Only thing I can recommend is look local first.... They've gone through the head ache of dealing with the wholesellers (or middle men) to get the specs correct, get support in place etc... You may save some $$ but you can waste alot of time.
If your not going to go to do this as an ongoing thing, I'd say suck it up and take the hit of some $$..
On the other side of the coin, If you enjoy the game of getting specs, dealing with people and don't mind the wait then...
Suggestions>
- Get them on skype
- Remember they deal in USD not AUD
- Don't use suppliers that aren't validated or have at least two years
- Pick a traceable payment method, you may pay more in fees but also means you can try and get it back if it goes tits up
- Get drawings , edit drawings send back.. confirm they understand don't assume they do.
- Get quotes on freight for the whole purchase, the cost of the drums sound good until you ad up all the importing fee's etc.. (I assume this would be by sea)
- If they ship on wooden crate that requires a fumigation cert, don't assume its is real you can be stung at the Australian port (about $300AUD). see if you can get it on a pallet that doesn't require a certificate.
- Get pictures of the pots BEFORE payment
- Try and pay a % on shipment and rest on delivery. (this can be hard with small orders)
- If your building a brewery see if you can find a wholeseller that also sells brewery parts so you can fill up the drums with ball valves, bulkheads etc..
EDIT: Oh another thing, if they're slow at responding or sending quotes i.e. one MAYBE two days.. cut them loose they're only going to give you headaches..
Hmm thats a quick brain dump.. Good luck I'll be interested in your results.
h34r:
