QC scorecard: five photo checks turned into ship, ask or return

Score the photos, do not stare at them. Five positions decide whether a parcel should leave the warehouse: the full front photo, the wash and size label, the stitching, the hardware, and the sole or shoe tag. Mark each one Pass, Ask or Return, and the card converts your reading into a weighted percentage with a verdict attached and the exact follow-up questions to send.

The five positions are not equally important, and the weights say so. Main photo 1.0, label 0.8, stitching 1.2, hardware 1.2, sole 1.0 — a total of 5.2. Stitching and hardware carry the most because a failed seam or a jammed zip cannot be fixed once the parcel is in the United Kingdom. The label carries the least because a label that is missing from the frame can usually be photographed again the same day, and a sole or size tag sits in the middle: wrong is fatal, blurred is not.

Every field opens as Pass, and that is a deliberate landing state rather than a suggestion that the goods are fine. Move only the positions you genuinely cannot read from the photos. A card that starts at Ask would push every reader into sending five questions, which trains the warehouse to treat all of them as noise; a card that starts at Pass makes each Ask a decision you took on purpose.

The score itself is a weighted average of three states: Pass scores 1, Ask scores 0.5, Return scores 0, and the total is divided by 5.2. That is why a single Ask on the label reads 92.3% while a single Return on the main photo reads 80.8%. The bands follow the numbers: 85% and above ships, 60% to 84.9% asks first, and below 60% goes back. Our third case lands at 46.2% with a wrong main photo and a failing zip, which is the clearest return the card can produce.

Work the middle band carefully, because it is where most parcels sit. At 80.8% from an unreadable label and a questionable zip, the parcel is not condemned — it is paused. Send the two questions the card lists: a photograph of the wash label and the size tag together with a ruler alongside, and a photograph of the zip pull and stopper with the zip half open. Those two photos usually move the score by 0.4 to 0.6 of weighted value, which is the difference between the ask band and the ship band.

Watch for the flag. If you write anything in the note field while every position passes, the card raises "Your note contradicts a passing score — re-read the photo before you release the parcel." That is not a scoring rule but a reading rule: a written worry is evidence that something in the frame did not look right, and the score is a summary of five boxes rather than a verdict on your eyes. Reopen the main photo at full size before you release the parcel.

Timing closes the loop. The return or exchange request must be raised within five days of the QC being completed, after which the seller will no longer accept it (JoyaGoo Help Centre, checked 2026-10-06). Score the card on the day the notification arrives, send follow-up questions the same day, and if the card lands below 60%, open the return immediately rather than waiting to see whether the follow-up photos improve matters.

Three things stay outside the score. Colour read under flash cannot be judged reliably, so a shade that looks off in an indoor photo is not by itself a Return — ask for daylight without flash first. Fit and sizing are not photographable at all. And a note that mentions an issue the photos do not show produces the contradiction flag rather than a lower score. Where a position cannot be judged from any photo, mark Ask and ask for another frame; the card is built to handle doubt, not to resolve it silently.