Inspect Before Shipment, or Not?

Once your goods have been manufactured in China, should you outlay more money to have your product inspected prior to loading on the container?

The answer depends on a few variables, such as:

Order value
How safety critical your item is
Your confidence/history/relationship with the supplier
Your risk tolerance
For example, it mightn’t be cost effective to inspect a $10,000 order of erasers.

However, a $50,000 order of erasers may be worthwhile inspecting.

At ChinaDirect Sourcing, if we’re not doing an on-site inspection ourselves, we put the responsibility of checking the goods onto the supplier.

We’ve devised a fantastic form that shows the supplier we’re serious about quality.

We introduce it to the supplier, when we’re negotiating the Purchase Order, so the supplier knows clearly our expectations, and how he will be assessed.

The form is called the supplier Self Assessment, and the supplier simply fills it out and sends it to you prior to shipping your goods.

If everything looks ok on the form, you can approve delivery. If there’s any red flags, you have a conversation with the supplier to resolve it, BEFORE SHIPMENT.

See here for further details on the Supplier Self Assessment.