“Skip the Inspection, We'll Send Photos”: Keep Third-Party Inspection Until the Balance Is Paid

Say no, unless the balance is not due until the goods arrive. If your PO or PI provides for a third-party inspection before shipment, the supplier cannot drop it on its own (Civil Code art. 543), it must give the inspector access (art. 509), and where the balance falls due after a passed inspection you may hold the balance until the inspection takes place (art. 526). If the contract says nothing, Chinese law and the CISG let you examine the goods after they arrive (Civil Code art. 620; CISG art. 38(2)), but by then the balance is usually gone. Reply in writing that the inspection stays.

Most buyers treat the request as a question of cost: a few hundred dollars for the inspector, a day's delay, a supplier who sounds offended. We read it as a question about the balance payment. On the usual 30/70 terms, the pre-shipment inspection is the last moment at which the larger part of the price is still in your account and the goods are still in China where you can see them.

What Chinese law says about inspection, and where it stops

Chinese sales law puts the inspection after delivery. The buyer inspects within the agreed period or, if none was agreed, promptly (art. 620). Defects must be notified within the agreed period, or within a reasonable time after you found or should have found them, and in any case within two years of receipt unless a quality guarantee period applies (art. 621). Where the CISG governs, articles 38 and 39 work the same way, and article 38(2) lets you defer the examination until the goods reach their destination.

None of this requires an inspection at the factory, and none of it gets your money back. It preserves a claim. A claim against a supplier in mainland China means proving that these defects were in these goods when they left the factory, often months later and from another country. An inspector's report made at the factory before loading, with carton marks, photos and the production lot, is the evidence that ties the problem to the supplier's goods. We explain how courts weigh that evidence in the article on golden samples.

Two traps sit in the same articles. A very short inspection period in the contract may be treated as a period for visible defects only (art. 622). And if no period was agreed, signing a delivery note or receipt that lists quantity, model and specification is presumed to mean you checked quantity and visible defects (art. 623). Do not let a supplier's paperwork do your inspecting for you.

If the PO already provides for third-party inspection

Then the request is a request to change the contract, and you may refuse it (art. 543). The supplier also owes the cooperation that the contract's nature and trade practice call for (art. 509); giving an agreed inspector access to the goods is the plainest example.

If the payment term ties the balance to the inspection, the order of performance is set. A party that must act second may refuse to perform until the first party has performed (art. 526). Here the inspection comes first and the balance second. A supplier that will not allow the inspection cannot demand the balance.

A supplier that ships without the agreed inspection, or after a failed one, has not delivered as agreed. Hold the balance, put the breach on record by email that day, and keep the inspection booking and the supplier's refusal. If the defects are serious enough to defeat the purpose of the contract, you may refuse the goods or terminate (art. 610), but that is a decision to take with the inspection report in hand, not before.

If the contract says nothing about inspection

Then the supplier is not obliged to let an inspector in, and you are not obliged to have one. What decides the matter is the payment term. If the PI says "70% before shipment", you owe the balance before loading, inspected or not. If it says "70% against copy of bill of lading", you owe it once the goods are loaded.

So the request is really a request that you pay without looking. Answer it with a proposal rather than a protest: the inspection at the supplier's convenience within the next few days, and the balance paid within two business days after the report passes. Most suppliers who want the order accept that. Put it in the next PO as a standing term.

Why the supplier is asking

The reasons are usually ordinary, and each one tells you what to offer. Production is late and the supplier wants to keep the vessel booking: offer an inspection the day packing finishes. The supplier failed an inspection before and expects a dispute over a borderline defect: agree the defect list and AQL level in writing now. The supplier says other customers never inspect: that is a statement about other customers.

One reason deserves a closer look. If the supplier resists an inspection at its own address, or wants the inspector to go to a warehouse, the goods may be made somewhere else. That is not wrong in itself, but you should know who made them before paying. How to tell a factory from a trading company is covered in a separate article.

Five things we would not agree to before the balance is paid

• Photos or a video call in place of the inspection, followed by the balance. A supplier chooses what the camera sees. For a small repeat order of a product that has passed before, a live video inspection run by your inspector is a fallback; for a first order it is not.
• Inspection "at your warehouse after arrival" while the balance is still due before shipment. That is no inspection, only a later claim.
• An inspection at an address that is not the factory named in your contract, without a written explanation of who makes the goods.
• Signing a supplier's form that says the goods are "accepted" or that you waive quality claims. Passing a pre-shipment inspection is a sample check against the agreed standard; it should not end your rights for hidden defects.
• Paying the balance first "so we can book the vessel", with an inspection promised later. The order in which you pay and inspect is the protection.

A reply that keeps the inspection and the shipping date

• Thank you for the update. We understand the timing pressure and want to keep the vessel booking too.
• Under our PO, the goods are inspected by [inspection company] before shipment, and the balance is paid after the report passes. We are keeping that arrangement for this order.
• Please give us the date packing will finish and the address where the goods are. We will book the inspector for that day or the next, and pay the balance within two business days after a passed report.
• If the inspection fails, please tell us the rework plan and date; a re-inspection will be booked at your cost, as the PO provides.

Send it in English and Chinese if the supplier's team works in Chinese, and keep it short. The last line assumes your PO puts re-inspection costs on the supplier; if it does not, delete that clause and add it to the next PO.

Sources

• Civil Code of the PRC (effective 1 January 2021), articles 509, 526, 543, 610, 620, 621, 622 and 623, text on the Ministry of Justice site, moj.gov.cn/pub/sfbgw/zwgkztzl/2025nianzhuanti/2025mfdxcy/2025mfdxcy_mfdql/202505/t20250507_518708.html
• United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (1980), articles 38 and 39, uncitral.un.org/en/texts/salegoods/conventions/sale_of_goods/cisg
• Translations are mine and unofficial.

Frequently asked questions

• Who pays for a third-party inspection in China? Usually the buyer books and pays the inspector, and the contract puts re-inspection costs on the supplier if the goods fail. Write both into the PO.
• Can a Chinese supplier refuse a third-party inspection? It can if the contract does not provide for one. If the contract does, refusing access is a breach, and a supplier that will not allow an agreed inspection cannot demand the balance tied to it.
• Does passing a pre-shipment inspection mean I accept the goods? Not if the contract says it does not. A pre-shipment inspection checks a sample against the agreed standard; keep your rights for defects it could not find.
• How long do I have to complain about defects after the goods arrive? The period in your contract, or a reasonable time after you found or should have found the defect, and no later than two years after receipt unless a quality guarantee period applies.

Related service: Claims Against Suppliers ↗

Related reading

• When Production Doesn't Match the Golden Sample, a Chinese Court Asks First Whether It Was Sealed
• Is Your Chinese Supplier a Real Factory or a Trading Company? How to Check Before You Pay
• Paid a 30% Deposit to a Chinese Supplier? Only 20% Can Be Doubled, and Only If the Contract Says 定金

This article is general information on PRC law as of 11 November 2026 and does not constitute legal advice. The answer in any matter depends on its documents and facts.