After you have sent quotations’ requests to several factories and reduced the list to two leading ones that look reliable and made an attractive offer, you need to move forward with ordering samples.
Why are samples important? Because they show the highest standard of product that the plant can produce. As far as the supplier is concerned, the purpose of the samples is to convince you to order a large quantity of products from the factory, so he will send his best product.
In addition, samples can alert you of anticipated product quality problems in advance so you could know which parameters are important to check in the quality inspection.
While ordering the samples, make sure that both you and the supplier are talking about the exact same product. To be on the safe side, it’s best to resubmit the most up-to-date file of the product drawing and ask the vendor to confirm it.
Order at least two samples. A sample that meets all the requirements and is acceptable to you is called a golden sample with which you can determine the production standard of the factory, or later, compare the produced batch to it, during the product quality inspection.
Later we will explain about sending the samples to the supplier and inspection company.
Often, the sample production will require creating a mold. What does it mean? In order to produce your product, you also need to prepare a special mold into which you inject or pour the material and produce it in large quantities. A qualitative mold costs a lot of money, so initially you make a cheaper one to see that the product sketch is practical and correct. It is likely that the supplier will ask you for a certain fee for the mold and samples production and say that he will return the money when you’ll make the large quantity order.
Once you’ve confirmed your samples payment, do not be tempted to send your shipping details to the supplier. Many times (especially when the product is common and not complex) the supplier will send samples of a product already in his factory and not in the required measurements, to save the sample production costs. Then, when you receive the shipment and be surprised, the supplier will say that he sent only to check the quality of the material or color (depending on the type of product). To address this problem, we recommend that you ask the supplier to take a picture of the samples near a length meter so you can be sure to send the correct samples, according to the requested measurements.
Once you’ve seen the samples in the photos, confirm the shipment and provide the address to the supplier. Sometimes, when the samples are small, the supplier will offer to pay the cost of the shipment in order to encourage you to order of a large quantity. If not, he will most likely ask you for a DHL, FedEx, UPS or any other shipping company account.
Opening an account at a shipping company is very simple and can be done through their websites. Once you open an account, the shipping company will have your billing information and will automatically charge you every month based on what you’ve sent. Sometimes such an account provides reduced shipping rates.
It is common to send samples by air delivery (rather than by sea), which is fast, though slightly more expensive, because the samples are usually small.
After a week or two, you should get the samples. What should you pay attention to at this moment?
Is the product size correct?
Is the color accurate?
What is the quality of the material? Are there scratches?
Is the logo correct? Are the necessary warnings written on the product?
Is there a “made in China” declaration? How is the product packed?
If there is a user manual read it and check the text and quality.Try to stretch the product boundaries.
If this is a product that involves fabric, check what happens to the color that is being washed and dried.
If it is a product that can be used personally, try it yourself and see if it is useful and meets your needs.
Make sure that each problem with the samples is documented, number them and write comments, along with the date you checked it.
If the samples do not meet the expectations, but you’re on good terms with the supplier and it looks serious and capable of doing better, you can send him the necessary corrections with the bad sample. Another option is to look for a different supplier and order new samples.
If the samples were good, your next step is to mark them and send them back to the factory to represent the production standard for larger quantities.
When packing the sample, sign it and write it as your selected sample (gold sample) to avoid confusion. Pack them in such a way that will ensure the sample will not be damaged and will arrive to the factory as it left your hands.
It is recommended to send another golden sample to your inspection company separately, to prevent the factory from sabotaging it (it sounds like an unlikely possibility, but it might happen).