Inspect Before Shipment, or Not?

In this video, you’ll learn about inspecting your goods prior to their shipment to you.

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 and
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.

During the PO negotiation, one issue coming up is the product inspection. For product inspection, there are the following 2 options:

Option 1: Pre-Shipment Inspection (PSI)
Inspection by Chinadirect sourcing or third party

Pre-Shipment Inspection Occurs when the merchandise is completed, packed and ready for shipment, or at least 80% of products packed.

Pre-Shipment Inspection is performed to an agreed AQL (Acceptable Quality Level) established between you and the supplier. At the inspection, our inspectors check the available quantity and then take samples based on the internationally recognized statistical random sampling technique, commonly known as ANSI/ASQC Z1.4, BS 6001-1, and ISO 2859-1. Inspectors will verify quantity, style, color, workmanship, size, packing and shipping mark. All with a view to ensuring that the merchandise meets the agreement specifications, or conforms to the approved sample.

A detailed inspection result is described in the Final Inspection Report, with digital images.

A sample inspection report can be found in our book. Contact Chinadirect office for more details.

Option 2: No inspection carried out.
Then we have to rely on the supplier to do a good job.

At ChinaDirect, 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 good on the form, you can approve delivery. If there are any red flags, you have a conversation with the supplier to resolve it, BEFORE SHIPMENT.

You can buy the Supplier Self Assessment template from www.importingfromchina.com.au

No matter which option you take, we suggest to ask the supplier to do quality assurance checklist, you can prepare for this document earlier and address all the concerns and problems you may have for the products.

From myself and the team at ChinaDirect Sourcing, thank you for watching this video series, Good Luck with your importing from china! Enjoy the program! Until then, Zai Jian (Good bye!)