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 you begin production to ensure that the supplier is legit and will make your product exactly the way you want. We created this guide to review everything you need about samples. We’ll cover the types of samples and 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, make sure that the supplier is legit.
When ordering a customized product, seeing how it looks before a production run is essential.
Check to see how the product will look before production.
Make sure the manufacturer is capable of making 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
There are a few different types of samples that you should expect to receive depending on your product.
Off-the-Shelf Samples // These are the most basic samples you can get and are products they have made to pull off a shelf or from their warehouse. These typically have little to no customization. Be careful with these as a trading company, posing as a factory, could have bought it from a store.
Material samples // These are not finished goods but are samples of materials they can use in the product. Common examples of this are different types of woods and finishes. Fabric swatches
Customized Factory sample // If you are doing private or white-label products with minimal modification, you will order a premade sample the factory has. The factory often remakes these, but if you get some customizations, then.
Production Sample /Thesee are made on the actual production line as close, if not exact, as possible to your specifications. Theye 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 // This is taken either in the middle of production or at the end before you make the final payment. 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. Making samples should be fairly straightforward if they are a legitimate supplier. 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
Just be aware that ordering samples can be a process; if you are getting a customized product, it’s not uncommon to have 2 or 3 or even more samples shipped to ensure that 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, tweaking components or parts each time. Regardless of the time and effort to ensure the results are good, it is better to spend 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 the 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 call this the production, reference, or golden master sample. Regardless of what you call it, make sure you do it right.
Should you pay for samples?
Mostly yes, but sometimes no; this is something that you need to negotiate with the supplier. Some suppliers will make a sample for free; others will require you to pay for the sample production. In most cases, but not always, the supplier will expect you to pay to ship.
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 should expect to pay even more than retail 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 about 50-100 USD for small items; the cost can be several hundred 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 several shipped orders and cost quite a bit.
If you think the cost of ordering a sample is high, you can negotiate to deduct the cost from the purchase order. Regardless of the high price, it’s worth spending money now to save money on any 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 best way to pay a supplier for a sample is usually PayPal. Even though the fees are high, PayPal has one of the best fraud detection systems of any payment service. 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 called sample bundling and is a common service offered by sourcing companies.
How to evaluate Samples
When you get samples, you want to be sure that you are very thorough in evaluating the samples to ensure they meet your expectations. 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 must update your product spec 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 be used as a reference for production and QC.
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 make it exactly, then it may mean you should look for a new supplier.
Remember always to send feedback to the supplier.
Whether the sample is good or bad, let the supplier know what you think. If it’s good, let them know. Everyone loves to hear compliments, and then they get ready for the mass order. If it is bad, either make changes or go with a different supplier if they can’t.
Cosmo Sourcing // Go Straight To The Source!
Do you want our team to find great manufacturers, get quotes, and introduce you directly to great suppliers?
Our Simple Sourcing service is designed to do everything to turn your idea into a shipped product. Our services are designed to do everything to take your idea, turn it into a product, and ship it to the final destination. Cosmo can do everything from creating a product spec sheet to validating, sourcing, ordering, evaluating samples, arranging inspections, finding freight forwarders, quality assurance, negotiations, and shipping. We aim to handle every single step of your business in Vietnam for you.
If you start a new business, finding products and suppliers for your products is one of many things you need to handle. Our services are designed to handle every part of your business in China and Vietnam so you can focus on the rest of growing your own business.
We have helped clients from Fortune 500 companies, brick-and-mortar stores, FBA sellers, and brand-new businesses. So don’t hesitate to contact us and let us know how we can help you.