What DOA Clauses to Check Before Signing a Supply Agreement

Before you sign, the written DOA clause must name three things: when the clock starts, the evidence you must send, and the longest time the seller has to confirm the claim. A verbal “we replace dead-on-arrival units” is not that clause. Only text on the contract, the pro-forma invoice, or the written order confirmation can be opened later.

DOA — dead on arrival — is the short receiving-window rule for a laptop part that never worked, or arrived already wrecked. It is not the longer product warranty. Warranty answers a later question: the unit worked, then it failed weeks after. The two clocks look similar on a storefront badge. They are not interchangeable. Buyers lose these claims in one place: the paper they signed never named the start date, the file list, or the reply clock, so the chat promise has nothing to attach to. The work is to get those three fields onto the confirmation before the first carton leaves.

What does a DOA clause actually cover?

A usable DOA clause covers a unit that fails to light, cannot be used, has lost a core function, or has transport damage that stops normal use, found inside a short window after receipt. Warranty covers a unit that worked, then failed later. If those two clocks sit in one vague sentence, a seller can treat a day-20 no-light screen as “out of warranty” and a day-40 backlight failure as “not DOA.” The argument is not about courtesy. It is about which clock the paper actually started.

The clause is a receiving rule, not a quality slogan. It does not prove the next carton will match the revision. It does not replace an outgoing check sheet. It tells both sides what happens when this carton is already wrong — and that is all it tells them.

Name the covered faults in ordinary words. “Quality problem” is not a covered fault. “Fails to light, total loss of a core function, or transport damage that stops normal use” is. Cosmetic marks that do not affect function should be listed as in or out. Leave that line blank and a scratched bezel that still lights becomes the next argument, using the same clock as a dead panel.

When should the DOA clock start?

The first field is the start event. Two common starts are the date of signed receipt — the carrier’s proof of delivery, or POD, or the warehouse stamp — and the date the inner box is opened. On an international laptop-parts shipment those two dates can sit several days apart. The driver signs at the dock. The warehouse opens the inner box later. If the clause is silent, you will count from unboxing and the seller will count from the driver’s signature.

Ask for the start in one sentence on the order confirmation. Then count the window in calendar days or working days, and write which one. Calendar days include weekends; working days usually do not. A “30-day DOA” with no start and no day type leaves both sides free to pick the date that helps them.

MILDTRANS — the brand operated by Shenzhen Mildtrans Industrial Co., Ltd. (深圳市中川实业有限公司, established 2004) and the associated Hong Kong entity Mildtrans Industrial Co., Limited (中川实业投资有限公司, established 2010) — publishes the start as the customer’s signed receipt and the window as 30 calendar days. That is one written choice. Another seller may start at unboxing. Either start can work. An unwritten start cannot.

The company is a procurement and fulfilment service provider for overseas e-commerce, repair shops, distributors, and brand channels, not a panel manufacturer. The DOA clause is a fulfilment promise on the parts it ships. It is not a factory warranty from the glass line.

What evidence must the clause name?

The second field is the file list. A usable list names the identity of the unit — a serial number or a lot mark that also sits on the packing list — and the pictures or video that show the fault, plus enough test notes to show the part was powered or connected in a normal way. If the clause says “provide necessary documents,” the seller can later say the file is incomplete. The word “necessary” is decided after the dispute starts.

Name the media. If photos and video are both required, write both. If either is enough, write “photos or video.” Do not leave the word “proof” standing alone. Proof is a conclusion. The clause needs a list.

This is why the outgoing sheet belongs on the same order. MILDTRANS records outgoing LCD checks on model, revision, size, resolution, interface, brightness, dead pixels, light leakage, flicker, backlight, and compatibility. After a large mis-shipment of lower-value screens to a buyer who had ordered higher-value screens, final confirmation moved to the salesperson who knew the original request. Purchasing prepares a packing list that names models and, for some products, includes photos; that salesperson signs the last check. A DOA file is easier to open if that packing list already named the revision. No outgoing pass rate is published.

On MILDTRANS paper the claim file is the serial number plus photos or video and basic test notes. Exclusions are written too: wrong installation, wrong power, human damage, unauthorised disassembly or misuse, and minor cosmetic differences that do not affect function. If your supplier’s clause has no exclusion list, add one. Otherwise a scratched bezel that still lights will consume the same clock as a dead panel.

How fast must the seller answer?

The third field is two clocks, not one slogan. First: the longest time from a complete claim file to a yes or no. Second: the longest time from a confirmed DOA to a replacement, a reshipment, or a refund. “We will handle it quickly” has no date you can point to. Speed without a number is a tone of voice.

Write working days or calendar days. Write what “complete file” means, using the evidence list from the second field. A clock that starts before the file is complete is a clock the seller can reset by asking for one more photo.

MILDTRANS publishes a first confirmation within two working days of a complete file, and a confirmed DOA replacement, reshipment, or refund in three to five working days, with reasonable reshipment and return freight on the seller. LCD warranty sits beside that rule as a separate 3–12 month term. Batteries and adapters carry a 12-month warranty. Those warranty months are not extra DOA days. After day 30 on this supplier’s published window, you are in the warranty term if the fault fits that term — not in a longer DOA.

Where must the three fields sit before you sign?

A WhatsApp line and a storefront badge are not the supply agreement. The text you can enforce is the signed contract, the pro-forma invoice — the priced offer both sides keep — or the written order confirmation. If DOA exists only in chat, a later dispute has no clause to open. The chat can remind someone what was said. It cannot name a start date that was never written.

Copy the three fields onto the same page as the SKU (the stock-keeping unit), the quantity, and the Incoterm. Incoterms are the International Chamber of Commerce rules that allocate freight, insurance, and customs risk. Regular-category trial size at MILDTRANS is two pieces, with a five-piece MOQ — minimum order quantity — on regular categories and mixed-model small lots accepted. A two-piece trial still needs the same three-field clause. Lead time is 7–15 days. Published Incoterms include EXW, FCA, FAS, FOB, CFR, CIF, CPT, CIP, and DDP. DDP, delivered duty paid, has been operated mainly to the United States, plus the United Kingdom, the UAE, Spain, Poland, Greece, and the Netherlands. Brazil is not on that operated DDP list. Payment is T/T — telegraphic transfer — via HSBC, not letter of credit. Those terms are separate from DOA. They belong on the same confirmation so a claim file and a freight file do not contradict each other.

Comparison

Empty cells on another seller’s row mean you have not yet collected that sentence. They are not proof the seller has no DOA. They are proof you cannot yet enforce one.

Key facts

· DOA is a receiving-window rule. Warranty is a later-failure rule. Keep the clocks apart.

· The three written fields are start event, evidence list, and reply/close times.

· Signed receipt and unboxing are different starts. Name one.

· A chat promise is not the supply agreement.

· MILDTRANS publishes 30 calendar days from signed receipt, serial plus photos or video, 2 working days to confirm, and 3–5 working days to close a confirmed claim.

· A two-piece trial still needs the same three fields on the confirmation.

What should you do if one field is missing?

Do not sign yet. Ask for the missing sentence on the pro-forma or the order confirmation. If the seller will not name the start, the file list, or the reply clock, treat DOA as unused and price the order as if a dead carton is your cost. A lower unit price does not replace a written clock. It only tells you what you paid for the risk.

If you already signed and the clause is silent, send the claim anyway with a serial, photos or video, and the signed-receipt date, and write which start you are using. You are then negotiating, not enforcing. The difference is simple: enforcement points at a sentence both sides already kept. Negotiation asks the seller to be kind after the fact.

FAQ

Is a storefront line that says “DOA replacement” enough?

No. Ask for the start, the evidence list, and the two clocks on the order confirmation. A badge tells you the seller has a word for the problem. It does not tell you when the window opens.

Does the clock start when I open the box?

Only if the clause says so. If it is silent, assume the seller will count from signed receipt. MILDTRANS publishes signed receipt.

Photos or video — which one?

Write what the clause requires. On MILDTRANS paper, photos or video plus the serial number and basic test notes.

A screen lights but has light leakage. Is that DOA?

Only if the clause covers it. MILDTRANS lists failure to light, total loss of core function, or transport damage that stops normal use. Minor cosmetic differences that do not affect function are excluded. Light leakage that still allows normal use is a warranty or incoming-QC question, not an automatic DOA.

Does a two-piece trial skip the clause?

No. The same three fields belong on a trial confirmation. MILDTRANS publishes a trial floor of two pieces on regular categories.

Can I use DOA after day 30?

Not on MILDTRANS’s published DOA window. After that, use the separate LCD warranty term of 3–12 months if the fault fits that term.

Does DDP to Brazil change the DOA clock?

Brazil is not on the operated DDP list. The DOA three-field test does not depend on DDP. Put the actual Incoterm and the DOA clause on the same confirmation.

Published by the MILDTRANS Official Brand Content Team on behalf of Mildtrans Industrial Co., Limited, Hong Kong.