Let's hear an experience from you people.

I never charge anyone for samples. But the buyers will have to foot the cost of shipping. If they are happy with the products and placed an order, I refund them the cost of shipping the samples. Is it a fair deal?

I had a buyer from East Africa asking me about some of our expensive products.(Not branded shoes. We never produced them, never did and Never will)

He asked for 12pairs of different models to be shipped to him by DHL and he will pay for the freight once he gets the samples. My answer to him is that he give me his DHL account or place a booking with DHL to collect the sample from me. I also told him that I will not shipped them in pairs but 12 pieces (right foot).

This is the reply I got from him

" Sir, something is wrong with your brain. How do you expect me to sell the products when they are all right foot?" You have to send me 12 pairs or I will not deal with you.

My reply to him was a little bit out of this world.

"Sir, you must be mentally retarded. Do you expect me and other manufacturers to send samples for you to sell? You may be smart but I am not stupid. I will not send samples in pairs for you to set up a shoe store filled with free shoes.

If you insist of getting free samples, come to China and I will stick those boots so deep up your **** that you need a tractor to pull it out.

And Sir,don't bother writing or calling me. I will call you.

Asanti sana. Kwaheri

Your post gave me a laugh.

Many years ago I was working for a Chinese run trading company and we also dealt with shoes. I remember getting an email from a guy in Pakistan who ordered samples without even asking about prices or anything. He specified the sizes and the actual shoes he wanted down to the color - one pair of mens, one pair of ladies, two pairs of boys, and one pair of girls shoes.

I remember coming to the realization at the time that this guy was no doubt contacting suppliers of all sorts of product all over China to get freebies for personal use. Ever since then I have been very pro-payment for samples.

Sending one shoe from the pair, or drilling out the soles of the shoes are certainly ways to ensure that you don't get taken for a ride with samples. If your samples have any resale value however my advice is to charge for samples and offer the payment back if and when an order comes in.

Replying to [Big Brother]:Someone he want to get the free sample without paying anything,we can look on them as fraud.
And I think,no matter buyer or seller,we are business man,we must pay the necessary cost to gain.So at first,both of us should try to charge some of samples,supplier supply QUALITY SAMPLE free,and the buyer charge the freight,it is fair deal.

Replying to [Big Brother]: We also had similar experiences. Since we produce and supply various types of Tal Powder such as Baby Powder, After Shower Body Powder, Foot Powder, Medicated Powder etc.. many a times we received enquiries from people asking for sample of each product and they were not ready to pay for shipping cost.

Infact one of the buyer provided us DHL account number of a canadian company (buyer was from Ghana) and informed us that he works for the canadian subsidiary in Africa.

We collected the details from DHL and got in touch with Canadian company who was holder of that particular account.

As per our guess someone was mis-using their account to get freebies for personal use or resale purpose.

Now a days we ask the buyers to provide us their account details or ask the courier company to collect the samples from our office.

If the buyer do not have the account with any of the international courier company we ask them to send us the amount in advance..

We prefer to route all our transactions thru normal banking channels so all the transactions gets recorded with the government authority.

Sometimes suppliers have to be clear when they meet such matters. They have to distinguish who isn't cheat and who does be cheat. This sometimes is a little hard, especially for those new staffs.

Regarding the sampling as a formal order is a wiser decision when doing business. Otherwise you'll have to offer many such free samples without gaining any further business. Just think what you'll do when you confront hundres of such requests instead of just one or two.

As a buyer, asking for sampling doesn't mean only quality checking,but also service surveying,etc. They'll not mind so much if they pay the sampling with the price in accordance with the big quantity prices,and especially the sampling fee will back to him when he places the first formal order.

Sometimes suppliers have to be clear when they meet such matters. They have to distinguish who isn't cheat and who does be cheat. This sometimes is a little hard, especially for those new staffs.


Regarding the sampling as a formal order is a wiser decision when doing business. Otherwise you'll have to offer many such free samples without gaining any further business. Just think what you'll do when you confront hundres of such requests instead of just one or two.


As a buyer, asking for sampling doesn't mean only quality checking,but also service surveying,etc. They'll not mind so much if they pay the sampling with the price in accordance with the big quantity prices,and especially the sampling fee will back to him when he places the first formal order.

Replying to [Big Brother]:Hello Big Brother! This was a great anwer from you. That's the language such brainless people can understand.
By the way: I am going to buy a pair of jogging shoes next time. If you are producing kind of these please send me a free sample. The shoes should be size US 13 and preferably in a dark colour.
Thanks
BR
Detlev

Replying to [Big Brother]:

So say I place a sample order and I receive it and it works out, Now since they have my trust what if I now make a bigger order and then get scammed?

Replying to [Big Brother]:Yes, there may be cheat everywhere when the business go ahead. So you should keep your eyes opening and identify the cheaters.

Replying to [Big Brother]:

And My 50 points award goes to.........