Rejected goods create a narrow evidence window. Buyers should preserve inspection results, rejection notices, refund promises, shipping records, payment records, and entity identity before filing or serving a Chinese supplier.
Save notices, emails, WeChat messages, inspection dates, delivery dates, and any supplier responses.
Collect refund promises, warranty language, replacement offers, credit notes, and proof of payments already made.
Connect the trading company, factory, exporter, invoice issuer, and bank beneficiary before naming and serving the defendant.
A supplier may argue that the buyer accepted the shipment, rejected too late, failed to mitigate, or did not give proper notice. The case record should show when defects were found, how rejection was communicated, and what the supplier promised next.
Useful records include purchase orders, invoices, payment confirmations, bills of lading, inspection reports, warehouse photos, quarantine or disposal records, customer complaints, refund demands, and all supplier communications after rejection.
Written promises to refund, replace, repair, discount, or reship goods can support breach and settlement pressure. They should be tied to the correct Chinese entity and bank/payment record.
If rejection notices and refund communications are exhibits, they may need clean translation and consistent party names in the Hague service package. This helps avoid confusion in later default or motion practice.
Before filing, verify whether the contract has inspection, acceptance, warranty, forum, arbitration, or notice provisions that change the claim strategy.
Contracts, specifications, inspection reports, photos, shipment records, payment records, notices, and Chinese entity details usually matter most.
If the proper defendant is in mainland China and a U.S. lawsuit is filed, Hague Convention service usually needs to be planned unless a court-approved alternative applies.
The trading company, factory, exporter, invoice issuer, salesperson, and payment beneficiary may differ. Naming the wrong party can weaken service, default, settlement, and collection strategy.