Part three · reference
Inspection at the warehouse, and the photographs that come with it
The warehouse inspection is the reason to use an agent at all. It is also narrower than most people assume, and the gap between the two is where arguments start.
What quality control means here
When your goods arrive, staff open the seller's parcel, compare what is inside against your order, photograph it, weigh it, measure it and put it on a shelf. Tomebuy's inspection page is direct about the limits: the check covers appearance, such as model, style and size. Items that are not clothing, bags, cases or shoes, and anything sealed or taped shut, are not opened, so only the outside is seen.
The help centre adds the detail that matters for clothing: colour, size as last amended on your order, large-area damage and other obvious major faults. It then says plainly that colour variation, stray threads and minor issues are not the inspector's business. For electronics, the check is that the accessories are present and nothing is visibly broken. Function is not tested and authenticity is not judged.
Read that as a division of labour rather than a let-down. The warehouse confirms the right object arrived in one piece. Deciding whether the object is worth buying is a job you do before ordering, on the listing itself.
Photo counts, free and paid
Every order gets free photos. The home page and the Tutorial say three to five; a second official guide says five to seven. Both were live when we read them, so treat three as the floor you are entitled to and anything above it as a bonus.
Extra photographs and specific angles are a paid service, requested from the orders page. The help centre calls this a personalised photograph service, for needs such as a close look at a logo or a tape laid across a garment, sent by message inside a day of buying it. When you buy it, leave the product reference and a plain description of what you want shot.
Three requests that repay the cost:
- A tape measure across the chest and down the length, laid flat. Size labels from different sellers mean nothing to each other.
- The inside of a shoe and the sole, for sizing marks and glue.
- Any printed or embroidered detail, close enough to see the stitch.
Reading the set, pass by pass
Here is how to read a QC set without missing things: go through it in a fixed order rather than hunting for a general impression. Five passes take two minutes and catch almost everything that can be caught at this stage.
The first pass is identity: is this the colour, option and size you ordered? Compare against your own order line, not your memory of it. The second is measurement, if you asked for one. The third is construction: seam ends, print edges, zips, hardware, the join between a sole and an upper. The fourth is damage and dirt. The fifth is the decision itself, and it has a deadline, because the return window is five days from storage.
Zoom before you judge. Warehouse lighting is harsh and flattens colour, and photographs taken under it make navy look black and charcoal look washed out. A colour that looks slightly wrong in a warehouse photo is usually just the light; a seam that looks wrong is usually a seam.
If the set shows something wrong
Say so immediately, through the contact button on the order, before the goods are submitted for shipping. Three things decide how it goes:
- Which window you are in. Five days from storage for a return request, fourteen for an exchange according to the help centre.
- Whether the fault is the seller's. A wrong item or a damaged one is a different conversation from a change of mind, which carries return postage both ways plus a 0.75 USD service fee.
- Whether the seller agrees. Every return and exchange runs through the original seller, and the agent asks on your behalf rather than deciding.
Keep the photo set either way. If the parcel arrives different from what was photographed, that set is the evidence that something changed between the shelf and your door.
The windows in fullJudging a listing before you orderStop five in the route