These days I have a booth on the Electronics & Components trade show in Hong Kong. To my surprise, several manufacturers came to see me and asked for information. They took brochures and namecards, and told me they would refer us to some of their buyers.

I was rather surprised. Usually, factories tend to fear inspections. Well, actually not all of them.

The people who came up to me are afraid of heated discussions with their customers after the products are shipped out and in case quality problems are detected in the importing country. It can lead to large claims and/or to the termination of the customer-supplier relationship.

It is in their interest to ensure that a fresh pair of eyes catches the issues before shipment, to get these issues repaired, and generally speaking to reduce risks of losing customers.

Differences in attitude towards quality control are quite interesting. Some suppliers do not accept product inspections, while others encourage it. It gives buyers a pretty good idea about the quality they can expect to receive, but also about the kind of people they are dealing with (and how easily the purchaser will control them).

If the buyer follows the right steps, he should not be in the situation where the supplier refuses a product inspection. And most of the time there is a way to pressure the supplier to accept it. If not, and if a deposit has already been wired, the buyer is in a very risky position.