YIVAHUBThe Incoming Check Sheet, Category by Category
2026-10-21 · YIVAHUB Team
Buyers ask what an inspection covers, and the honest answer is that it depends entirely on the category. A check sheet that works for a sofa will not catch anything that goes wrong with a chandelier, and a sheet written for board furniture is mostly irrelevant to a solar path light. Below is the working sheet we use, grouped the way the defects group.
Two rules apply to all of them. The inspection set is opened, not spot-checked — one carton per model, opened in full. And everything measurable is measured, because the defects that matter most are the ones a photograph cannot show.
Case goods — bookcases, cabinets, chests, nightstands, TV units, storage.
Panel thickness and edge banding against the approved sample. Board moisture read at incoming, with anything above roughly 12% held back. One unit assembled out of the production flat pack, so hole positions and cam fittings are proven on production parts. Back panel, shelf pins, doors and drawers operated on every unit in the set. Surfaces checked under raking light for sanding marks, scratches and colour variation across the lot.
The reason moisture and banding lead this list is that they are the two failures that appear after the goods have left. A unit that assembles cleanly on the factory floor can still split at a cam fitting a month later. The office storage cabinet order is a door-alignment job; the five-drawer chest is a runner job.
Tables — dining, coffee, side, console, desk, vanity.
Leg splay and twist, checked with the unit standing on a flat reference rather than on the factory floor. Load applied to the top and to the apron joints, at the point where the leg meets the frame. Finish checked on the top under raking light and on the underside and inner faces, which is where a factory economises when it needs to hit a price. Glass and stone tops inspected for chips at the edge and measured for thickness. Height and footprint verified against the approved drawing, not against the catalogue photograph.
A table that rocks at the factory rocks on the client's floor, and a replacement top usually means a second shipment rather than a second part. The two-size dining table order was checked this way, as was the stainless coffee table order, where visible weld marks under the top had been the previous supplier's failure.
Seating — chairs, sofas, ottomans, chaises, bean bags.
Frame joints under load, with corner blocks and glue lines inspected. Foam density and seat height measured against the approved sample. Fabric inspected on the roll for dye-lot consistency before cutting, with the lot reference recorded against the order. Every unit in the set sat on and rocked, with squeaks and loose joints recorded on the spot. Seams, piping and stitch pitch compared against the sample photographs. Feet and glides fitted and thread-checked.
Foam and fabric are the two numbers a buyer cannot see and a supplier can quietly move, which is why they are measured rather than assessed. The three-seat sofa order and the cream dining chair order both turned on this.
Lighting — table, floor, wall, vanity, island.
Every unit in the inspection set powered and run at the destination voltage. Lamp holder, wiring gauge, earthing and plug type checked against the destination market standard. Finish inspected for plating runs and for colour variation between components of the same fixture — a plated lot of thirty-six fixtures is a colour-consistency job before it is anything else. Glass and shades inspected for chips at the rim and test-fitted on the holder. Lead length, switch position and fitting type confirmed.
This category is the least forgiving, because there is no field repair. A fixture is either right on arrival or it is a return. The vanity light order is a damp-location product, so the gasket and the finish came before everything else.
Ceiling and pendant fixtures — chandeliers, pendants, flush mounts, fan lights.
Everything in the lighting sheet above, plus three that are specific to a fixture that hangs: the ceiling plate and anchor type checked against the fixture weight; the suspension drop measured and set to the client's ceiling height; and the cable, chain or rod length confirmed, because a fixed rod cannot be shortened on site without re-plating the cut end. Diffusers and shades are inspected and test-fitted on the assembled fixture, not on a loose part.
A ceiling fixture is only as good as its fixing and its drop length, and both are cheap to settle at the factory. The flush-mount order is the simple end of this; the chandelier order is the end where suspension and glass packing are both live risks.
Outdoor and solar.
IP rating checked on the label and against the gasket and seal design, not taken from the spec sheet. Solar panel output measured under a reference lamp, and battery capacity checked on the stated cell type. Switch-on threshold and run time tested across a full charge-discharge cycle. Powder coating thickness read on the housing. All fixings checked for stainless or coated grade.
Outdoor product is judged after one season rather than on arrival, and the three things that decide the reorder are the gasket, the coating thickness and the screw grade — none of which a buyer can see in a listing. The solar path light order was bought as a trial for exactly this reason.
Packing, which is not a separate step. Every sheet above ends in the carton, because most transit damage is a packing decision rather than a handling accident. Five-layer cartons with corner protection on board goods; tops boxed separately from bases where the design allows; moulded inserts and separate glass boxes on fixtures; a corner drop test on one carton per lot before the container closes. The carton specification belongs in the order, in writing, alongside the unit price — a landed cost moves on carton grade and insert design just as easily as it moves on material.
The part most buyers get wrong. They ask for an inspection and then schedule it the day before the vessel sails. At that point an inspection is a formality: it can tell you what is wrong, but there is no time left to do anything about it. Book the inspection against the production calendar, with enough runway to rework a lot rather than to negotiate a discount on it. That single scheduling decision is worth more than any additional check you could add to the sheet.
If you want to see the sheets in use rather than described, the forty shipping records each carry the category sheet that was run against that order, alongside the photographs taken at receiving.