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If the item you want is above the free sample level - there's a couple other things you typically want to ask about:
- "leadtime" - how long after you make payment will they ship? if the item is in stock they should be able to ship it in a day or two after they get the payment. an item not in stock must be manufactured, they will be a lot less interested in selling a sample or small quantity if the item in that case. only once have i had a company take my payment and not deliver, I believe a motivator in that case was that I had ordered about 20 different items, all in very low quantity, and most of them were non-standard and needed to be manufactured. so - if you want a lot of things in small quantity, choose stuff that is in stock.
- "minimum order quantity" or MOQ. usually when you ask the price they will tell you the MOQ up front. it is never strict. you can always order less than the MOQ although often with a small surcharge (they usually will offer either a flat fee or percentage). a few times they have told me they would not sell less than the MOQ and I just offered a moderate surcharge (20% premium over their offer price when I was buying much less than the MOQ), which has always been accepted.
finding out about what you are buying:
- ask for the 'spec sheet' - especially for anything technical. it should have most of the details, but it is NOT always accurate. yet another reason you need to test a sample.
- you can often text-chat with them to ask a lot of questions where there is likely to be communication difficulty.
- ask them to send you a photo. i have found this to be especially useful when i want to see a small detail on the product. For example - "How does the power cord connect to your waterproof electrical box? Can you send a photo?"
- "leadtime" - how long after you make payment will they ship? if the item is in stock they should be able to ship it in a day or two after they get the payment. an item not in stock must be manufactured, they will be a lot less interested in selling a sample or small quantity if the item in that case. only once have i had a company take my payment and not deliver, I believe a motivator in that case was that I had ordered about 20 different items, all in very low quantity, and most of them were non-standard and needed to be manufactured. so - if you want a lot of things in small quantity, choose stuff that is in stock.
- "minimum order quantity" or MOQ. usually when you ask the price they will tell you the MOQ up front. it is never strict. you can always order less than the MOQ although often with a small surcharge (they usually will offer either a flat fee or percentage). a few times they have told me they would not sell less than the MOQ and I just offered a moderate surcharge (20% premium over their offer price when I was buying much less than the MOQ), which has always been accepted.
finding out about what you are buying:
- ask for the 'spec sheet' - especially for anything technical. it should have most of the details, but it is NOT always accurate. yet another reason you need to test a sample.
- you can often text-chat with them to ask a lot of questions where there is likely to be communication difficulty.
- ask them to send you a photo. i have found this to be especially useful when i want to see a small detail on the product. For example - "How does the power cord connect to your waterproof electrical box? Can you send a photo?"
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