This page covers when to ask for a sample and what the sample fee pays for. It also covers the ten checks to run on the box. And it shows how to stop an approved sample from becoming a different product in the factory. If you are still choosing a supplier, start with the beginner guide.
When do you need a sample?
Every order needs a sample. The only difference is how you get it.
- Made to your order, with a custom colour, logo or packaging, electrical, or in contact with food or children. Pay for a made sample, because you only know what it looks like once it exists. A photo cannot show a plug, a voltage label, a motor or a battery.
- Standard stock, or items the supplier already ships to your market. No sample fee, but you still get a physical unit: one video call, one photo with a ruler in frame, and one paid unit bought from a small order. That unit is your sample. Ask which market and the date of the last shipment; a vague answer means pay for a made sample.
- When no physical unit can reach you. Ask the supplier to photograph the product against the same specification, and hold at least a comparable photo and a written specification. Wherever conditions allow, the physical unit comes first.
Three units are worth more than one. The difference between them shows how wide the factory's process is. One perfect unit and two rough ones tell you the line cannot repeat the good one.
If the supplier cannot ship one unit inside the lead time he quotes for the full order, the stock is not in stock.
What does the sample fee pay for?
The fee pays for work that has no other buyer.
- Mould or tooling. A new shape needs a new mould. The mould survives the sample and is used again for your order.
- Print plate. One plate per colour, per design. Three colours means three plates, and each one is a one-off cost.
- Machine setup. The line stops, the settings change, and the first units come off at a slower speed.
- Material for a short run. Factories buy by the tonne or by the roll. Your three units come out of a part-bought roll.
- Labour. A sample is often made by a technician, not by the line worker who will run your order.
- Courier. International express is paid by somebody.
Free samples come in one form: the cost moved somewhere you cannot see. Look at three places before you call a sample free.
- The unit price. A free sample is often inside the first order's price.
- The MOQ. MOQ means minimum order quantity, the smallest run the factory will take. A high MOQ can carry the sample cost.
- The mould. A supplier who keeps the mould keeps the product.
Ask one question that sorts the fee out: which of the six items does this fee cover? A supplier who answers "just a fee" has not costed the work.
When the sample needs a new mould, the fee becomes the mould cost. Then the questions change to ownership, who pays for changes, and what happens to the mould if you stop ordering. That part is covered in the price guide.
What must you send before you ask for a sample?
Send a one-page specification, a packaging brief and a colour reference. A photo is not an instruction.
- Specification sheet. Material grade, size with tolerance, weight, the one function that matters, and voltage and plug for electricals.
- Packaging. Retail box or poly bag, label language, manual language, units per carton, carton grade.
- Colour. A Pantone number or a physical chip sent by post. "As photo" moves under a different lamp.
- Logo file. A vector file, the size in mm, and the position on the product.
- Market rules. The certificate marks your country requires and where they must appear.
- Target quantity. The sample fee and the MOQ move together, so name the quantity you expect to order.
- Colour and model split. 200 units in four colours is four short runs, not one run.
A sample made without this page is the supplier's product, not yours. When the sample arrives, you will compare it against nothing.
If the supplier's question list is shorter than your page, he will fill the gaps with his own defaults. Those defaults are the parts you did not think about.
How do you check a sample when it arrives?
Check ten things in the first hour, on a table, before you plug it in or fill it.
- Measure it. Length, width, height and wall thickness in mm, against the drawing.
- Weigh it. A kitchen scale is enough. Weight finds thinner material faster than your eyes.
- Check the material. Grade, thickness, smell and flexibility. A magnet tells steel from plastic-filled metal.
- Run the function. Fill it, load it, work it at the longest setting and the heaviest load you expect.
- Look at the colour in daylight. Office light hides a red-blue shift.
- Run a finger along the edges. Burrs, sharp corners, a visible weld line, paint missing inside a corner.
- Open the packaging. Box, label, manual, barcode, warnings. Check the language, not only the print quality.
- Check the marks. A certificate mark must have the right shape and size, and your market must allow it.
- Count the accessories. Screws, plugs, spare parts, tools. A missing screw in a sample is a missing screw in 2,000 units.
- Read the documents. Specification sheet, test report, carton drawing. No documents means you do not know what you approved.
Write each result as a number. "Wall 1.8 mm against 2.0 mm on the drawing" is a finding. "Feels thin" is an opinion, and the supplier can argue with an opinion.
When three units arrive, check all three. For the bulk order later, buyers use a sampling standard called ISO 2859-1. Its AQL (acceptance quality limit) is the defect rate a sampling plan is built around, and it sets how many pieces to check and how many defects to accept. Sampling is a decision rule, not a quality promise.
When you buy direct, both the sample and the bulk run are yours to check — no agent stands between the factory and you. You place the order, you take delivery, and your name sits on the contract as the buyer. The comparison between the sealed sample and the production batch is yours to run: same phone, same window, same ruler, three measurements, colour, accessories, edges — each result written as a number. If the batch does not match, refuse it before it ships and make the factory rework or remake it. A batch that has left the factory is a claim, not a refusal. Your file is the self-check record: the items checked, the number for each one, and who signed it.
Does an approved sample guarantee the production run?
No. An approved sample is a document, and it only works when the copy you approved stays in your hands.
- Sign and date it. Your signature and the date, on the sample or on a label tied to it.
- Photograph it. Six angles, next to a ruler, on a scale, in daylight. Keep the photos with the PI.
- Seal it and keep it. Bag it, tape it, sign across the tape, and label the bag with model, colour and date. That copy is yours, and sealing your side is enough. Whether the factory keeps one is not the point of a small order.
- Write the sentence into the PI. The PI (proforma invoice) is the page the supplier sends before you pay. Add one line: production must match the sample approved on this date, sealed and kept in your file.
- Keep the colour and material records. The Pantone chip, the material certificate, the spec sheet with your signature on it.
Chinese law gives the sealed sample weight. The Civil Code says the parties to a sale by sample shall seal up the sample, and the goods delivered must match the sample and its description (Article 635). A sample that was never sealed is a photo with a story.
Three things break the link between sample and production.
- The sample was hand-made by a technician, and the line cannot repeat that standard.
- The factory "improves" the sample after approval, with a cheaper material or a thinner wall. Nothing changes on paper.
- Your sealed copy is lost, or was never photographed, so by the time you complain you cannot show what you approved.
Ask for a line sample before the bulk run starts. A line sample comes off the real production line, from the real material. It costs one more sample fee and it settles most arguments before they start.
When should you refuse a sample?
Refuse in three cases: the sample cannot do the job, it differs from your specification, or it is better than the factory can repeat.
- It fails the function. A rack that bends under the load, a motor that stalls, a lid that leaks. Mass production will not fix a design.
- It differs from your page. Ask which line changed and ask for a new price. A silent change on one sample becomes a silent change on 2,000.
- It is a hand-made hero. If a technician made it and the line cannot, ask for a line sample before you approve anything.
- The safety mark is missing, wrong, or not allowed. A mark your market does not recognise is worse than no mark, because it looks like compliance.
- The supplier wants a second fee for his own mistake. A new mould is a new fee. A wrong colour is not.
A supplier who says "the sample is not important, the order is" has told you where his quality sits.
How do you get the sample fee back?
Put three fields on the PI: the fee, the order quantity that triggers the deduction, and the date the offer expires.
- Amount and currency. One number, one currency, no "about".
- Threshold. "Deducted from the first order of 500 pcs or more." Pcs means pieces. Without the threshold, the deduction is a promise, not a term.
- Validity. Three months from the sample date is a common working range in our experience, not a rule.
- Courier and duty. Say who pays the express and who pays the charge at your end. Ask for the amount before the parcel ships.
- No order. The fee stays with the supplier. Treat it as the price of a decision you needed to make.
If the sample fee comes off the goods payment, write that into the PI, not only in the chat.
Do-this checklist
- Decide how you will get the sample this time: pay for one, or buy one unit from a small order.
- Ask for the fee, what it covers, and the deduction rule in one message.
- Send a one-page specification, a packaging brief and a colour reference.
- Ask for three units, not one.
- Measure size, weight and wall thickness with a tape and a scale.
- Check the colour in daylight and write the result as a number.
- Check the retail box, the label, the manual and the certificate marks.
- Photograph the sample from six angles, next to a ruler.
- Sign, seal and label one sample, and keep it: that copy is yours.
- Write the sealed sample date into the PI.
- Ask for a line sample before the bulk run starts.
- Put the fee, the threshold quantity and the expiry date on the PI.
- Compare the sample against the spec sheet line by line.
Related reading
Related products
Sources
- Supreme People's Procuratorate — Civil Code of the PRC, Book Three (Contracts), Article 635, reprint of the Xinhua text — https://www.spp.gov.cn/spp/ssmfdyflvdtpgz/202008/t20200831_478413.shtml — checked 2026-10-28. "凭样品买卖的当事人应当封存样品，并可以对样品质量予以说明。出卖人交付的标的物应当与样品及其说明的质量相同。" (In a sale by sample the parties shall seal up the sample and may describe its quality; the goods delivered must match the sample and its description.)
- International Organization for Standardization (ISO) — ISO 2859-1:2026, Sampling procedures for inspection by attributes — https://www.iso.org/standard/2859-1 — checked 2026-10-28. "AQL stands for Acceptance Quality Limit, the maximum average percentage of defective items considered acceptable during random sampling."
- YIWU RUIHA TRADING CO.,LTD. — service terms, confirmed first-hand with staff — checked 2026-10-28. "The sample fee is charged and deducted from the goods payment once the order is placed."
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