At vFulfill, we want sourcing to feel clear, structured, and predictable.
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This article explains how our sourcing works, what different sourcing models and modes mean, what is covered and not covered, how timelines and approvals work, and how special situations are handled.
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The goal of this policy is not to reduce accountability. The goal is to set the right expectations from the beginning so that both vFulfill and our partners stay aligned throughout the sourcing journey.
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Wherever applicable, vFulfill works on a landed quote basis, which means we quote and manage sourcing against an all-in landed value up to the agreed point/location, instead of exposing a detailed backend breakup of supplier cost, freight, customs, local transit, and other internal components.
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Sourcing can involve many moving parts, including supplier selection, product matching, packaging changes, production coordination, freight, customs clearance, and final delivery or warehousing.
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Sometimes, partners expect a sourcing request to mean more than what was actually discussed or approved.
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For example, a request to source a product may be interpreted as a guarantee of exact product equivalence, exact batch repeatability, or exact quality parity with a benchmark brand or sample. In reality, what vFulfill can cover depends on:

This policy exists so that all of that is clearly understood upfront.

At vFulfill, sourcing broadly works in two ways.

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This is the standard sourcing model used by most partners.
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In this model, vFulfill supports the sourcing journey end to end, which may include identifying a supplier/product option, coordinating with the supplier/factory, arranging production or procurement, handling logistics, managing customs clearance, and delivering the goods to the agreed location or storing them in any vFulfill warehouse.
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Within this model, the exact scope depends on the sourcing mode selected: Off-the-Shelf, Private Label, or Partner-Led NPD / Custom Development Support.
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In some cases, the partner independently identifies and finalizes a supplier or factory, negotiates the product directly, and then asks vFulfill only to step in for offshore payment, pickup, freight, customs clearance, and delivery/storage in India.
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In this model, while the transaction may look like a vFulfill-managed supply on paper, the product-side selection and negotiation have already been led by the partner. Accordingly, the product-level responsibilities are different from end-to-end vFulfill sourcing.

In most sourcing cases, vFulfill works on a landed quote basis.
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This means the partner is quoted an all-in landed value for the sourcing order up to the agreed point or location. vFulfill does not generally provide or commit against a detailed backend breakup of each internal cost component such as:

This allows the sourcing process to remain commercially simple and execution-focused.
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In some Partner-Nominated Supplier Procurement cases, the partner may already know the supplier-side product cost because they have directly negotiated with the supplier. Even in such cases, vFulfill’s pricing and execution for the remaining legs of the journey are still managed and quoted commercially as a landed quote including the supplier-side product cost, and not necessarily as a fully itemized backend cost sheet.

Within End-to-End vFulfill Sourcing, there are three core modes.
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Off-the-Shelf Sourcing means vFulfill sources a commercially available product based on the partner’s reference on a best-effort commercial basis.
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This is best suited for partners who want to move fast with an existing product already available in the market.
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A reference image, link, sample, or benchmark product is treated as a sourcing reference, not as a guarantee of exact equivalence in every respect.

This is especially important in categories like cosmetics, wellness, supplements, sensory products, or highly specification-sensitive categories where market-level resemblance and exact product equivalence are not the same thing.

Private Label Sourcing means vFulfill sources an existing product and customizes branding-related elements such as label, packaging, or presentation, where feasible.
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This is best suited for partners who want to launch under their own brand without building a fully custom product from scratch.
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Private labeling does not automatically mean the product has been custom-developed from zero. In most cases, it means an existing product base is being branded/customized for the partner.

Where a custom product is required, vFulfill can support execution by coordinating with suppliers/factories based on the partner’s brief, non-negotiables, product expectations, and approvals.
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For some categories, this may feel like New Product Development. However, for categories such as cosmetics and other subjective or formulation-sensitive products, it is important to understand that vFulfill’s role is support-led and coordination-led, not independent category-expert or scientist-led.
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For categories like cosmetics, wellness, application-based products, and other products requiring vertical category depth, active partner involvement is essential.

The partner remains responsible for the product vision, expectations, category depth, and approval standards. vFulfill supports execution and coordination against that brief.
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Where a Partner-Led NPD / Custom Development Support project reaches a final sample that is approved for production, that approved sample shall be treated as the Golden Sample for the relevant product, unless otherwise agreed in writing.
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As a best practice, one approved Golden Sample may be retained by the factory, one by vFulfill, and one by the partner, so that all parties remain aligned on the benchmark against which bulk production is to be manufactured and reviewed.
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Once bulk production is approved against the Golden Sample, the Golden Sample shall be treated as the primary production reference, and not any earlier sample, reference image, verbal discussion, or informal expectation.
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vFulfill’s role in such cases is to coordinate with the factory to ensure that bulk production is carried out in line with the approved Golden Sample on a commercially reasonable and best-effort basis. However, the partner acknowledges that bulk production may still involve reasonable manufacturing, batch-level, raw-material, process, fragrance, texture, shade, finish, packaging, or other production variation, especially in sensitive or subjective categories such as cosmetics, wellness, and similar products.
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Accordingly, unless expressly agreed otherwise in writing, approval of a Golden Sample does not amount to a guarantee of absolute zero variation in bulk production, nor does it mean that vFulfill independently guarantees scientific consistency, exact efficacy replication, or exact batch-to-batch identity.
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If the partner reasonably establishes that the bulk production materially deviates from the approved Golden Sample beyond normal manufacturing variation, vFulfill shall use reasonable efforts to take up the matter with the factory and pursue commercially reasonable resolution steps, which may include clarification, rectification, replacement, credit, or other factory-side recovery/remedial action where feasible. However, such efforts shall remain subject to the factory’s position, the nature of the deviation, available evidence, and the commercial and manufacturing realities of the case.
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The partner remains responsible for providing timely approval of the final developed sample before production and for ensuring that any critical non-negotiables, performance expectations, ingredient expectations, sensory expectations, or approval criteria are clearly recorded before bulk production is authorized.

Certain categories require especially careful expectation-setting.
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These include, among others:

For these categories, a reference product or sample may look similar from the outside, but the inner product experience can still vary. Because of that, the partner should understand the following:
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Depending on the selected sourcing mode, vFulfill can support:

Unless expressly agreed otherwise, vFulfill does not independently guarantee:

In categories like cosmetics, “looks similar” does not always mean “works identically.” A product may have similar outer packaging or a similar broad use case, but still differ in formula, performance, consistency, residue, fragrance, or feel.
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If the partner has any critical expectations, such as:

the partner must clearly communicate that before procurement or production is approved.

If such expectations are not clearly specified and agreed upfront, vFulfill will proceed on a best-effort commercial sourcing basis against the selected mode.
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For many categories such as gadgets, kitchen items, home products, pet products, automobile accessories, travel products, fitness items, and other relatively objective or utility-driven products, the sourcing process is generally more specification-led and less dependent on subjective sensory experience than categories like cosmetics or personal care.

In such categories, product expectations can often be more clearly evaluated on the basis of:

Accordingly, in these categories, vFulfill may be able to support closer matching against clearly stated specifications and approved references, wherever such specifications are available and commercially feasible to verify through the supplier/factory.
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However, unless expressly agreed otherwise in writing, even in such relatively objective categories, a reference image, link, sample, benchmark product, or specification sheet shall still be treated as a sourcing reference and not as an automatic guarantee of exact equivalence in every respect.
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Minor variation may still occur depending on supplier, factory, production lot, packaging update, accessory inclusion, finish tolerance, or other commercial/manufacturing factors. If any specification, function, accessory, material, dimension, or other product attribute is critical to the partner, the same should be clearly recorded as a non-negotiable requirement before procurement or production is approved.
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This section should be read together with the rest of this policy, including the sourcing model selected, the sourcing mode selected, any special verification requested, and any category-specific handling applicable to the product.

For many products, especially subjective categories like cosmetics and similar goods, reorders may not always behave exactly like prior lots.
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This can happen due to:

Accordingly, partners should not assume that a reorder automatically guarantees exact parity with an earlier batch unless that was specifically discussed and managed as an additional controlled step.
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Standard reorders are handled on a best-effort continuation basis against the approved product and sourcing scope.
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Where a Golden Sample process has been followed for an NPD product, the approved Golden Sample shall remain the primary benchmark for future production/review, subject to reasonable manufacturing variation.
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Where available and requested, vFulfill may offer an additional paid service for batch sampling / pre-approval before bulk repeat procurement.
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This may include:

This type of support is not a scientific guarantee. It is an additional confidence-building step and may be separately charged.

Once a sourcing request is approved and sourcing has been initiated, the order may no longer be eligible for free cancellation.
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This is because vFulfill may already have:

Also, where vFulfill offers the partner a phased or flexible payment structure, that does not necessarily mean vFulfill’s backend commitments are also phased.

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If the partner requests cancellation after sourcing has started:

The safest approach is for the partner to finalize scope, quantity, and commercial approval before asking vFulfill to start sourcing.

As part of a landed-quote basis sourcing service, it is vFulfill’s responsibility to use reasonable efforts to bring the goods to the agreed point/location.
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However, there can be exceptional cases where goods, after arriving in India, are delayed, held, or stopped by customs or another regulatory authority for reasons such as:

In a rare case, if a shipment is held up after arrival in India due to customs or regulatory clearance reasons, vFulfill will have a resolution period of up to 90 days from the date of arrival of goods in India to use reasonable efforts to secure clearance and complete delivery of the affected sourcing order.
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The order will be treated as under active resolution. During this period, the partner will not be entitled, solely because customs clearance is pending, to:

If the affected shipment is not cleared and delivered within the above 90-day period, vFulfill will refund the amount received from the partner against that affected sourcing order.
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Such extended resolution periods are expected to apply only in exceptional cases involving third-party/government clearance processes.

Some product categories may require additional review, documentation, examination, or handling by third parties. Because of this, timelines may occasionally extend beyond standard estimates.
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This may apply to products such as:

In such categories, customs or regulatory processing may occasionally add a few working days or, in some cases, more, depending on the nature of the review.
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vFulfill will continue using reasonable efforts to move the shipment forward, but the partner should understand that certain third-party and regulatory dependencies are outside direct operational control.

In rare situations, logistics movement may be affected by events beyond reasonable control, such as:

If performance is delayed or disrupted due to such events, vFulfill will use reasonable efforts to mitigate the impact and share supporting information where available.
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Where such an event causes material loss of or material damage to goods in transit, and the loss is not recoverable through the carrier, insurer, supplier, or any other third party, vFulfill’s maximum liability in relation to the affected sourcing order shall not exceed, in the case of mode of transit, being air - 50%, and being sea - 30% - of the landed order value of that affected sourcing order.
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This clause applies only to exceptional force majeure-type transit events and not to normal delays, standard clearance processes, or ordinary commercial issues.

In some cases, the partner independently identifies, negotiates with, approves, or finalizes a supplier/factory and asks vFulfill only to handle:

This is treated as Partner-Nominated Supplier Procurement.
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This is materially different from End-to-End vFulfill Sourcing, because in this model the partner has already selected the supplier/factory and driven the product-side negotiation.

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Where the partner has independently finalized the supplier or factory, vFulfill does not assume responsibility for supplier-selected product outcomes in the same way as in an end-to-end sourcing case.
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Unless expressly agreed otherwise, vFulfill is not responsible for:

except to the extent any issue is directly caused by vFulfill’s own acts, omissions, or handling after taking custody of the shipment.
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In this model, vFulfill relies on the supplier/factory selected & approved by the partner and the product/commercial understanding already created by the partner with that supplier/factory.

In Partner-Nominated Supplier Procurement, vFulfill may receive sealed cargo against supplier-issued documents such as:

In such cases, unless separately agreed otherwise, vFulfill may rely on:

If the partner wants internal verification, counting, inspection, or pre-dispatch checking, that should be separately discussed and agreed as an additional service.

In normal circumstances, standard import handling and clearance are covered as part of the agreed sourcing/import support process & forms a part of the landed quote.
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However, in Partner-Nominated Supplier Procurement, if non-standard customs detention or exceptional clearance issues arise because of the shipment, product, supplier-side documentation, classification, examination, testing, document correction, or similar issues, then any additional and exceptional clearance-related expense may be shared 50:50 between the partner and vFulfill.
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This refers to additional exceptional customs-resolution expenses, not the standard customs/import handling already built into the commercial scope.
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Where reasonably practicable, vFulfill may notify the partner before incurring material additional exceptional clearance-related expense.
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In this model, the supplier/factory and product combination have already been selected by the partner.
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vFulfill is supporting payment, import movement, and clearance execution, but is not owning supplier selection or supplier-side product negotiation in the same way as in end-to-end sourcing.

In certain cases, especially where the partner is nominating the supplier directly or where the category is sensitive, vFulfill may be able to support additional paid services such as:

Availability depends on the case, category, supplier cooperation, and commercial feasibility.
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Unless such checks are specifically discussed and agreed, they should not be assumed to be included by default.
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As a best practice, for any of the models, the partner is strongly encouraged to request, retain, or review a sample from the actual bulk-production batch, wherever feasible, so that the same can be independently checked against the approved sample, approved scope, or agreed reference before wider sale, dispatch, or usage.
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If the partner believes that the goods materially deviate from the approved sample, approved scope, or agreed production benchmark, the same must be reported to vFulfill in writing within 15 calendar days from the date of delivery of the goods in India to the partner, or, where the goods are stored with vFulfill or received into a vFulfill-linked warehouse, within 15 calendar days from the date of such India warehouse receipt.
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Any such report should be supported, as far as reasonably possible, with clear evidence, including photos, videos, batch details, packaging details, and a description of the alleged deviation.
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Claims, objections, or deviation reports raised after the above period may not be accepted or acted upon, since delayed reporting can make factory-side escalation, validation, recovery, rectification, or claim support significantly more difficult, especially in cross-border procurement cases.

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To make sourcing smoother and more predictable, partners should ideally ensure that the following are clear before asking vFulfill to proceed:

The clearer the brief, the better the sourcing outcome.
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vFulfill’s intention is to be transparent, execution-focused, and fair.
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This policy is not meant to push away accountability. It is meant to clearly define where vFulfill is acting as an end-to-end sourcing partner, where it is acting as an import/payment/logistics execution partner, what each sourcing mode means, and how special situations are handled.
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When both sides are clear from the start, sourcing becomes faster, smoother, and far more predictable.

There are two:

They are:

It means vFulfill sources a commercially available product based on the partner’s reference on a best-effort commercial basis.
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It means vFulfill sources an existing product and customizes branding elements like labels and packaging where feasible.
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It means vFulfill coordinates with suppliers/factories based on the partner’s brief, non-negotiables, and approvals. It is support-led and coordination-led, not automatic scientific/R&D ownership by vFulfill.
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A reference is treated as a sourcing reference, not an automatic guarantee of exact equivalence in all respects. While we put all reasonable effort to source the closest match, some aspects may be different. For more understanding, we highly recommend going through the sourcing policy.
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No, not by default. For cosmetics, wellness, and similar categories, exact efficacy, formula, fragrance, texture, finish, and user experience are not automatically guaranteed unless specifically defined and agreed.
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Yes. Depending on the category and supplier/factory conditions, reorders may vary. If additional confidence is needed, a separate paid batch sample/pre-approval process may be requested where available.
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Usually not freely. Once sourcing has started, vFulfill may already have committed funds, supplier orders, production, or logistics on the partner’s behalf.
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vFulfill gets up to 90 days to use reasonable efforts to clear and deliver the shipment. During that time, the order is treated as under active resolution.
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No. During that active resolution period, the partner cannot cancel the order or claim compensation solely because customs clearance is pending.
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vFulfill will refund the amount received against that affected sourcing order.
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Yes. Products involving batteries, Bluetooth, wireless functionality, cosmetics, wellness products, or BIS/WPC/CDSCO-type handling may occasionally take longer due to additional review or clearance processes.
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It is when the partner finalizes the supplier/factory directly and asks vFulfill mainly to handle offshore payment, pickup, freight, customs clearance, and delivery/storage.

Not in the same way as end-to-end sourcing. Since the partner selected and finalized the supplier/factory, vFulfill does not automatically own supplier-side quality/specification/performance outcomes, except where an issue is directly caused by vFulfill after taking custody.

No, not by default. Unless separately agreed, vFulfill may rely on supplier-issued documents, external package condition, and visible count, but not hidden/internal verification.

Any additional and exceptional clearance-related expense in such non-standard cases may be shared 50:50 between the partner and vFulfill.

No, generally vFulfill works on a landed quotation basis and does not expose a detailed backend breakup of all internal cost heads.

Yes, in some cases. Depending on the case and feasibility, additional paid support such as sample coordination, batch approval, quantity verification, or pre-dispatch checks may be discussed separately.

To make the sourcing journey clear, fair, and predictable by setting the right expectations from the start.