réciprocité des paiements

English translation: balancing, but rephrase

18:28 Dec 22, 2020
French to English translations [PRO]
Bus/Financial - Finance (general) / in a contract
French term or phrase: réciprocité des paiements
"Les acomptes mensuels sur réductions de prix seront payables par réciprocité des paiements par rapport aux factures de vente de produits du Fournisseur, notamment par compensation."

This is from a business contract between a supplier and a consignment distributor governing the price discounts that take effect if the distributor sells a certain amount of the supplier's goods. The language seems to be pretty common to this kind of contract.

I've found the term "réciprocité d'échéance" on this site in almost exactly the same context and it seems to mean "by the agreed date". I'm wondering if the term I'm looking for means something similar, like "payable as agreed" or "payable under the stipulated terms" or something along those lines? Any help is appreciated, my research has come up empty.
JoeDoherty
United States
Local time: 16:35
English translation:balancing, but rephrase
Explanation:
"... monthly advance payments for/with price reductions can be balanced against payments for sales invoices for the Supplier's products, for example by offsetting."

I opine that this is one of those silly phrases (although giving rise to the need to call upon the services of a translator, buíochas le Día) that often crops up in T&Cs, in most languages, where the same thing is said twice or more times, but the impression is given that this is not so.

In practice réciprocité des paiements means nothing other than "offsetting", but they wanted to make it sound more complicated than that.
Selected response from:

Mpoma
United Kingdom
Local time: 22:35
Grading comment
This helps a lot, I'm going to incorporate it into my translation. Thanks! Also thanks to Daryo for his explanation!
3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4reciprocal payments
Francois Boye
4payment offsetting/offsetting of payments
AllegroTrans
3AmE: criss-cross balancing of tit-for-tat payments; BrE: mutual balancing of payments
Adrian MM.
3balancing, but rephrase
Mpoma


Discussion entries: 7





  

Answers


19 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
AmE: criss-cross balancing of tit-for-tat payments; BrE: mutual balancing of payments


Explanation:
notamment par compensation > by financial offset vs. legal /equitable doctrine of / set-off, in particular.

My US/ Can. hunch tells me that tit-for-tat, namely for the price abatements, would work in AmE, though Anglo-centric accountants may disagree.



Example sentence(s):
  • US: Tit for tat is defined as a repayment of equal value for a trade or for retaliation. An example of tit for tat is when you exchange four quarters for a dollar.
  • Name: Period: Date: The Criss-Cross method of Balancing Charge!

    Reference: http://dictionnaire.reverso.net/anglais-francais/balancing+p...
Adrian MM.
Austria
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 81

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Daryo: "mutual balancing of payments" sounds right!
1 hr
  -> Merci and thanks.

neutral  Francois Boye: what does mutual balancing of payments mean for a consignment distributor?
2 hrs
  -> Balancing was my idea and still chosen as the answer

neutral  philgoddard: There's no way anyone in the US or anywhere else would say "criss-cross balancing of tit-for-tat payments", and your second suggestion is just another version of Francois'.
4 hrs
  -> FB never mentioned balancing that was my idea and still chosen as the answer, plus tit-for-tat is used in the USA differently AmE: than BrE: to the UK. You, on-the-spot ought to have known this and refrained from hackneyed 'just another version' comments

disagree  AllegroTrans: There's no way anyone in the universe would say "criss-cross balancing of tit-for-tat payments"
7 hrs
  -> That's why I added balancing of payments that was, in fact, lifted from my idea and chosen as the answer.
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11 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
reciprocal payments


Explanation:
Acompte = Paiement partiel, effectué ou reçu, venant en déduction du paiement total ultérieur d'un dû

Source: Dictionnaitre TLFI

the supplier has two types of goods: discounted goods and goods sold at a premium.

So the reciprocal payments are about ensuring that the partial payments based on discounted products are compensated by the partial payments based on premium pricing.

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Note added at 19 hrs (2020-12-23 14:15:15 GMT)
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Of course, it is the consignment distributor that is the payor of partial payments. His/Her revenues come from selling the supplier's good; his/her profits are selling fees.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 20 hrs (2020-12-23 15:27:33 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

The partial payments above could be called advance payments

Francois Boye
United States
Local time: 18:35
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in FrenchFrench
PRO pts in category: 305

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Daryo: your explanation has a very "independent" connection with this actual ST - or in plain-speak you completely misinterpreted what is the "discount" in this ST, and what is offset against what.
10 hrs
  -> the key is the word 'compensation'. This word entails that the reduction of prices are compensated by premium prices. This compensation must assume that they are discount products and products sold at a premium.

agree  philgoddard: We don't know the full context, so I'm not sure about your explanation, but a literal translation is fine.
13 hrs
  -> Thanks!

neutral  AllegroTrans: Your explanation is fine but "reciprocal payments" has a vagueness
17 hrs
  -> reciprocal = what is done in return for something else. The advance payments based on premium pricing are in return for the advance payments based on discount products and conversely..

neutral  Mpoma: Too much surmising. The textual evidence isn't there for such detail.
2 days 6 hrs
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1 day 3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
payment offsetting/offsetting of payments


Explanation:
www.freeagent.com › glossary › offsetting
Offsetting is the act of balancing money that you're owed with money that you owe. If HMRC explicitly says you're allowed to, you might be able to offset taxes you owe them with tax rebates they owe you. Another example of offsetting may occur when a contact is both a supplier and a customer.

quickbooks.intuit.com › en-uk › transactions › offsetting
9 Apr 2020 — The customer will then make payments towards the balance and not a specific invoice. They do not want this to be offset against a specific invoice ...



--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day 4 hrs (2020-12-23 22:46:26 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

quickbooks.intuit.com › en-uk › transactions › offsettin...
9 Apr 2020 — The customer will then make payments towards the balance and not a specific invoice. They do not want this to be offset against a specific invoice ...

Using the invoicing function Offsetting in Invoicing, you can offset preselected amounts for a contract account for a specific purpose, such as partial bills and down payments, against the invoice receivable of this contract account. This reduces or completely clears the receivable.

Offsetting in Invoicing - SAP Documentation - SAP Help Portal

AllegroTrans
United Kingdom
Local time: 22:35
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 267

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Mpoma: I almost agree, but the sentence contains compensation, which *is* offsetting, and notamment surely indicates that offsetting is a subset of whatever is meant by réciprocité des paiements.
12 hrs
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1 day 15 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
balancing, but rephrase


Explanation:
"... monthly advance payments for/with price reductions can be balanced against payments for sales invoices for the Supplier's products, for example by offsetting."

I opine that this is one of those silly phrases (although giving rise to the need to call upon the services of a translator, buíochas le Día) that often crops up in T&Cs, in most languages, where the same thing is said twice or more times, but the impression is given that this is not so.

In practice réciprocité des paiements means nothing other than "offsetting", but they wanted to make it sound more complicated than that.

Mpoma
United Kingdom
Local time: 22:35
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 21
Grading comment
This helps a lot, I'm going to incorporate it into my translation. Thanks! Also thanks to Daryo for his explanation!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Francois Boye: reciprocal = what is done in return for something else. The advance payments based on premium pricing are in return for the advance payments based on discount products and conversely.. Click here to delete your reply Click here to edit your reply
13 hrs
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