An Amazon seller looking for a sourcing agent in India needs one that can lock down the specification, test the product before the order and inspect the lot before it ships. The agent handles the India side. Amazon's rules, your listing and your product liability remain yours.
Amazon sellers face a particular risk. One bad batch can produce bad reviews, returns and a suspended listing, so the quality checks that other buyers treat as optional are close to essential.
Why Amazon sellers need different checks
A seller does not see the goods until they are in a warehouse or with the customer. That removes the chance to catch a problem after delivery. Three things matter most:
- Consistency: every unit should match the approved sample, because customers compare units and write reviews.
- Packaging and labelling: units must carry the barcodes and labels the marketplace and your destination require.
- Product safety and compliance: you are normally responsible as the seller for meeting the rules of the country you sell in.
Marketplace policies change often. Check the current requirements in your seller account and with the regulator in your country, and give the agent the written requirements, not a summary.
What to ask an agent before you hire
- Do you have experience with my product category, and can you describe how you would check it?
- Will you put my labels, barcodes and packaging rules into the purchase specification?
- Will you take sealed samples from current production and have them tested to my market's rules?
- Will you inspect the finished lot against my approved sample and send photos before shipping?
- Can you check the carton marks and the packing list against my shipment plan?
- Do you take anything from the factory?
Private label and branding
Many Amazon sellers sell under their own brand. The agent can coordinate artwork, printing and labelling, but you should approve every proof before printing. Read do agents help with private label and packaging design for what to expect.
Protect your design too. Ask for an NDA before you share your brand or specification, and be careful about sharing the same design with several factories at once.
Where inspection fits your sales calendar
Amazon sellers often work to peak-season deadlines. Build time for inspection and any rework into the plan, because a lot that fails near your deadline costs more than a lot that fails early. Agree in advance what happens on failure. Our guide on what happens if goods fail inspection lists the options.
If you want an independent report on top of the agent's own, ask the agent to arrange third-party inspection.
What stays your responsibility
- Your listing, its claims and its images.
- Marketplace account health and compliance with its policies.
- Importer duties, product-safety registrations and customs clearance in your country.
- Your decision to release the goods after the inspection report.
For a textile product, see also Amazon sellers sourcing textiles from India, and for jewellery, selling Rajkot jewellery on Amazon, Etsy and Shopify.
Choosing between agent and factory-direct for a first product
Some sellers buy straight from a factory they found online and hire an agent only for inspection. That can work if the factory has been verified as a real manufacturer. If it has not, fix that first, because an inspection of the wrong company's goods does not help you. See how an agent can audit your existing supplier.
A worked example
A seller plans to list a household product under its own brand. The agent finds two manufacturers and audits both. Sealed samples go to a laboratory for the tests the seller's market requires. The seller approves one sample and signs a specification that includes the carton marks and labels.
Before shipping, the agent inspects the lot against the approved sample, checks every label and barcode, and photographs the cartons. The seller reads the report, releases the goods and receives the document pack. If a unit later fails, the counter-sample and loading photos show whether the factory or the seller's own specification was at fault.
Next step
We find and audit manufacturers, check samples and documents, have lots tested, and supervise production and loading, for one written fee agreed in advance. We take nothing from factories, and you pay the factory directly. For a product you plan to list, book a free sourcing review, or see our services.