German business practices

[Phil Payne]

>> In general, when you do business with a German company you also accept their
>> "AGB" -
>> Allgemeine Geschäftsbedingungen.  These _can_ be interesing - for instance,
>> sometimes they
>> give you an automatic discount of a few percent (2 to 4) if you pay very
>> promptly.  OTOH -
>> they can levy interest on outstanding balances after (perhaps) 21 days.

> Thats correct... the automatic discount is called Skonto on the invoice btw.

The sneaky bit is that when you deal with the biggest (like Siemens) they allow themselves the
same priviledge.

You sell a computer for $10m - they pay you 27 days later, subtracting 4%.  BTDT.  Sends
US-based F&A groups wild - "Issue court proceedings for the 4% NOW!!"

--
  Phil Payne
  http://www.isham-research.com/quattro
  +44 7785 302 803
  +49 173 6242039