Hope this is in your area. A European customer wants us to issue an invoice to get a purchase into his current fiscal year. He doesn't care when the product ships. He specifically says he does not want a pro-forma invoice. We ship FOB origin, so he won't have ownership until the order ships.

I'm thinking this is not legal. Your take?

I am not sure if any bank would open an LC under this situation. For establishing LC, there must be pro forma invoice from the supplier. There is something fishy.

If you get an LC make sure that the bill of exchange is payable at sight, that is immediately when the goods are shipped on board - FOB. The title immediately passes on to the customer and he pays for the freight.

When the goods arrive the customer will have to pay for the documents to get a release order from the shipping company and the shipping company will endorse the bill of lading after the freight has also been paid.