How film sampling works before a bulk order — what ships from stock, what carries a fee, and who pays the courier

Film sampling splits into two cases. An existing FancyFix design can be sampled from stock in 3 to 5 days, as a swatch, an A4 cut sheet, or a sample of the product as it is currently made. A sample that has to be made — a new pattern, a custom size, custom printing, a special material, or private-label packaging — may carry a sampling fee, and the international courier is normally paid by the buyer.

Three questions are answered here: what a sample is, what it costs, and who pays to ship it. Minimum order quantities are answered in minimum order quantity for custom printed window film, and roll widths, cores and pack build in retail roll or project roll. This page does not repeat either.

What a stock sample actually is

A stock sample comes in three forms: a small swatch, an A4 cut sheet, or a sample of the existing product as it ships. The three are not interchangeable. A swatch and an A4 cut settle material, colour, texture, light transmission and blockout; only a sample of the finished product also settles how the item is packed and how it installs — static cling with no adhesive, or an adhesive back.

So the first thing to say in a sample request is which decision the sample has to carry. A buyer deciding a colourway needs a cut sheet; a buyer deciding a shelf pack needs the packed product.

A material sample settles one thing a photograph cannot: which base the film is built on. FancyFix stock splits two ways — PET-faced film with an adhesive back, and PVC-faced film that holds by static cling with no adhesive at all. The two are not the same thickness: stock adhesive solar film runs 0.10 mm with the release liner on and 0.07 mm without it, stock static cling solar film runs 0.20 mm with the liner and 0.16 mm without, and stock frosted privacy film runs 0.23–0.28 mm with the liner and 0.20–0.24 mm without. Those are the stock figures a sample is cut from, and a buyer who needs a parameter outside them can have it produced to that specification instead. Which of the two numbers is being quoted — with liner or without — is set out in film thickness with or without the liner.

When a sampling fee applies, and what it covers

A sampling fee applies when the sample has to be made rather than pulled from stock. That is the case for a custom pattern, a custom size, custom printing, a special material, or private-label packaging. The fee covers material waste, plate making, printing and labour — the real cost of running a one-off through a line built for volume.

The amount depends on which of those apply, so it is quoted per request and not published as a price list. A request that names the pattern, the size and the pack gets a figure back faster than one that does not.

Tooling is what separates a small sampling fee from a large one, and it turns on texture rather than on the printed design. An existing FancyFix pattern needs no tooling at all. A new embossed or 3D-refraction texture does need it, because that texture is cut into an engraved roller before any film is run. A new colour-printed design on an existing base does not need tooling, and neither does a stained glass design — stained glass is printed, and a single roll can be printed on its own, which is why a buyer testing several designs at once usually tests them as stained glass film and then moves the winners onto the volume printing process to bring the unit cost down.

Who pays the courier, and when the fee comes back

International courier for samples is normally paid by the buyer. Where there is a defined project requirement or follow-on order potential, the sampling fee can be negotiated back against the later bulk order, decided case by case with the project — it is a negotiated credit against a real order, not an automatic rebate, and FancyFix says so rather than implying otherwise.

How long each kind of sample takes

Sampling time depends on what has to be made, in four bands:

Sample	Typical time
Existing design, from stock	3–5 days
Custom size or custom packaging	7–15 days
New pattern that requires tooling	25–35 days
Special material	10–20 days

Each band depends on product and process, and the band is set by the hardest thing in the request: one new pattern inside an otherwise stock assortment puts that line in the tooling band, not the stock band. The same four bands are listed on the FAQ.

If what you need is a packaging sample

A packaging sample is a different build from a film sample, and it sits in the 7–15 day band. The pack options FancyFix runs are shrink wrap, kraft boxes, printed boxes with an optional die-cut window, PET boxes with an optional die-cut window, and blister packs with backing cards. What goes inside the pack — squeegee, instruction sheet and so on — is specified by the buyer, not assumed by the factory.

Packing layers and cores are a separate specification from the pack itself; those are set out in retail roll or project roll.

What to sign off on the sample before the bulk run

Sign off seven things on the sample, not one: material, size, colour, texture, static cling or adhesive performance, packing method, and how the design file reproduces on real material. A custom project should confirm all seven before bulk production, because a deviation found after the run is a deviation in the whole run.

What happens if a bulk run does not match the approved sample is answered on wholesale and distribution.

For a retail programme: a sample set, not a sample

Retail customers, distributors, private-label buyers and project buyers are sent a sample set built for a target market, not a single swatch. A set can carry best-seller picks for that market, material comparison samples, packaging samples and a range proposal — so the buyer is choosing an assortment, not guessing from one colour.

Which designs go into that set is read from how patterns actually move in FancyFix's own retail listings, not from a catalogue order. That is the one thing a trading company cannot assemble for you.

A material comparison set spans the four static cling decorative processes FancyFix runs in stock: embossed, 3D refraction, colour-printed and stained glass. The first three run 0.18–0.25 mm with the release liner on; stained glass runs 0.3–0.5 mm with the liner and 0.28–0.38 mm without it, which is why stained glass is the one in the set a buyer can tell apart by hand before reading any figure. Those are the stock figures the set is built from, and a buyer who needs a parameter outside them can have it produced to that specification.

Where sampling sits in the three lanes

Sampling starts differently in each lane. Wholesale and distribution draws on catalog patterns already in production, so the sample comes out of stock. Private label and OEM builds a first sample to your own spec for your own sign-off, so the clock starts at the spec. Custom design and ODM originates the design first and samples it on real material, so the clock starts at the brief, not at the file. Which band each lane lands in is the table above.

Tell us the lane, the market, and which decision the sample has to carry — and you will know what the sample will be, what it will cost, and when it ships before anything is made. Request samples