Questions to Ask New Suppliers

The questions

Open any question to see why it works.

1. 1

   Do you manufacture this yourself, or are you sourcing it from someone else?

   Trading companies and factories both have their uses, but they behave differently on price, minimums and problem-solving. A trader who admits it up front and explains what they add is often the better partner. One who claims to own a factory and cannot describe its equipment is the risk.

2. 2

   Who else do you supply in my category?

   You are listening for whether they serve businesses of roughly your size and type. A supplier whose other customers are twenty times larger will treat your order as filler, and one who has never served your category will be learning your requirements at your expense.

3. 3

   What is your minimum order, and is it per order or per variant?

   This is where quotes stop being comparable. A five hundred unit minimum spread across one colour is very different from five hundred per colour and size. Ask about the minimum for a first order specifically, since many suppliers will flex it once and never again.

4. 4

   What is the price at 100, at 1,000 and at 10,000 units?

   Asking for the curve rather than a single number tells you where their real efficiency sits and whether growth will actually improve your margin. A flat price across all three usually means they are reselling, since their own cost is not changing with volume.

5. 5

   What is in that price, and what is not?

   Get tooling, moulds, artwork setup, samples, inner and outer packaging, labelling and freight named individually. Setup costs quoted separately after you have agreed a unit price are the single most common way a first order comes in over budget.

6. 6

   What is the lead time from purchase order to shipment, and what does it become in your busy season?

   Every supplier quotes their best case. Ask for the seasonal peak and what drives it, whether that is a holiday shutdown, raw material timing, or a large recurring customer who takes priority. Plan your own calendar against the second number.

7. 7

   Can I get a pre-production sample, and what does it cost?

   Golden samples from stock tell you very little, because they were not made on your specification. Insist on a sample from your own materials and settings, expect to pay for it, and keep the approved one sealed as the physical reference for later disputes.

8. 8

   What does your quality control process look like before goods ship?

   Look for something describable: an inspection stage, a sampling standard, who signs off, whether they welcome a third party inspector. If quality control is described only as being very careful, budget for your own inspection on the first three orders.

9. 9

   What defect rate should I expect on a run this size, and what happens when a batch is bad?

   A supplier who says zero has either never measured or is not going to tell you the truth later either. What you want is a number, a remedy and a timescale: rework, replacement in the next run, or credit, and who pays the freight in each case.

10. 10

    Which certifications and test reports can you provide, and are they issued in your name?

    Certificates borrowed from a component maker or from another client are common and are worth nothing to you in an audit or a customs check. Check the entity named on the document, the product it covers, and the expiry date, and verify at least one directly with the issuing body.

11. 11

    Where do your raw materials come from, and what happens if that supply moves?

    Most quality drift traces back to a substituted input rather than a change in workmanship. Ask whether they will notify you before changing a material or a subcontractor, and get that notification requirement written into the agreement rather than left as a courtesy.

12. 12

    What are your payment terms for a first order, and how do they change once we have a history?

    First orders are usually paid heavily up front, which is reasonable. What matters is whether there is a path to better terms and what triggers it: three clean orders, a certain volume, a trade reference. A supplier with no path is telling you they see this as a one-off.

13. 13

    Which Incoterms are you quoting, and who books and insures the freight?

    A quote is meaningless without the term attached, since the difference between one where you collect and one delivered to your door can be a large share of the unit cost. Also confirm who is the importer of record and who handles duties, because that is where surprise invoices come from.

14. 14

    Who will be my day to day contact, and what hours do they work?

    The sales person who wins your business is often not the person who answers when a shipment is late. Ask for the name of the account handler, their time zone, and what happens during their local holidays, which is when your urgent problems will inevitably occur.

15. 15

    What is your current capacity, and how much of it is already committed?

    A supplier running near full capacity will deprioritise small accounts under pressure, and one running well below it may be in financial trouble. Either answer is useful. The refusal to answer at all tells you how much of the relationship will be guesswork.

16. 16

    What happens if I need to change the specification mid-run?

    Changes happen, and the question reveals both their flexibility and their pricing discipline. Listen for a defined change process with a cost and a schedule impact. A supplier who says anything is possible usually means the invoice will explain the cost afterwards.

17. 17

    If a shipment arrives late, short or damaged, what is the process?

    You want the mechanics: who they notify, what evidence they need from you, how long a claim takes, and whether remedies are credits or replacements. Agreeing this while everyone is friendly is worth more than any clause you negotiate after the first failure.

18. 18

    Can I visit, or send someone to inspect on my behalf?

    Willingness matters more than whether you actually go. Suppliers who welcome a visit or a third party inspection are usually the ones with something reasonable to show. Vagueness about the address, or a factory that turns out to be an office, ends the conversation early.

19. 19

    Have you lost a customer recently, and what was the reason?

    Every supplier has, so a denial is a red flag by itself. A candid answer about a price disagreement, a quality problem they fixed, or a customer who outgrew them tells you more about how they behave under pressure than any reference will.

20. 20

    What would make you decide I was not worth supplying?

    Turning the question around usually produces the most honest minute of the call: constant small orders, late payment, unclear specifications, endless changes. It also tells you exactly how to be a customer they prioritise when capacity gets tight.