Wood Is Not A Slow Ceramic
Buyers treat a wooden bowl as a ceramic bowl with a different finish, then get surprised when it moves. Wood takes on and gives off moisture with the room. A bowl that leaves the factory at twelve percent moisture and lands in a heated warehouse in February will shrink, and the first thing that happens is the band comes loose. That isn't a defect you can argue away. It's the material telling you it wasn't dried long enough before it was turned.
The Band Is The Tell
Look at the two bands before you look at the grain. On a good bowl they sit tight and even, with no gap at the seam, and the wood underneath isn't crushed. Run a fingernail under the band: if it lifts, the bowl has already moved. Ask whether the band is copper, brass or coated steel, because coated steel rusts the moment a customer rinses the bowl, and rust stains on pale wood don't come out.
Cypress, Pine, And What The Price Hides
Cypress costs more and smells like a bath house, which is part of why people buy it. Pine is cheaper, softer, and dents under a spoon. Neither is wrong, but the label has to match the wood, and "wooden bowl" isn't a species. Ask for the species in writing, the moisture reading at packing, and the finish: food-safe oil, wax, or a lacquer that cracks the first time someone leaves it wet. If a supplier can't name the species, the price is the only thing you're buying.
Sell The Care, Not Just The Bowl
Wood comes back as a complaint when the customer treats it like ceramic. Put a care card in the box: hand wash, dry upright, oil once a month, never in a dishwasher. That card costs cents and prevents the one-star review that says the bowl cracked. If you're shipping to a dry climate, ask for a slightly higher moisture reading at packing and a thicker wall, and expect the bowl to move for the first month. Wood that's allowed to move slowly rarely cracks.