QC photos for electronics: what to check and what to request

If you want to know what to check in QC photos from a shopping agent, the short answer is this: ask for close-ups of the marking, the connector and the pins, compare them with the listing and the variant you chose, and count the pieces. Most advice about quality-check photos is written for trainers and jackets, where you look at stitching and logo placement. A dev board has no stitching. What matters is a short chip marking that you cannot read in a standard photo.

This guide covers what agents usually include for free, what tends to cost extra, what to request for each kind of part, and how to read what comes back. It also covers the limit that matters most: a photo is not a test. One disclosure before we go on: PartLark's Superbuy links are affiliate links.

What agents include for free and what costs extra

When your parcel arrives at the agent's warehouse in China, staff photograph it. That is the QC step. The details differ by agent and they change, so treat the following as what we found on the agents' own pages in October 2026, and check the current version.

Three things stand out. First, the free count is small and sometimes not published. Second, "additional photos" can mean free or paid depending on the agent, and the wording does not always say which. Third, all of this is what the agents published when we checked, and it changes. Open the order page and read what your own order includes before you pay.

Measurement and function checks are different again. Measurement services exist and are usually priced per item, but they are described with clothing in mind (chest width, sleeve length). A warehouse worker with a ruler can tell you a board is 51 mm long. They are not going to flash firmware or probe a voltage unless an agent offers a specific inspection service, and even then you should ask what it covers, in writing. We found no agent page promising an electrical test for hobby parts.

Tip: send your request as soon as the parcel arrives, before you approve anything. Agents often work from the free standard set until someone asks for more. Be specific, be polite, and ask what an extra close-up costs before you say yes. It is usually small next to the cost of shipping a wrong board across the world.

QC photos for electronics: what to request

Tell the warehouse exactly what to photograph. "Close-up of the text on the black chip, same side as the USB port" is something a worker can do in thirty seconds. "Check quality" is not. Write requests in short sentences, and use a translation tool if your agent takes notes in Chinese. How to buy from 1688 explains how the order flow works if you are new to it.

Dev boards

Ask for the top and bottom of the board, flat and in focus, plus close-ups of three things.

• The module or chip marking. On an ESP32 board the metal-shielded module carries a part name. Compare it with what the title and variant promise.
• The USB connector. Micro-USB and USB-C look different, and some listings sell several in one page as variants. Check it is the one you chose.
• The USB-to-serial chip. On many cheap boards this is a small CH340-family or CP210x-family chip. It matters for drivers, and it is another place where variants can differ.

Also ask whether the headers are soldered, loose in the bag, or missing. Header options (soldered, unsoldered, long, short) are a common variant choice, and choosing the right variant walks through how to read them.

Sensors

Ask for a macro of the chip marking and of the board silkscreen. The classic trap is a pressure module sold under one name and populated with a simpler sibling. Bosch's BME280 measures humidity, pressure and temperature; the BMP280 measures pressure and temperature only. The two look nearly identical on a breakout board, and the name printed on the silkscreen is not proof of what is soldered on. A photo of the chip marking helps, though a tiny metal lid with a few characters is hard to read even in a good macro.

The reliable check comes after arrival. Both chips have an ID register at 0xD0. Bosch's BMP280 datasheet gives the value 0x58, and the common open-source BME280 drivers expect 0x60 and report an error if they read something else. Reading that register takes a few lines of code. It is a test, and a photo cannot replace it.

Charging and power modules

For a lithium charger board built around the TP4056, ask for a clear shot of the whole top side. The TP4056 is a charge controller. Boards sold as "with protection" add a second small chip and a dual MOSFET, commonly a DW01A and an FS8205A, between the charger and the battery. Boards without them are cheaper and leave the cell with no cut-off against deep discharge or short circuit. Many listings show both versions on one page, so count the chips: if you ordered the protected version and see only one IC on the board, ask the agent to check the variant with the seller.

For buck or boost modules and linear regulators, ask for the regulator chip marking and the board's printed voltage labels. For an adjustable module, ask for a shot of the trimmer potentiometer, and whether it looks intact. A step-down board whose output is set above what your 3.3 V part tolerates is a problem on arrival, and you cannot know where the screw is set from a photo. Measure the output with a meter before connecting anything you care about.

Displays

Ask for the front, the back and a close-up of the connector pin labels. Pin order is the part that bites: I2C OLED modules from different sellers can have the four pins in different sequences (GND and VCC swapped, for example), so match the silkscreen against your wiring, not against habit. If a driver chip is visible on the back or the flex, ask for a close-up. Many are hidden under the glass or tape and will not show. Also ask for a photo of the screen with its protective film still on, so cracks or pressure marks are visible before you peel it.

Cables and connectors

Count the pieces. Then ask for a photo next to a ruler. Pitch (the distance between pin centres) is the usual mistake: 2.54 mm and 2.0 mm headers, or 1.25 mm and 1.0 mm JST-style connectors, look similar and do not mate. Check gender (plug or receptacle, male or female), the number of positions, and the colour order on pre-crimped leads. A cable listed as ten pieces that arrives as five is much easier to fix before international shipping.

Checklist: what to ask for, what a problem looks like

How to read a photo

Open the original listing photos and the variant you selected in another window. Then go through the same routine each time.

Match against the listing. Same shape, same connector type, same silkscreen. Cheap electronics often change slightly between batches, and a different shade of solder mask is not a fault. A different chip is.

Count. Quantity errors are the problem photos settle most completely. A photo of one piece tells you nothing about the other nine, so ask for everything laid out.

Look at the pins. Bent pins show up as pins that lean or fall out of line in their row. A header with a few pins visibly shorter or pushed out of its plastic is a risk.

Look at the solder. Joints on a decent module are small, shiny and cone-shaped around the pin. Joints that look like round balls sitting beside the pad, or bridges between neighbouring pins, are worth a message. Flux residue, a yellowish or brown film around joints, is common on cheap boards and usually cosmetic. Do not reject a board for flux alone; mention it if it looks heavy or sticky.

Look at the chip surface. Scratches, or a sanded-looking top with a fresh laser mark, are a classic sign of remarked parts. Compare marking font and spacing across several pieces: if they differ within one batch, ask. This overlaps with clone chips and cheap modules, which covers what is normal on budget boards and what is not.

The limits of a photo

A photo shows what is on the surface and facing the camera. It cannot show whether firmware is flashed, whether a regulator holds 3.3 V under load, whether a protection IC trips at the right voltage, or whether a sensor reads within tolerance. A board that looks perfect can be dead, and a board with ugly flux can work for years. Use photos to catch the visible mistakes: wrong variant, wrong count, transit damage, missing parts.

Your own bench test on arrival is the real check. Power up each board, read the chip ID of anything that has one, and keep notes. If something fails after the parcel has crossed the border, sending it back is rarely worth the freight, and agents' own guides say international returns are expensive and slow. That is why the QC stage is worth the effort.

What to do when photos show a problem

Act before you approve international shipping. Agent material describes QC as the point where you can ask for a return or exchange with the seller before the parcel leaves China. Basetao's homepage adds a condition: it can help with returns and exchanges only with the seller's permission. The process lives in your agent account, usually as a return or exchange request on the item, with your photos and a reason.

A few practical points follow from that.

• It is a request to the seller, not a right. Terms differ between marketplaces and sellers, and a seller can dispute your reading of a chip marking.
• Domestic return freight. The goods travel back to the seller inside China. Who pays that shipping depends on the seller's policy and the reason, and we did not find a rule that covers all agents. Ask the agent for the cost before you commit, and weigh it against the part's price. For a very cheap part, accepting it and reordering can be the sensible answer.
• Deadlines. Sellers, marketplaces and agents each have time limits, and your free storage clock keeps running while you argue. We found no agent page that gave a single deadline for QC decisions, so ask support, and reply within a day or two while the seller is still engaged.
• Document everything. Keep the photos, the chat and the order numbers. "Listing says CH340, photo shows a different chip" gets a better answer than "this looks wrong".

If the part is wrong but usable (a similar board with a different USB connector, say), decide whether you would use it anyway. For learning boards that is often fine. For something you are building into a product, send it back.

To see how these small costs sit alongside agent fees and shipping, read what landed cost really includes.

FAQ

Are QC photos free?

Basic ones usually are. Sugargoo's blog states five free basic photos per item, Basetao says additional photos carry no extra fee, and Superbuy's fee page shows a CN¥3.00 "Detailed Photos" line in an example. Extra close-ups and professional photography are often paid. It varies by agent and can change, so read the order page.

Can the warehouse test my electronics?

Do not count on it. The warehouse can photograph, count and sometimes measure. We found no agent page promising a function test for hobby parts, so plan to test after delivery.

Can I tell a BME280 from a BMP280 in a photo?

Only sometimes. The markings are tiny and the board label may be wrong. The dependable check is reading the chip ID register once the board arrives: 0x58 for a BMP280 and 0x60 for a BME280.

What if the photos are blurry?

Ask for a retake. Sugargoo's blog says its warehouse retakes blurry or out-of-focus photos for free. Other agents' policies vary, so ask support before approving anything you cannot judge.

Where to go next

Browse parts in the catalogue, read how PartLark works and why to use it, and collect what you need in the haul, which shows the goods subtotal only. Matches are automatic and can be wrong, so check the listing and variant before you order, then use the photos to check what actually arrived.