How to Order Product Samples from a Manufacturer // Complete Guide
Updated January 22, 2024
When you find a suitable supplier with a decent quote, the next step is to order samples. Making and evaluating samples is crucial before production begins to ensure that the supplier is legitimate and will produce your product exactly as you want. We have created this guide to provide a comprehensive review of everything you need to know about samples. We’ll cover the types of samples, best practices, and share several great tips.
Why should you order samples?
Ordering samples before you place a purchase is an essential step. In most cases, this will be the first time you see your product. Here are the main reasons for ordering samples. First, ensure that the supplier is a legitimate entity.
When ordering a customized product, seeing how it looks before a production run is essential.
Verify the product's appearance before production.
Ensure the manufacturer is capable of producing your product.
It would help if you never trusted the supplier to say they could make it; you need to have them produce it.
Common Types of Product Samples
You can expect to receive several types of samples, depending on your product.
Off-the-Shelf Samples // These are the most basic samples you can obtain, as they are products that have been manufactured to be readily available for purchase. These typically have little to no customization. Be cautious with these, as a trading company posing as a factory could have purchased them from a store.
Material samples // These are not finished goods, but rather samples of materials that can be used in the production of a product. Common examples of this include various types of wood and finishes. Fabric swatches
Customized Factory Sample// If you are producing private or white-label products with minimal modifications, you can order a premade sample from the factory. The factory often remakes these, but if you get some customizations, then.
Production Sample // These are made on the actual production line, as close as possible to, if not exactly, your specifications. They will also use the same methods used in production, and in some cases, the factory will document the steps for your reference.
Randomly selected finished samples are taken either during production or at the end, before the final payment is made. After a random mass order, these are parts of the finished product to ensure quality control. Some people will have an inspector evaluate them. At the same time, others will be fine with photos or doing it yourself.
Ordering Samples
Once you have found a supplier, you must ensure that you order samples. Creating samples should be fairly straightforward if the supplier is legitimate. If you provide them with your product spec sheet and, depending on the complexity, ask them to send you a sample of either product.t
Please be aware that ordering samples can be a process. If you are getting a customized product, it’s not uncommon to receive 2 or 3, or even more, samples to ensure you get it right. There’s a saying that it’s better to do something right than on time. That is true in this case. Sometimes, they get it right off the bat, and it only takes a week or two; other times, it takes more than a month, with multiple back-and-forth shipments and tweaking components or parts each time. Regardless of the time and effort required to ensure good results, it is better to invest time and money during this phase than later, when mistakes can become exponentially costly.
At the end of the process, you must ensure that you approve the final sample you want for production. Both the supplier and you will use it as a reference to compare the finished goods, so be sure you take the time to do it right. Many refer to this as the production, reference, or golden master sample. Regardless of what you call it, ensure that you do it correctly.
Should you pay for samples?
Mostly yes, but sometimes no; this is something that needs to be negotiated with the supplier. Some suppliers will provide a sample at no cost, while others will charge for the production of the sample. In most cases, but not always, the supplier will expect you to cover the shipping costs.
Typically, you are expected to pay a small sample fee, ranging from free plus shipping to the normal total retail price. If you are getting an item custom-made, you can expect to pay more than the retail price plus shipping. Shipping is also usually by air, which is more expensive but takes 3-5 days versus more than one month. Using PayPal for the sample is typically the best way to pay due to solid buyer protection.
The factory will almost always ship the samples via air, which can get expensive, depending on the sample size. Expect to pay approximately $ 50-$ 100 for small items; the cost can range from several hundred dollars to several thousand dollars for larger items. Besides, you often need to send samples you have made for reference, or have samples with revisions. Again, this can result in multiple shipments and incur a significant cost.
If you believe the cost of ordering a sample is too high, you can negotiate to have the cost deducted from the purchase order. Regardless of the high price, it’s worth spending money now to avoid major revisions later.
The Best way to pay for Product samples
If you want a detailed guide on how to pay suppliers, you can see our post here: https://www.cosmosourcing.com/blog/what-is-the-best-way-to-pay-a-chinese-supplier.
The most common way to pay a supplier for a sample is typically via PayPal. Although the fees are high, PayPal has one of the most effective fraud detection systems among payment services. Unfortunately, the factory does not have a PayPal account. This may be because PayPal has previously suspended them for fraudulent actions.
Bundle Samples if you are ordering more than one.
In many cases, you will be ordering multiple samples from multiple suppliers. In this case, having each ship separately by air from China to the US can get costly. The easiest way to avoid this cost is by shipping them to a company in the country where the factory is located and having them bundle multiple samples into one box. This service is typically referred to as sample bundling and is a common service offered by sourcing companies.
How to evaluate Samples
When you receive samples, you want to evaluate them to ensure they meet your expectations thoroughly. The best way to do this is to review your original product spec sheet and compare every part to ensure it matches what you described. In some cases, they may have made a sample exactly as the product spec sheet specifies, but it’s not what you expect. In that case, it likely means you need to update your product specification sheet to reflect your vision better. It is not uncommon to keep evaluating samples.
If you have specific use cases you cannot test yourself, you can work with a lab or product testing service to test your samples. It is usually relatively easy to send the samples straight from the factory to the lab to provide this service for you.
Things to keep in mind about samples
For the most part, we should have covered everything, but there are a few other things to note:
Many samples are handmade.
Often, a staff member makes the samples by hand when the final product is on a production line. It is often vital to ask how your samples are made to ensure the same result. You can do things by hand when you are not constrained; you cannot do it on a production line. If this is the case, you may want a test run and have a sample shipped early in production to verify.
The final sample will serve as a reference for production and quality control.
Ultimately, you should ensure the product looks and performs exactly how you want. If not, ensure the supplier can revise and send a new one. If you are not confident that the supplier can produce it exactly as required, then it may be advisable to look for a new supplier.
Remember always to send feedback to the supplier.
Whether the sample is good or bad, please let the supplier know your thoughts. If it’s good, let them know. Everyone loves to hear compliments, and then they get ready for the mass order. If it’s subpar, either make adjustments or consider a different supplier if they’re unable to do so.
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