how are you my friend I hope you had a great day thank you so much for taking
you with me and spending time watching my video so today I'm going to make a
special video for those of you who are ready and excited to order your first
sample I know you are excited maybe a little bit nervous to get your business
started I want you to make sure you take the right steps to get your first sample
ordered so I'm going to share some great tips in the three steps that I suggest
you take when you are ready to order your first sample let's get started if
this is your first time checking into my channel my name is Yuping Wang I am
here to share with you the best sourcing knowledge I've been working the sourcing
function for almost 20 years I am very grateful to have this opportunity to
share with you what I know okay to make this video I need to give a special
thanks to a lady her name is Sui, Sui Ling Hui she's part of the sourcing warriors
elite training group she asked for the best practice when ordering the first
sample that inspired me to make this video for you if you are part of the
sourcing Warriors Facebook group I really encourage you to send her a thank
you note that would be appreciated because we are here to help each other
out so to order your first sample for your Amazon FBA business I would suggest
you to take the 3 steps and I'm gonna explain each one of the steps how to
prepare yes there are things you need to prepare before you order the sample how
to pay the supplier and how to be inspect the sample let's go over each
step the first step is to prepare to order your first example that's the
homework you must do before you trigger your first
sample here is the tip I wanted to give you the three questions if you can
answer these three questions clearly that means you'll have done great
homework the three question is why, what and how many let's go over each one of
them while you are ordering your first sample it is because you have done your
research you have the data showing you that this product has the sales volume
and at the same time you have done your Total Landed Cost analysis proving to yourself
that this product has the margin that could make you money if you don't know
how to do the landed cost analysis I encourage you please take your time try
to figure out every single cost element that is related to your product it could
be the packaging if you're doing something really cool the packaging cost could be
a big portion; shipping could be a big portion of your cost or if your product
is subject to tariffs it could eat away a huge portion of your margin in the
training course not only I have the template for the students to do the
margin analysis I also encourage them to do the different margin scenarios based
on different order quantity because the margin may look very good if you order
5000 would you still have the margin if you order 500 pieces the point is not
only you have the research data showing you that this product is going to have a
great sales volume your total landed cost analysis also proving to you giving
you the confidence that this product is going to have the margin that is to
answer why we're even to begin to order the first sample so the second question
is what what are you going to order are you going to order the out of stock
product out of your supplier shelf or you are actually going to trigger your
first sample to be a cup my sample whether to order the suppliers
out of shelf sample or customize the sample take these two factors into
consideration: time or speed to market and the product complexity if your
product is fairly simple you see the sales volume is there you need to get
this product lunched as soon as possible then ask your supplier to customize this
product right away so that you can get your customized sample as soon as
possible but if you need to see touch fill the product so you can finalize
your customized ideas then I will suggest you to order the out of shelf
sample from your supplier personally I prefer to order the out of shelf sample
so I can see the supplier quality asses and also to validate the customization
idea to see if my customization idea is working on the sample at all at the same
time after you get the sample when you negotiate the price with the supplier
the supplier is gonna take you a lot more seriously most likely you are going
to get better price because now you can get them very valid feedbacks regarding
their quality so you can negotiate a better price now we know what to order
let's answer the third question how many it doesn't matter whether you order the
out of shelf product or you customize your own product I will always encourage
you to order at least the two samples from two different suppliers because you
really wanted to compare the quality of the product also just in case one
supplier doesn't work out you want to have a contingency plan the backup
supplier to continue to pursue this product idea I know it costs money when
you order extra samples but keep in mind when you place your real purchase order
your sample cost that you pay now can be refunded when you place your real
purchase order make sure that you talk to your supplier and have
this understanding upfront ordering sample it is such an important step for
your product development process try not to cheap out on this step
ordering minimum two samples so you have a confidence factor knowing why you are
choosing the supplier in comparin t the other one okay let's recap very quick
where the step number one to prepare to get your first sample ordered we answer
to the question why we wanted this first sample because we have the confidence
not only the sales volume but also the margin and we understand what we wanted
to order whether it's a stock sample or it's a customized sample also we talked
about how many we want minimum two samples now let's move on to the step
number two how do you pay your supplier well the only option that I wanted to
give it to you is to pay with PayPal with the linked credit card the reason
you wanted to use PayPal with credit card is because you wanted to give
yourself an option to dispute in case something seriously goes wrong what
could go wrong if you prepay for your sample with the shipping what if you
don't even get the delivery so if the package is end up missing then you can
dispute the other thing could go wrong is when you customize a sample and the
supplier charged you an expensive customization fee but they didn't
deliver to what you specified in this case not only you should have the paypal
always linked credit card I also suggest you have the specification and your
instructions in writing so when you dispute you have something to reference
so to pay for your sample doesn't matter is out of shelf or is a customized
example I suggest you to pay with PayPal with linked credit card now let's move
on to the step number three how we're going to inspect the sample
in the training course I give the students the very detailed first sample
inspection checklist so they don't have to spend time reinvent the wheel for you
when you receive your first sample please keep the three things in mind
one is the packaging is the packaging durable enough before you get too
excited open the box threw away the packaging don't even remember how the
packaging looked when they first arrived so inspect the packaging inspect the
product aesthetic quality color variation finishing polishing how does
the product look and then you inspect the functional points whatever is the
intended used the tip I wanted to give it to you is to make sure you take
picture and take notes not only these pictures and notes should be used for
your future production run inspection but also you could use every single
piece of these evidence as the negotiation point to get a better price
those are the steps that I recommend you to take to order your first Amazon FBA
sample so you can get onto this exciting journey the right way if you want it to
be super confident super successful with your sourcing join me in the sourcing
warrior training course once you join you will become part of the exclusive
Facebook group where I answer your questions specific to your sourcing case
I don't think you can get support like what I'm offering to you anywhere else
enough for today my friend I hope you continue to have a beautiful day until
the next video I'll see you soon