Calculator · sample rates, editable · 2026-11-08
QC photo checklist: what to look at before you approve a parcel
Warehouse photos arrive as a grid of six or eight images and most buyers glance at them for a few seconds before tapping approve. That is how wrong sizes, wrong colourways, and one visibly crooked logo get shipped across an ocean. This page is a tick list you can run against any photo set, in the order that catches the expensive mistakes first. It does not rate an agent and it cannot see anything the photographer did not shoot, but it forces you to look at the parts of the item that are hardest to fix after the parcel leaves the warehouse.
Fill the fields and the result appears here.
How the number is built
No freight rates on this page. The score weights identity, size, and completeness at two points each and everything else at one point, because a wrong item or a wrong size is a total loss while a scuffed box is cosmetic. The tool also counts how many checks have no photo evidence attached at all and reports that as a blank count, since a checklist item you cannot see is not actually checked. These weights are our own sample choice and are editable.
What each field is asking for
- Identity check: does the box label, the size tag, and the item itself all show the item you ordered, in the colourway you ordered?
- Size tag photo: read the printed size on the tag, not the size printed on the packaging, and compare it with your order.
- Sole or base measurement: ask for a ruler or tape in frame against the sole or the base length. Photos without a scale reference cannot prove size.
- Pair or bundle completeness: for shoes, two of the same shoe, same colourway, same size. For multi-item orders, every unit present.
- Stitching and panel alignment: look along seams for loose thread, skipped stitches, and panels that do not line up, which is the most common visible defect.
- Logo and print placement: compare against the reference image you saved from the listing. Off-centre, mirrored, or misspelled marks are grounds for a return request.
- Material and colour under the warehouse light: ask for one photo against a white background if the colour is critical, because warehouse lighting is warm and makes greys look brown.
- Packaging condition: box crushed, bag torn, item folded badly, security tag left on.
- Weight check: ask for the scale photo in grams and compare with the listed weight, since a missing insole or a single shoe shows up here.
- Accessories and extras: dust bag, spare laces, hangtag, box lid. These are the first things warehouses separate by accident.
What you get back
A running score of how many checks you have ticked, grouped by category, with the unticked categories listed underneath. When the identity, size, and completeness trio is fully ticked the page shows an approve line. When any of those three is unticked it shows a hold line and the exact question to type into the chat: which check failed and which extra angle you want photographed. Nothing is submitted anywhere and the score is only a prompt for your own message.
The method
Why the arithmetic works this way
If you understand the mechanics you can sanity-check any quote, including ours.
Photos prove less than people think
A photo is a single angle, taken under unknown light, by a warehouse worker who may have thirty parcels queued behind yours. It cannot show smell, glue quality, or how the material behaves after a week of wear. It rarely shows the inside of a shoe, the underside of a sole, or a sole unit that has started to separate. It cannot verify authenticity in any reliable way, and no photo set on this site or any other can. What photos do reliably prove is the coarse facts: wrong item, wrong size tag, wrong colourway, one shoe instead of two, an obvious tear, a missing accessory. Those are the failures worth catching, and they are all on the list above. Everything beyond that is guesswork with a camera.
The order to run the checks in
Start with identity, then size, then completeness, then structural damage, and only then cosmetics. The reason is that the first four are binary and decisive, while cosmetics are a judgment call that depends on your tolerance and on whether the agent charges a return fee. If you tick cosmetics first you will spend all your attention on a scuff and miss that the size tag reads one size off. If a check fails early, stop and send the return request before asking for more photos, because some platforms treat a photo request as an implicit acceptance of the item as received. That ordering rule is the single most useful thing on this page.
The questions this checklist cannot answer
We do not know what your warehouse charges for extra photos, and the figure varies by account level and by campaign, so we do not print one. We do not know the seller return window on your specific order, which depends on the platform and on how much time has passed since purchase. We cannot verify any authenticity claim, and you should be suspicious of anyone who says they can from a JPEG. We also cannot see the item you actually compared against, so if your reference image was itself a stock render rather than a real factory photo, the comparison is weaker than it looks. Where the checklist reports a blank count, that is us admitting ignorance rather than scoring you.
Common questions
Questions about this calculator
How many QC photos should I expect?
Common bundles are a handful of angles per item, sometimes free and sometimes paid, and the number changes with account level and with the service. We do not publish a fixed count for any platform because we cannot verify it across accounts. Ask in chat before you assume photos are included.
The photo shows a defect. Should I return or keep it?
Compare the cost of returning against the cost of living with it. A domestic return inside the source country is usually cheap; a return after international shipping is not possible in practice. If the defect is on the identity, size, or completeness list, push for the return. If it is cosmetic, ask for a partial discount or a replacement photo set before deciding.
Can QC photos prove an item is genuine?
No. Photos can show stitching, hardware, and print alignment, which are useful signals, but they cannot authenticate an item. We do not make authenticity claims on this site and we will not repeat claims we cannot check. Treat every listing photo set as evidence of condition, not of provenance.
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Now put a real row through it
The calculator tells you what a parcel costs. The catalogue tells you what goes in it.
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- Both currencies on every row
- Filter by brand or category before you commit
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