# General Business Category > Entrepreneurship and Business Management Forum > [Question] Wholesaler terms and definitions

## Wolf

Hello,

Does anyone have an idea who could help me filling out those confusing forms that I received from a wholesaler? I can't tell any details but there are many specific terms and other things I have never heard in my life and I don't necessarily want to call them to ask for assistance. 

Who is usually able to help in such a situation? The accountant maybe?

Thanks

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## Dave A

This would be a lot easier to answer if we had a few examples of the terms you are struggling with.

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## Wolf

Okay:

Things I need to know from the first form: A "?" indicates that I'm not sure what they wanna know.

payment due (what's usual in SA in the wholesale industry?)

Early settlement (again, what's usual in SA?)

Short Date Return Perd. (?)

100% Sale of Return basis (?)

Shrink Quantity (?)

Thanks, W.

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## Marq

Best ask the wholesaler who gave you the forms - Some genius there who drew them up probably has a better idea than we do as to what they were thinking about. :Big Grin:

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## Dave A

I've hesitated on this too in case I lead you up the garden path.

I've been asked similar questions (except the swellage and shrinkage stuff), but my understanding relates to the service industry.

For example standard terms might be 30 days from statement - in which case it's fairly common to allow 2.5% discount for payment within 10 days of invoice. I just don't know if that applies in the goods game. For all I know standard terms might commonly be 60 days and early settlements are 7 days from statement.

I suspect swellage and shrinkage is really applicable for stuff that's tricky to measure - bulk flour by weight for example which will be affected by the moisture content which could vary according to humidity. But if it's a clearly measurable product packaged correctly, why should the manufacturer carry the wholesaler for the wholesaler's internal losses?

I recall a distribution centre that "lost" a motorbike. Although they eventually "found" it at an employee's residence, I don't think the manufacturer would ever have picked up the tab on that one.

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