Sampling and Proofing Policy: Should You Charge for Samples, and How to Charge Without Killing Conversions

Bottom line first: A sample is not a cost line, it is a filter. A custom sample typically costs 300 to 2,000 RMB in real terms, covering materials, labor, tooling amortization and shipping. Making everything free pushes the share of unserious inquiries above 40%. Split samples into four quadrants by degree of customization and order potential: ship catalog items free, charge cost on custom items and credit it to the first order, and require full prepayment on tooling items.

1. Free samples attract the least serious buyers

Sampling is the step most easily cut in export sales. A customer says “just send a sample and we’ll see,” and many factories book the courier the next day. Getting a reply from even 30% of them is considered a good result.

The problem isn’t the customer, it’s the policy itself. Sample policy has an adverse selection effect:Customers with a real project are willing to pay for samples, because it’s a line item already in their project budget; people who treat “free” as their only filter usually have no project, no timeline and no budget. Drop the barrier to zero and you let both groups in together.

The experience of a mid-sized custom parts factory looks roughly like this (recalculate the numbers against your own data):

Sample policy	Samples shipped per month	Share that are real projects	All-in cost per sample	Sample-to-order rate
Free, shipping included	40–60	12%–20%	420 RMB	4%–8%
Free, customer pays shipping	20–35	25%–35%	260 RMB	8%–14%
Charge cost, credited to first order	10–20	45%–60%	120 RMB	15%–25%
Full prepayment, deductible	5–12	60%–75%	60 RMB	20%–35%

Look at the two ends: with everything free, only 12% to 20% of samples are real projects; once you charge cost, that rises to 45% to 60%, while the all-in cost per sample actually falls from 420 RMB to 120 RMB.Sample policy doesn’t change your price, it changes the quality of the people who come in.

One boundary has to be made clear:The table above is an experience range and will shift widely with category, order value and inquiry source. Sample requests collected at a trade show, and projects referred by existing customers, usually convert at a much higher rate than broad price inquiries from search. Don’t copy the ratios directly; first spend a month going through your own sample records from the past 12 months.

2. Work out the real cost of one sample before deciding whether to charge

Many owners assume sampling cost is “materials plus shipping.” It’s far more than that. Break the real cost of one sample into six items:

Cost item	Cost Item	Typical range
Materials	Amortize by full sheet or minimum order quantity, not by finished net weight	¥80–600
Labor	A single prototype unit often takes 5 to 15 times the labor hours of mass production	¥150–800
Tooling and fixture amortization	Simple fixtures are amortized separately; complex molds are allocated by number of runs	¥0–1,200
International courier	0.5 to 3 kg, delivered in 3 to 7 days	¥180–600
Customs clearance and documents	Customs declaration, certificate of origin, possible import duties in the destination country	¥50–300
Manual follow-up	Drawing confirmation, sample shipping coordination and follow-up calls: 1 to 3 hours	¥120–360
Total per request	Varies widely between standard and custom parts	About ¥300–2,000

The total falls between ¥300 and ¥2,000, of which the most commonly overlooked cost is labor. Mass production can run 200 units per setup, while a prototype run may produce just 1 unit per setup. The machine time is the same, but the entire labor cost lands on that one unit.

Another boundary:For categories where prototyping costs under ¥200, a complex charging policy isn’t worth designing. The charging process itself takes up sales time, and the admin cost may exceed the sample cost. For these categories, it’s more cost-effective to set a sample limit, for example 2 catalog items per customer per year.

Quadrants III and IV: Customization level × order potential

Cross the two dimensions of “customization level” and “estimated annual order value” and you get four policies. This judgment doesn’t need to be precise, only qualitative:

Quadrant	Customization level	Estimated annual order value	Policy	Charging treatment
I	Catalog items, standard specs	Over ¥30,000	Free samples, we cover shipping	Booked as marketing expense
II	Catalog items, standard specs	Under ¥30,000	No sample fee, customer pays shipping	No deduction
III	Modified dimensions, materials or packaging	Over ¥100,000	Charge a handling fee, with a written commitment to deduct it from the first order	One-time deduction on first order
IV	Brand-new development requiring molds and fixtures	No limit	Full prepayment, deductible from first order	Mold costs listed separately, ownership clearly stated

One principle:Customization level determines whether the cost can be amortized; order potential determines whether it’s worth amortizing. If both are low, don’t ship physical samples at all, just send the electronic spec sheet.

Quadrant III is the most common scenario with overseas customers: the customer wants modified dimensions, materials or packaging, but isn’t yet at the stage of placing a large order. Charging a handling fee and clearly stating “one-time deduction on first order” both protects your costs and gives the customer a reason to keep talking. Quadrant IV requires special care about mold ownership—the quote must state who owns the molds and whether the customer can take them when switching suppliers. Failure to state this clearly is the most common cause of final-payment disputes.

Four: Three forms of charging, and how buyers feel about each

The same charge, described differently, feels very different to the customer. This point is most underestimated in cross-border communication.

Charging form	Common pricing	Customer perception	Relative conversion	Applicable situation
Non-refundable handling fee	60%–120% of cost	Seen as a threshold, moderate acceptance	Baseline	Low order value, one-time needs
Refundable deposit	¥200–800, deducted from first order	Feels the money isn’t wasted, least resistance	20%–40% higher	Mid-to-high order value, with a defined project
Amortized into first-order unit price	Not listed separately, folded into unit price	The fee is barely noticeable	15%–30% higher	Long-term customers with clear annual volumes
Full prepayment, non-deductible	100%–200% of cost	Strong filter, keeps only those with real projects	Highest conversion but lowest volume	New development, tooling parts

Of the four options,the default is the second: deposit-based and deductible. The reason is simple: it reframes a “fee” as a “prepayment,” which customers resist least, while still doing the filtering—a customer unwilling to pay 300 yuan upfront is very likely not your customer.

The handling fee suits low order values and one-off needs; amortizing into the first-order unit price suits established customers with clear annual volumes who are ready for a long-term partnership; full prepayment, non-deductible is only for tooling parts, because by then your costs have already been incurred and the development cycle is long with many variables—collecting payment upfront is a reasonable hedge.

5. Sample logistics and duties: who pays, how to declare

Cross-border samples are where small mishaps happen most often—usually not expensive, but very time-consuming.

Scenario	Who pays shipping	Declared value basis	Main risk
Customer has a freight-collect account	Customer	At the sample’s true value	Lowest risk
Customer has no account	Us or a carrier designated by the customer	At the sample’s true value	Moderate, confirm in advance
Under-declared value	Our side	Does not match the true value	High, may be deemed a false declaration
Missing accompanying documents	Our side	Cannot be verified	High, easily held at customs
Bears brand and trademark markings	Our side	At true value with an authorization statement attached	Moderate, requires authorization documents

Three practical principles.

First,Ask the customer to provide a freight-collect account first. This step does two things at once: it confirms the customer is a real business entity, and it moves shipping costs out of your expenses. If a customer won’t even provide a freight-collect account, they’re probably not serious about the project.

Second,Declare the true value according to official requirements—do not under-declare. Under-declaring may look like it saves a few dozen yuan in duties, but once the destination country’s customs determines it’s a false declaration, demurrage, fines and inspection delays usually far exceed that difference—and it will affect all your future shipping records.

Third,Attach three documents with the sample: a commercial invoice (marked “Sample, not for resale”), a packing list, and a material or composition statement. Miss one, and the odds of being held at customs go up.

Boundary case: if the target market the sample is entering has additional market-access requirements for a specific category,you cannot judge this on your own—follow the destination country’s official requirements and the guidance of the customer’s customs broker.

6. Pre-sampling checklist: miss one item and you add another round

Eighty percent of sampling rework isn’t because it’s technically impossible—it’s because things weren’t made clear beforehand.

Item to confirm	What must be spelled out	What happens if you don’t
Material	Grade, condition and supplier tier	Changing material after sampling means redoing the whole round
Key dimensions and tolerances	Which three dimensions are the control points	Inconsistent acceptance criteria, everyone talking past each other
Surface treatment	Process name and color standard	Color deviation, second sample shipment
Packaging	Inner packaging method and outer carton markings	Shipping damage, samples scrapped
Silkscreen and labeling	Position, font size, language version	Re-silkscreen, lead time pushed back 5 to 10 days
Acceptance Criteria	Gauge type and measurement method	No common basis in a dispute
Time commitments	Our sampling days plus shipping days	Lead time gap, customer already found another supplier
Piece count	Sample pieces and spare pieces	Can’t retest after the customer damages it during testing

The item on this checklist most often skipped is Key dimensions and tolerances and Acceptance Criteria. Many salespeople think “the drawings are sent,” but of the 20 dimensions on the drawing, which three the customer actually cares about isn’t visible on the drawing, and that’s usually where disputes come from later.

One low-cost move:Turn this checklist into a one-page bilingual table and ship it with the sample. The customer fills in the results on the table after testing and sends it back. That’s far more efficient than five back-and-forth emails asking “how did it go,” and the table can become the technical attachment for the follow-up quote.

7. Follow-up cadence after shipping, and when you must give it free

Shipping the sample isn’t the end, it’s the beginning. Lock down the follow-up cadence and salespeople won’t have to guess whether they should nudge.

Touchpoint	Time	Action	Purpose
D+3	3 days after delivery	Confirm receipt, ask about testing plans	Judge whether the customer is really running a project
D+7	7 days after delivery	Ask about test results and deviations	Get the data, prepare to move to quoting
D+21	21 days after delivery	Give a conclusive recommendation with a quote	Last push, then archive

The three touchpoints have clear roles: D+3 checks whether the project is real, D+7 gets the data, D+21 closes it out.If there’s still no reply after D+21, archive the inquiry and stop spending on it. The problem for many factories is exactly that they can’t let go. They chase the same customer for six months and end up with nothing.

What factors clearly affect sample-to-order conversion:

Factor	Direction	Typical range
Whether technical discussion happened before sampling	Positive	Conversion rate 50%–80% higher
Whether the customer gave a project timeline	Positive	Conversion rate 2 to 3 times higher
Whether a test report or spec sheet ships with the sample	Positive	Conversion rate 30%–50% higher
Whether you follow up within 7 days of delivery	Positive	Conversion rate 40%–60% higher
Customer is a pure trader or price shopper	Negative	Conversion rate 60%+ lower

One clear conclusion comes out of this table:The actions that really pay off in the sampling stage happen before and after shipping, not in the shipping itself. Discussing the technical side beforehand and following up within three days of delivery cost almost nothing, yet they affect conversion far more than whether the sample itself is expensive.

Free samples aren’t off the table, but they need boundaries.

Scenario	Free or not	Preconditions
First sample for a target key account	Free	Verified annual purchase threshold, e.g. 500,000 RMB or more
Sample taken at a trade show	Free	Catalog items only, single piece, registered on site
New product validation for an existing customer	Free	Actual order records in the past 12 months
New market trial period	Free or half price	Limited to 3 to 6 months, re-evaluated at expiry
Customer willing to sign an NDA and share drawings	Charge a sample fee	Has a clear project timeline
Vague inquiries that only compare prices with no real project	Not free	Send only a digital spec sheet and price range

Three conditions for free samples. Miss one and we charge a sample fee:First, the customer can explain the project and its timeline, not “we’ll have demand later”;Second, the free quantity has a hard cap, for example 2 units per customer per year, catalog items only;Third, there is a record you can look up later: who approved it, who it was sent to, and which model was sent.

Conversely, do not give free samples in these three cases: categories with an order value under 500 yuan, pure traders who cannot name an end user, and vague inquiries with no timeline. The first is about the math; the last two are about filtering.

Sample policy and inquiry screening are really the same logic, just applied earlier in the process. See Target customer profile: from “we can do anything” to three verifiable traits for how to draw the whole screening line. After samples comes getting paid,Foreign trade payment methods and credit term risk, which covers how to convert four payment structures into cost of capital.

FAQ

The customer wants free samples and free shipping. What do we do?

Judge the two separately. If the customer can give a clear project timeline and estimated volume, you can waive the sample fee, but ask them for a freight-collect account. Customers like this usually have one. If the customer won’t discuss the project and still wants free shipping, treat it as a catalog item: send only the digital spec sheet and price range, no physical sample. Buyers with real budget won’t walk away over providing a freight-collect account. This step is itself a low-cost filter.

Can the sample fee be refunded?

Yes, but put the conditions in writing instead of promising verbally that “we’ll refund it once you order.” There are two common approaches: deduct it in one go when the first order reaches an agreed threshold (say 20,000 yuan), or refund it once cumulative purchases hit an agreed quantity. Spell out three things: how it’s applied (against the order or as cash back), how long it’s valid (say 12 months), and whether it’s forfeited if the target isn’t met. Without these three, the refund clause might as well not exist.

How should we price the sample fee?

A workable range is 60% to 120% of cost. Below 60% it doesn’t filter anyone out; above 120% real customers feel ripped off and leave. If you’re unsure, charge cost and write “fully deductible against the first order” on the quote. The real risk isn’t pricing too high or too low, it’s negotiating by gut every time and quoting different prices to the same type of customer. That directly damages your professional image.

The customer disappeared after we sent the sample. Should we follow up?

Follow up, but three times at most, and every message must carry information. On D+3, confirm receipt. On D+7, ask about test results. On D+21, share conclusions plus a quote. If there’s still no reply after three attempts, move them to the long-term follow-up pool and reach out with quarterly new products or industry news, without spending dedicated hours on them. The test is simple: if a customer won’t even reply about test results, the project is low priority on their end.

The sample doesn’t match the mass production parts. How do you explain that?

First, confirm which type of difference it is. If it’s normal variation within tolerance, issue a measurement report and explain the inspection criteria used in mass production. That’s a low-cost conversation. If the difference comes from a change in your process, proactively explain the reason for the change, the scope of impact, and your remedy (reship, rework, or adjusted acceptance criteria). Don’t wait for the customer to find out. The worst thing you can do is be vague. Custom-part customers care far more about consistency than about price.

A custom-part customer sends only one photo. Can you make a sample?

Not directly. One photo lacks material, key dimensions, tolerances, and surface treatment specs. What you make will most likely not be what the customer wants, and you’ll have wasted that round of cost and time. The right approach is to first send a written understanding that includes estimated dimensions, material recommendations, and the process route, and ask the customer to confirm it, or to provide any one usable input: a sketch with dimensions, a photo of the actual part with key dimensions marked, or specified material and process.

Final thoughts

The sample policy looks like a question of whether to charge a few hundred yuan, but what it really decides is which type of customer you invite in. Free samples for everyone don’t buy goodwill. They bring a flood of price-shopping requests with no real project, and those requests fill up your sales team’s time so that customers with real projects don’t get timely responses. Whatever you save on samples usually gets paid back tenfold in time later.

Here’s the starting sequence I recommend: spend one month reviewing the past 12 months of sample records and calculate the average full cost of one sample. Then sort your existing customers into the four quadrants. Then apply the new policy starting with the next batch of inquiries. Three things you can do right away:Set an annual cap on free samples, make the default handling fee deductible, and archive any inquiry with no reply by D+21.

If you want to build your sample policy, thresholds, and document checklist directly into your website so that mismatched sample requests get filtered out before they reach you, take a look at Crater‘s approach to an independent site, or go to /contact/ and tell us your category and current situation. We’ll help you figure out which step to take first.

One line worth remembering: the sample fee isn’t about the money. It’s the switch that turns you from “serving anyone” into “serving only the right customers.”