Should I pay for samples?

Usually yes, for anything custom. Sample making occupies skilled staff and materials, and a supplier willing to absorb that cost repeatedly for an unproven buyer is either very confident or planning to recover it elsewhere. Many factories credit the sample cost against a subsequent order.

What is the difference between a golden sample and a pre-production sample?

A pre-production sample is made with production materials and process to check that the line can hold the standard. A golden sample is the approved physical reference, sealed and signed, that production and inspection are then judged against. Often the approved pre-production sample becomes the golden sample.

The production goods differ from my approved sample. What are my options?

Your position depends entirely on what was documented. With a sealed golden sample, a written specification and an inspection carried out against them, you have a clear case. Without those, you are arguing about recollection, which rarely ends well.

How many sample rounds are normal?

For anything genuinely custom, more than one is usual and two or three is not unreasonable. Each round costs time, so front-load the specification detail — most extra rounds exist because a requirement was discovered late rather than stated early.

Can I skip the pre-production sample to save time?

You can, and it is the most commonly skipped step under deadline pressure. It is also the step that connects the sample you approved to the goods you will receive, so skipping it moves the risk to the point where it is most expensive to discover.

Sample Approval Process for China Factories

Written by the getchinasourcing team · Last updated 1 September 2026

The most common story in importing goes like this. The sample arrived, it was excellent, the order was placed, and the shipment was noticeably worse. The buyer concludes the factory switched something. Sometimes that is exactly what happened. Often, the sample never meant what the buyer thought it meant.

What a sample actually proves

A sample from the sample room is made by skilled staff, slowly, one at a time, with the best materials to hand and the explicit purpose of winning your order. It demonstrates capability. It is a genuine answer to "can you make this".

It is not an answer to "can your line hold this across ten thousand units at the price we agreed". Those are separate questions, and the gap between them is where most quality disappointment lives. Nobody is necessarily lying; you asked one question and drew a conclusion about the other.

The stages, and what each is for

Reference or off-the-shelf sample. Something the factory already makes, sent to show general quality level. Useful for eliminating suppliers quickly, not for approving anything.
Custom or development sample. Made to your specification, usually charged for, often iterated more than once. This is where your specification meets reality and where problems are cheapest to fix.
Pre-production sample. Made with production materials and, ideally, production tooling and process. This is the one worth insisting on and the one most often skipped.
Golden sample. The approved reference, sealed and signed by both parties. One copy each, and one for whoever inspects.
First article from the run. Pulled off the actual line at the start of production, before the whole quantity is made. The cheapest possible moment to catch a systematic problem.

The two that get dropped under time pressure are the pre-production sample and the first article — which are precisely the two that connect the sample to the production reality.

The golden sample, done properly

A golden sample only works as a reference if it is treated as one. Approve it in writing, seal it so it cannot be swapped, and make sure three copies exist: yours, the factory's, and the inspector's.

That last one is where this most often falls apart. An inspection carried out against a photograph, or against the inspector's memory of a description, is barely an inspection. If the person checking your goods does not physically hold the reference, the reference is decorative.

Record the approval date and what exactly was approved. "Approved" on its own becomes ambiguous the moment there is a disagreement, particularly when several sample rounds have been through.

Why samples and production diverge

Materials. The sample used what was in the sample room. Production buys a batch, possibly from a different supplier, possibly at a different specification.
Process. Hand-finishing that is feasible on one unit is not feasible on ten thousand, so the line does something different.
Tooling. A sample may be machined or hand-made where production is moulded. The results are not the same and the difference is not a defect.
People. The sample room holds the most experienced staff. The line does not, especially after a long holiday.
Price. Sometimes the sample reflects what you asked for and the price reflects something cheaper. This is the one worth naming explicitly before production.

How to close the gap

Ask what will be different between the sample and production, and ask it as a neutral question rather than an accusation. Factories will usually tell you, because from their side these differences are ordinary and expected.

Then insist on a pre-production sample made with production materials, keep a sealed golden sample with your inspector, and check a first article from the actual run. Each of those is cheap. Discovering the problem in a container is not.

Everything above depends on having written down what you require in the first place — a sample can only be judged against a specification, and "it should look like the sample" is not one.

The approved sample is only half of it — the other half is the written checklist the inspector works from. See the pre-shipment inspection checklist.