Sourcing brief
What you send a workshop before anyone quotes.
- Dimensions with tolerance16 fields
- Material named specifically1 page
- Packaging, carton, labelling
- The must-not-change list
Templates
Three documents that decide whether an order works
A brief, a sample record and an inspection checklist. They are free, they are editable, and they are the difference between a quotation you can compare and a quotation you have to trust.
Why documents rather than messages. A workshop that receives a document quotes a specification. One that receives a chat message quotes a guess — and the guess is always cheaper, because it leaves out the parts nobody wrote down. All three templates are Word files so you can put your own letterhead on them, add rows, and change the wording.
Sample approval sheet
One sheet per sample, filled in when it arrives.
- Measured vs specified13 fields
- Weight as a material check1 page
- Defect count with photo refs
- One of three decisions
Pre-shipment checklist
Run before the balance is paid, before the goods move.
- Sampling plan and counts14 fields
- Barcode scan test1 page
- Carton and drop check
- Pass / conditional / fail
How the three fit together
The order of use matters more than the documents themselves. Each one creates the standard that the next one is judged against, so skipping one removes the basis for the next.
01
Brief, before any quotation
Send the brief to every workshop you ask. From that point on, quotations are answers to the same question — which is the only condition under which a price comparison means anything.
Creates
The specification every later document refers back to.
02
Sample sheet, when the sample lands
Measure it, weigh it, photograph the defects, and record one of three decisions. An approval given verbally is not an approval — it is a memory of a conversation, and it will not settle anything six weeks later.
Creates
The physical and written standard the bulk order is checked against.
03
Checklist, before the balance
Inspect while the goods are still in China and the money is still yours. After they ship, every defect becomes a claim against a company in another jurisdiction instead of a correction in a workshop you can drive to.
Creates
The evidence you would need if it ever has to become a dispute.
Reference, not templates
Two more pages that answer questions the templates assume you already know.
GLOSSARY
Forty terms, in plain English
Craft terms, trade terms and the words buyers use on the phone — 大漆, FOB, AQL, MOQ, 打样, 大货.
CALENDAR
What stops production, and when
Spring Festival, Golden Week, the pre-Christmas container squeeze — and the dates to work backwards from.
Use them without us. Nothing here is gated and there is no email capture. If you take the three documents and buy directly from a workshop, that is a reasonable outcome — you will have a better order than most first-time buyers, and some of you will come back when the workshop turns out to be harder to manage than the brief was.
Want us to run the brief for you?
Send the filled-in brief, or send the idea and we will help you fill it in. The first shortlist is free.
Send a sourcing request