What to do with before booking a quality inspection early

In the recent years, the E-Commerce market grows up quickly, many small importers start buying in China, online or offline to contact the suppliers directly, but they feeling a need for quality control (QC) after got failure times, here is what buyers need to know to take full advantage of product inspections and booking it when you set up the importing and booking a quality inspection.

Defining clear expectations

Arranging a QC inspection will force you to get organized and to define your expectations.

The inspection company will ask you to prepare product requirements or specifications regarding the sizes, tests, technical data, packaging, They can also suggest some elements to check, if necessary in relation with a laboratory. then proceed to prepare the checklist for your product.

Note: Please be noted that not to let your supplier choose inspection company for you because their interest is to make the inspection easy to pass.

Let your supplier know about inspections and booking early

When start your working with supplier, telling your supplier that a shipment will be inspected has a direct impact on how careful they will be with your production.

So you should also ask your supplier to confirm an inspection date in advance. booking a quality inspection from you signed third party inspection company. In case of a final inspection (Pre-shipment shipment), the inspection booking date should be send at least 3 days earlier than the ex-factory date (which itself is several days before the shipment date).

Tie payments to quality inspection acceptance

You should mention that an accepted inspection report will be necessary for triggering the final payment. Write it into the order contract, and/or in the letter of credit. This is the best signal you can send to your supplier: you are serious about quality and he should be, too.

However, don`t put too much pressure on your supplier. Some buyers say: [you can`t ship unless I see a passed report, and you pay for air freight if you miss the deadline". This is counter-productive, for two reasons. First, many inspections are failed for reasons that are actually acceptable for the buyer. So the buyer always has the final word. Second, a desperate factory often tries to bribe the inspector.

What you should tell your supplier is this:

The report will be a basis for communication between us.
I expect you to respect my quality standard, and we`ll advise what to do if issues are noticed.
I count on you to facilitate the inspector`s job; and any type of bribery is strictly forbidden.