Search for an inspection checklist and you get a list of what the inspector does: check quantity, check workmanship, check packing. That list is not the useful one, because the inspector already knows it. The list that decides whether the inspection is worth paying for is the one you have to write, and most of it has to exist before production starts.
The rule underneath all of this: an inspector can only check a requirement that was written down in a form that can be judged. "Good quality packaging" cannot be judged. "Withstands an ISTA 1A drop sequence" can.
Quantity — say how it is counted
Quantity failures are the most common and the least dramatic. The gap is usually not theft; it is counting method.
If the inspector counts cartons and multiplies by the stated pieces per carton, a short-packed carton is invisible. State that a proportion of cartons must be opened and piece-counted, and that the per-carton quantity is verified rather than assumed. On consolidated loads with several SKUs, also state that the assortment is verified against the packing list — the total can be right while the mix is wrong, which is worse, because it passes your receiving check and fails at your customer.
Conformity — name which document wins
There are normally two references: the approved sample, and the written specification. They are rarely identical, because the sample was made by hand and the specification was written before anyone had made one.
When they disagree, whichever one you did not name is the one the factory will follow. Write the precedence into the purchase order: the approved sample governs appearance, colour, finish and fit; the written specification governs dimensions, materials, and anything with a number attached. That single sentence prevents more disputes than any other line in this article.
Workmanship — the classification, not the adjective
"No defects" is not a specification. Inspection is sampling-based, and sampling accepts a defect rate by design. What you are really specifying is which defects belong in which class, and that determines the outcome far more than the AQL number does. We work through why in AQL sampling explained — in short, the definition of "major" is where the argument happens.
Function — state the proportion and the pass condition
"Function test" means nothing on its own. Specify three things: what proportion of the sample is powered on or operated, for how long, and what counts as a pass. A lamp that lights is not the same as a lamp that lights for thirty minutes without the driver getting hot, and only one of those is checkable at the factory.
For anything with a battery, a charge cycle takes time the inspector may not have unless you have said it is required. Say it.
Measurements — a number and a tolerance, or nothing
"Approximately 30cm" is not checkable. "300mm ±3mm, measured at the widest point" is. Pick the handful of dimensions that actually matter — the ones that decide whether the product fits its packaging, its accessory, or its intended shelf — and give each a tolerance and a measuring point. Ten measured dimensions with tolerances beat forty without.
Labelling and barcodes — scanned, not looked at
A barcode that looks fine can still fail at a retailer's scanner or in an Amazon fulfilment centre. Print quality is graded by ISO/IEC 15416 on an A-to-F scale, and most retail and logistics programmes expect Grade B or better. Specify that barcodes are scanned during inspection, not visually compared, and state the grade you require if your channel demands one.
The rest of the labelling set is market-specific and easy to get wrong from the other side of the world: country-of-origin marking, importer details, language requirements, warning text, and any certification marks your market requires. List them per destination market, because the same product going to two markets often needs two label versions — and a factory will happily print one.
Packaging — specify the test, not the adjective
This is where the checklist connects to freight. Two things are worth specifying:
- Transit performance. The ISTA procedures give you something a factory can actually be held to. ISTA 1A, 2A and 3A cover packages up to about 68kg, with 3A the most severe and the usual reference for anything shipping as a small parcel. Naming a procedure converts "pack it well" into a pass or fail.
- Carton dimensions and gross weight, verified against what you declared. Ocean freight on LCL is billed on volume, so a carton 4cm larger in each dimension than the spec quietly changes the freight bill on every future shipment. The inspection is the one moment someone is physically holding a finished export carton — have them measure and weigh it. The reasoning is in LCL or FCL.
What it looks like written out
Everything above is a principle. This is the same thing as a document, for one real category — an LED desk lamp going to the United States. Notice how little of it is about the lamp and how much is about how each line gets judged.
| Check | What is specified | How it is judged |
|---|---|---|
| Quantity | 2,000 pcs, 20 per carton | Carton count, plus 8 cartons opened and piece-counted at random |
| Appearance | Matches sealed approved sample #A-114 | Side by side against the sample on site; colour under daylight, not factory lighting |
| Key dimension | Arm reach 420mm ±5mm | Measured fully extended, from column centre to head edge |
| Function | 100% powered on; 10% run 30 minutes at maximum brightness | Pass = lights at all three settings, no flicker, driver housing not too hot to hold |
| Electrical safety | Certification marks present and legible on product and adapter | Visual, against the certificate on file — mismatch is a critical defect |
| Labelling | Country of origin, importer details, English warning text | Checked against the destination-market label version, not the generic one |
| Barcode | Retail EAN on inner box | Scanned, not eyeballed; Grade B or better |
| Packaging | ISTA 1A on the shipping carton | Report on file from the packaging supplier; carton construction checked against it |
| Carton data | Export carton 48 × 32 × 26cm, 9.5kg gross | Measured and weighed on site, recorded in the report |
Two lines in that table are doing disproportionate work. "Against the destination-market label version" stops a factory printing the version it used for somebody else. And the carton dimensions turn the inspection into a freight check: those are the numbers your forwarder quotes against, and nobody else in the chain ever measures them. The cost consequences for this particular category are worked through on our LED desk lamp cost page.
None of these lines require specialist knowledge to write. They require deciding, once, before production — which is why this document is cheap to produce and expensive to skip.
After a fail: say now what gets re-inspected
A lot fails, the factory reworks it, and someone has to decide what the second inspection covers. If that is decided after the fail, it is decided under time pressure by the party paying for the delay — which is usually you.
Three things are worth agreeing in advance:
- A re-inspection is a full inspection, not a spot check of the rework. A factory that sorted out 60 defective units has handled every carton to do it. Checking only the reworked pieces tells you nothing about what that handling did to the rest.
- Who pays for the second visit. The defensible position, and the one most factories accept when it is raised before production rather than after a failure, is that the first inspection is on you and any re-inspection caused by a failed lot is on the supplier. Raised afterwards, it becomes a negotiation you are conducting from a weak position because your shipping date is already at risk.
- What happens to the rejected units. "Rework" and "sort and remove" are different outcomes, and so are the quantities that result. If 2,000 pieces become 1,940 after sorting, somebody has to decide whether you ship short, wait for replacements, or renegotiate — and that decision changes your freight booking, not just your order.
There is also a pattern worth watching across orders rather than within one. The sampling standard itself switches to tightened inspection when two lots in any five are rejected, and says inspection should stop altogether if a supplier cannot get back off tightened. A factory that fails, reworks, and passes on re-inspection every single time is not a factory that passes — it is a factory whose first output is never acceptable, and the rework cost is being paid somewhere. The mechanics are in AQL sampling explained.
What this checklist cannot catch
Worth being blunt about, because a passed inspection creates confidence that should be calibrated.
- Durability. An inspector sees the product for minutes. Whether the hinge survives a year of opening is a lab question, not an inspection question.
- Material composition. You cannot tell 304 from 201 stainless by eye, or food-grade silicone from a filled compound, without testing. If the material is the point, a lab test on a pulled sample is the only answer — inspection can pull the sample, it cannot analyse it.
- What happens after the inspector leaves. Goods are inspected and then re-handled, re-packed and loaded. This is the argument for loading supervision on high-value or high-risk shipments, which is a separate booking.
- Anything you did not specify. Which is the whole point of this page.
Where inspection sits in the production and shipping timeline, and what happens when a lot fails, is on our quality inspection service page.
This checklist applies to whichever stage you book. Choosing the stage is covered in when to inspect a China order.
