How to word the inquiry
Start with the ore and the process step, in that order, because those two facts shape every other answer. Then state the question itself, whether it concerns the agent, a selection, a document, or a practical arrangement. A message that opens with a general request for information, without naming the ore or the step, will usually need a follow-up message before any useful answer can be given, so the extra sentence at the start is worth writing.
If the question concerns a comparison, name the other agent or the other approach only in the terms in which it is actually being considered, and ask what differs between the approaches for the ore named. If the question concerns a document, name the purpose for which the document is needed and ask which document, if any, covers that purpose. Certificates are available upon request, and a request that names its purpose will receive a more precise answer than a request for certificates in general.
Practical items to confirm in the inquiry
Before payment, please confirm the payment method and payment terms. In the inquiry, please confirm the minimum order quantity, the lead time, and the shipping arrangement. Those three items are not published as figures on this site, because no verified figure was provided by the sources used here, and any figure given in a reply should be tied to the particular order described in the inquiry rather than read as a standing price list.
It also helps to state the form in which a reply is wanted: a written answer, a document, or a further discussion. A buyer who needs a document for an internal approval should say so, and a buyer who needs only a short answer to a single question should say that too. The form below goes to the company email channel, and a reply should be checked against the inquiry that was sent, so that any answer that does not match the ore or step named can be queried at once.
What happens after sending
After an inquiry is sent through the form on this page, the message goes to the company email channel, and the next step belongs to the reply. A buyer should keep a copy of the message as sent, so that any reply can be checked against it item by item, and should allow a reasonable interval before following up, because a reply that addresses the ore, the step, and the question takes longer to prepare than a general acknowledgement. A follow-up sent too soon will usually produce an acknowledgement rather than an answer, and will delay the answer further by adding to the thread.
When a reply does arrive, it should be read in full before any part of it is acted on, because a reply often contains both answers and further questions, and acting on the answers before noticing the questions can create a mismatch later. A buyer who reads the whole reply first, notes the questions it raises, and then answers those questions in a single follow-up will usually move faster, overall, than a buyer who acts piecemeal. That habit, full reading followed by a single consolidated follow-up, is the most reliable way to keep an inquiry thread clear.
Keeping a record of the inquiry
Keeping a record of an inquiry means keeping the message as sent, the reply as received, and any documents that arrived with the reply, together in one place, so that later messages can be checked against them. A record kept that way lets a buyer answer a simple but important question at any later point: what was asked, what was answered, and what remains open? Without a record, that question can only be answered from memory, and memory will usually favour the most recent message over the original one, which distorts the thread.
A record also helps when a new person joins the discussion, whether on the buyer's side or the company's side, because the new reader can follow the thread from the start without asking for background that has already been given. A new reader who must ask for background will delay the discussion, while a new reader who can read the record can contribute at once. For that reason, the record should include the original particulars, ore and step, in every follow-up that refers back to them, rather than relying on the thread history alone.
To ask about this page, use the inquiry form to name the ore, the process step, and the question, and ask what information is needed next.
Before payment, please confirm the payment method and payment terms. In your inquiry, please confirm the minimum order quantity, the lead time, and the shipping arrangement.