How do you order a sample from 1688?

1688 sellers ship within China, so a sample needs someone there to buy it, receive it and send it to you. With Rabbit you tap “Test” on the product page, or ask ChatGPT or Claude for the link, and pay one piece plus shipping, priced before you pay, with no subscription.

By Hussayn Delli, founder of Rabbit · Updated November 9, 2026.

Why order a sample before a batch?

• Photos on 1688 are often the factory’s own, reused by many sellers. The sample shows what this seller really ships.
• You learn the real size, weight and finish, and the packaging your buyer will open.
• You can take your own photos and videos to sell it.
• A wrong product costs one piece, not a batch.

What does a sample from 1688 cost?

Four things, all shown on the product page before you pay:

1. The price of one piece, Rabbit’s fee included. On 1688 one piece often costs more than the same piece in a batch.
2. The fixed fees of an order: placing it, the parcel, the photos at the warehouse, and the seller’s shipping to the warehouse in China. They are the same for 1 piece or 20, so on a sample they weigh the most.
3. International shipping to you. A sample goes by air when an air offer exists. Rabbit picks the offer that arrives first, the cheaper one when two arrive within a day of each other, and stays on the cheaper one when arriving earlier costs too much. You can pick another offer; each one shows its delivery time.
4. US import duties. Since the de minimis exemption was suspended, a single sample from China pays them too.

There is no single price for “a sample”: it depends on the product’s weight and size, and on your country. A shipping quote is a ceiling: it can go down when the parcel is weighed, never up.

How do you order a sample with Rabbit in the app?

1. Find the product in Rabbit: a 1688 link, a photo or a few words.
2. On its product page, choose Test: one piece.
3. Choose your shipping offer, then tap Order a sample and pay.

A product you saved and haven’t bought yet waits in My products with a Test it button, which opens the same page on that step.

How do you order a sample from ChatGPT or Claude?

With Rabbit added as a connector, ask your assistant to order it. It calls Rabbit’s order_link tool and gives you the link to the product page in Rabbit, where you choose one piece, order and pay. The assistant never pays for you. It can also get you a quote first, and later read your orders, your tracking and the warehouse photos. All of this works without a subscription, within the limits of a free account: what the AI buying agent does.

Do you need a subscription to order a sample?

No. No order needs a subscription in Rabbit, a sample included.

What doesn’t Rabbit do for a sample yet?

• When the shipping of a product can’t be quoted before you pay and must be priced at the weighing, an order in dollars can’t go through yet. Rabbit says so instead of guessing a price.
• Rabbit gives no delivery time it hasn’t got: the time shown is the one of the shipping offer you pay for.

What should you check when the sample arrives?

At the warehouse in China, your piece is photographed before it ships, and you see the photos. That check is visual: right product, right quantity, right variant, visible condition. It is not a lab test or a certification. When the sample is in your hands, check what a photo can’t:

• the size, the weight and the materials, against the listing;
• that it works, every function, several times;
• the finish up close: seams, edges, smell, colors in daylight;
• the packaging, and whether it would survive a parcel to your buyer;
• the labels and markings your country requires for this kind of product.

If the piece doesn’t match what you ordered, Rabbit offers a replacement, a credit or a refund. If it does, Rabbit suggests the next step, a batch: test, batch, brand. To know first whether a batch would leave you a profit: how to calculate your profit, delivered.

For your exact situation: your accountant or a customs broker.