止 | The manufacturer has stopped producing the part. EOL notices usually arrive in stages; the earlier you act, the more options remain. |
| NRND — Not Recommended for New Designs # | 不推荐用于新设计 | Still available, but not recommended for new projects. Existing designs can continue; new designs should start from an alternative. |
| PDN — Product Discontinuance Notice # | 停产通知 | The formal discontinuation notice, normally stating a last order date and a last shipment date. |
| PCN — Product Change Notification # | 产品变更通知 | Notice of a change to process, material, fab location or packaging. Assess every PCN against your own qualification and production line. |
| Backorder # | 缺货待交 / 欠交 | Order accepted but waiting on production or incoming stock. In a shortage, dates slip repeatedly, so agree how and when the date will be reconfirmed. |
| Allocation # | 配额供应 | When supply is short the manufacturer splits available output across customers, and delivered quantity often falls below the order. Have a fallback ready. |
| Shortage # | 缺料 | A market-wide lack of supply. Verify it against manufacturer lead times and the spot-versus-contract spread, not against one channel's claim. |
| Buffer Stock # | 缓冲库存 | Inventory held in advance against lead-time variability. For long-lead parts, four to eight weeks of production demand is a common starting point. |
| Safety Stock # | 安全库存 | The minimum stock level kept to absorb demand swings or delayed arrivals. |
| Consignment Stock # | 寄售库存 | Stock held at the buyer's site and invoiced as it is consumed, reducing the buyer's working capital. |
| VMI — Vendor Managed Inventory # | 供应商管理库存 | The supplier monitors stock and replenishes on its own schedule. Works best on stable, recurring parts. |
| Scheduled Delivery # | 分批交货 / 计划交货 | One order, delivered in instalments against a production plan. Balances pricing against cash tied up in inventory. |
| Expedite # | 加急 | Shortening lead time through rush production or priority freight. It carries extra cost — settle who pays before committing. |
| Drop Ship # | 直发 | The supplier ships directly to your factory or your customer, removing an intermediate warehouse step. |
Packaging & Marking包装与标识
| Term (EN) | Chinese | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Reel # | 卷盘 / 编带卷 | The standard package for surface-mount parts, feeding pick-and-place machines through carrier tape. Full-reel quantity should match the factory SPQ. |
| Tray # | 托盘 | Common for BGA and QFN. Check that trays are factory trays — re-used trays cause pick-and-place nozzle errors. |
| Tube / Stick # | 料管 | Packaging for through-hole and wider-body parts such as DIP and SOP. |
| Tape & Reel # | 编带 | Parts sealed into carrier tape at a fixed pitch so automated assembly can pick them directly. |
| Cut Tape # | 剪带 / 散带 | A length cut from a full reel. Fine for pilot builds, but it cannot be loaded onto a full-reel feeder. |
| Bulk / Loose # | 散装 | No tape and no tray, typically for hand soldering or repair work. |
| Dry Pack # | 防潮包装 / 干燥包装 | Moisture-barrier bag with desiccant as shipped by the factory. Once opened, reflow must happen within the stated floor life. |
| MSL — Moisture Sensitivity Level # | 湿敏等级 | How sensitive a part is to moisture, on a scale of 1 to 6. The higher the level, the shorter the window before reflow after opening. |
| Floor Life # | 车间存放时间 | How long a part may stay exposed on the shop floor after the bag is opened. Exceed it and the part must be baked. |
| Baking # | 烘烤 | Drying a moisture-exposed part under specified conditions before reflow, to prevent popcorning. |
| Date Code (D/C) # | 生产周期 / 批次日期 | The manufacturing date, usually year plus week. Check it at purchase — it is how you avoid aged or refurbished stock. |
| Lot Code # | 批号 | A traceable identifier for one production batch, and the reference used for investigation and claims if a quality issue appears. |
| Traceability # | 可追溯性 | The ability to trace a lot code back to the manufacturer's shipment record. This is the line between an accountable distributor and unknown-origin stock. |
| Label # | 标签 | The factory label carrying part number, quantity, lot code and date code. Checking it is the first step of any incoming inspection. |
| Re-reeling # | 重新编带 | Rewinding loose or cut material onto a reel. It is a processing step, so confirm whether the original warranty still applies. |
| Repackaging # | 重新包装 | Replacing the original packaging. Non-factory packaging is a common signal of refurbished material and should be scrutinised on receipt. |
Quality & Authenticity质量与真伪
| Term (EN) | Chinese | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| COC — Certificate of Conformance # | 符合性证书 | A supplier's declaration that the product meets the specified requirements. It is issued by the seller, not by a test lab. |
| COA — Certificate of Analysis # | 检验报告 / 分析证书 | Measured test data for a specific lot. Unlike a COC it provides numbers, not only a declaration. |
| CoC (Country of Origin) # | 原产地证 | Documentation stating where the goods were made. Required when tariff or origin rules apply. |
| Counterfeit # | 假冒 / 仿冒件 | Parts presented as manufacturer product that the manufacturer did not make. Consequences include out-of-spec performance, early failure and voided certification. |
| Refurbished # | 翻新件 | Recovered parts that have been reprocessed — polished, re-marked, re-reeled. Reliability cannot be assured. |
| Grey Market # | 灰色市场 | Genuine or unknown-origin goods moving outside original channels. Cheaper, but the chain of custody is not traceable. |
| Broker # | 经纪人 / 中间商 | An intermediary matching buyers and sellers in the open market. Goods may pass through several hands, so assess their inspection capability. |
| X-ray Inspection # | X 射线检测 | Non-destructive imaging of package internals, widely used to detect refurbished and counterfeit parts. |
| Decapsulation # | 开盖分析 | Removing the package to inspect the die. Used for authenticity checks and failure analysis; it is destructive. |
| Electrical Test # | 电性能测试 | Measuring the part against datasheet parameters to confirm function and key specifications. |
| Solderability Test # | 可焊性测试 | Checks pin oxidation and wetting performance. Refurbished material frequently fails here. |
| Curve Trace # | 曲线追踪 | Comparing the I-V curve between pins against a known-good part, a fast screen for internal differences. |
| Scanning Acoustic Microscopy (SAM) # | 超声扫描 | Non-destructive detection of delamination and voids inside the package. |
| Failure Analysis (FA) # | 失效分析 | Systematic analysis of a failed sample to establish the failure mechanism. It is the core evidence in a quality claim. |
| RMA — Return Merchandise Authorization # | 退货授权 | The authorisation number required before returning goods. Returns without an RMA number are generally refused. |
| Warranty # | 质保 | The period during which the supplier stands behind product quality, commonly 12 months. The start date and scope must be explicit. |
Trade & Payment贸易与结算
| Term (EN) | Chinese | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Incoterms # | 国际贸易术语解释通则 | ICC rules that allocate cost, risk, insurance and customs responsibility between buyer and seller. |
| EXW — Ex Works # | 工厂交货 | The seller makes goods available at its premises. Transport and export formalities are the buyer's responsibility. |
| FOB — Free On Board # | 装运港船上交货 | The seller covers costs and risk up to loading on board; risk transfers to the buyer at that point. |
| CIF — Cost, Insurance and Freight # | 成本加保险费加运费 | The seller pays freight and insurance to the destination port, but risk still transfers at shipment. |
| DDP — Delivered Duty Paid # | 完税后交货 | The seller carries all cost and risk through to the destination, cleared for import. Maximum convenience for the buyer, maximum exposure for the seller. |
| DAP — Delivered At Place # | 目的地交货 | The seller delivers to the named place; import clearance and duties remain with the buyer. |
| FCA — Free Carrier # | 货交承运人 | Delivery is complete once goods are handed to the buyer's nominated carrier. Suits air freight and multimodal moves. |
| Freight Forwarder # | 货代 | The party arranging international transport and customs — pickup, booking, clearance and final delivery. |
| Bill of Lading (B/L) # | 提单 | The core ocean transport document and also a document of title, required to collect the goods. |
| Air Waybill (AWB) # | 空运单 | The air freight transport document. It is not a document of title. |
| Packing List # | 装箱单 | Lists contents, quantity, weight and dimensions per carton. Used with the invoice for customs clearance. |
| Commercial Invoice # | 商业发票 | The central document for customs and settlement. It must agree with the contract and the packing list. |
| HS Code # | 海关商品编码 | The classification that sets duty rate and regulatory conditions. Misclassifying components leads to inspection or back-duties. |
| T/T — Telegraphic Transfer # | 电汇 | The most common cross-border payment method, usually split into deposit and balance. |
| L/C — Letter of Credit # | 信用证 | A bank-guaranteed payment instrument suited to large transactions, with strict documentary requirements. |
| D/P — Documents against Payment # | 付款交单 | The buyer obtains documents only after payment. Risk sits between a telegraphic transfer and a letter of credit. |
| Net 30 / Net 60 # | 月结 30 天 / 60 天 | Payment-term language meaning an invoice falls due 30 or 60 days after issue. Whether it applies, and for how long, depends entirely on the supplier's credit policy and the contract — it is a commercial arrangement, not a standard service. |
| Credit Line # | 授信额度 | The industry term for a ceiling on open-account purchasing, normally set from trading history and financial standing. It is a commercial term, not a default offering. |
Compliance & Documents合规与单据
| Term (EN) | Chinese | What it means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| RoHS # | 有害物质限制指令 | EU restrictions on specified hazardous substances in electrical and electronic products. Shipments require a declaration of conformity. |
| REACH # | 化学品注册评估授权与限制法规 | The EU chemicals framework, including declaration duties for SVHC substances of very high concern. |
| Conflict Minerals # | 冲突矿产 | Declaration requirements on the origin of tantalum, tin, tungsten and gold. European and North American customers routinely ask for it with the shipment. |
| AEC-Q100 / Q101 / Q200 # | 车规认证 | Automotive reliability qualification families, covering ICs, discrete semiconductors and passives respectively. |
| PPAP — Production Part Approval Process # | 生产件批准程序 | The automotive approval process before volume supply, covering samples, inspection results and process capability documents. |
| IMDS # | 国际材料数据系统 | The automotive materials composition database. Tier-one suppliers commonly require submissions. |
| UL / cUL # | 美国安全认证 | Product safety certification marks. They are a market entry requirement for power supplies and end products. |
| CE Marking # | 欧盟 CE 标志 | The baseline conformity mark for the EU market, covering safety, electromagnetic compatibility and environmental directives. |
| MSDS / SDS # | 材料安全数据表 | Safety documentation for chemicals and chemical-containing products, needed for transport and storage. |
| End User Statement # | 最终用户声明 | A buyer declaration of end use and end user, required for dual-use export items. |
| Export Control Classification Number (ECCN) # | 出口管制分类编号 | The US export-control classification that determines whether a licence is required. |
| BOM # | 物料清单 | The complete list of materials and quantities a product needs. Complete part-number suffixes, packages and revisions are what make a BOM quotable. |
| AML — Approved Manufacturer List # | 合格制造商清单 | The set of manufacturers a customer permits. Sourcing must stay inside it. |
| AVL — Approved Vendor List # | 合格供应商清单 | The set of suppliers a customer permits, which determines who may be bought from. |
| NPI — New Product Introduction # | 新产品导入 | The stage between prototype and volume. Material is bought in small, repeated batches, so sample and low-volume channels fit better than waiting for volume pricing. |
| Second Source # | 第二供应商 / 二供 | An alternative supply route developed to reduce supply risk. Volume programmes should always keep one. |
| Pin-to-Pin Alternative # | 引脚兼容替代 | A substitute with the same footprint and pinout and comparable specifications. Electrical differences must be checked item by item before switching. |
Terms follow common industry usage. Specific requirements vary by manufacturer and region; the written agreement between the parties governs. No part numbers or stock figures appear in this table.
FAQ
Common Questions
What is the difference between MOQ and MPQ?
MOQ is the smallest order a supplier will accept; MPQ is the quantity inside one minimum package. If the MOQ is 1,000 pieces and a full reel (MPQ) holds 3,000, you have to order at least one reel. Always confirm both when asking for small quantities.
Which lead time should I ask for?
Ask for both: the factory lead time (how long the manufacturer needs to build) and our stock lead time (how fast we can ship from inventory). In a shortage these can differ by weeks, and looking at only one distorts production planning.
How does a COC differ from a COA?
A COC is a declaration by the supplier confirming the goods meet the specification. A COA reports measured data for a specific lot. For judging quality, a COA carries more weight.
Are EOL and NRND the same?
No. NRND means “not recommended for new designs” — existing projects can keep using the part and supply continues. EOL means production has stopped, and after that you rely on the open market. NRND is your signal to start looking for alternatives; EOL is your signal to plan a last-time buy.
Can I use this list at work?
Yes. It is public precisely so it gets used — internal training, onboarding handbooks and email templates are all fine. If a term is missing, tell us and we will add it.
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