There is a very old business saying - if you are not paying for any product or service, then YOU are the product / service. This is the ultimate universal fact.
Think of Google Search query - you don't pay each time you search but how do you think google makes money.
So for suppliers who don't charge for product development or who charge only sample costs - they fall in the following categories:
- Competency : Some suppliers who don't have a lot of experience, they take the product development project only to realise later that the amount of time, money and energy invested is too high and it is too late to ask for payment for service. As a result, they start giving your product development project less time, or even completely avoid it or only working on your project when they are in their "downtime". These suppliers are honest but not competent.
- Dishonest : These suppliers will present you with an offer too good to be true. You pay the advance money and then they disappear. If something is too good to be true, then most likely it is not true. Trust your instincts, ask yourself - for the amount you are paying, would someone do so much heavy lifting.
- Micro-scammers : Micro-scams are very common in this industry.
- Youtube Views : Some suppliers paint a picture : How to launch a fashion brand with no money down and then funnel you to some courses or e-books or simply you increase their Youtube watch time. You did not loose physical money in this case, but you did lose your time and attention chasing something that is not real.
- Blended cost : It is quiet possible that the supplier who is not charging you development costs, they may blend the development costs in the overheads during production order. We, at Hula Global also do something similar for brands that work with us all the year round. For example, we could be designing drop 4 while drop 3 is in product development and drop 2 is in production while drop 1 was already shipped a month ago - this creates a recurring cycle and then the product development costs don't occur in the beginning for each drop for the brand.