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MOQ is the number buyers push on hardest and understand least. It is not a bargaining position: it " is the point at which a factory stops losing money on a design. This guide explains where the number " comes from, what a realistic first order looks like, and how to test a market without ending up with " a cupboard full of stock you cannot sell.
Where the minimum actually comes from
Three costs, none of which scale down:
- Tooling. Silver and brass pieces need a mould; steel needs machining setup or a die. It is " a one-off cost per design, which is why a reorder is cheaper than a first order and why a supplier " who quotes you a very low minimum is usually recovering the tooling inside the unit price.
- Plating and finishing runs. A plating bath or a vacuum chamber is a batch process. Twenty " pieces and two thousand pieces occupy similar rack space and machine time.
- Bench work. Setting, polishing and engraving are per-piece, but the setup before them is " per-design.
The practical consequence: the minimum is per design, not per order. That is a lever you can use. " Ten designs at their individual minimums is a perfectly normal first order, and it gives you a range " rather than a single bet.
| Range | Minimum per design | Sampling | Production / dispatch | Why the number is what it is |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sterling Silver jewellery | 30 pcs | 10–15 days | 20–30 days | Mould is a one-off cost; reorders do not repeat it |
| Stainless Steel jewellery | 50 pcs | 7–12 days | 15–25 days | Machined and cast setup is cheap; unit price drops hard at 500 pcs |
| Brass & Copper jewellery | 30 pcs | 7–12 days | 12–20 days | Casting plus plating; the fastest route to a new colour |
| Any material — stock lines | 10 pcs | — | 3–7 days | Held in stock; mixed cartons across materials |
A first order that does not hurt
This is the structure we recommend to a buyer opening a new market, and it is deliberately " unexciting:
- Start on stock lines. 10 pcs per design, dispatch in 3–7 days, and " they can be mixed across all three materials in one carton. You are buying information about your " market, not inventory.
- Put most of the budget into 316L and brass. They are the cheapest to test and the least " sensitive to metal price movement, so a mistake costs less.
- Buy two or three silver pieces, not twenty. Silver is the tier that carries a real metal " cost, so test the price point with a small number before committing weight.
- Keep the size run narrow. On rings, a single size or a two-size spread costs less and " tells you almost as much as a full run — the full run is for the reorder, when you know what " sells.
- Customise the packaging before you customise the product. A printed card or pouch with " your mark turns stock into your line at a fraction of the cost of a custom casting.
Why the reorder is the real order
The economics of jewellery only work on the second order. By then the tooling is amortised and you " buy on sell-through data rather than judgement. Two things make a reorder fast:
- Keeping the approved drawing on file. We keep the drawing and the sample standard, so a " reorder is a repeat rather than a re-development. If you change a specification between runs, change " it on the drawing.
- Staying inside the plating specification you approved. A reorder is where a buyer is " tempted to shave the micron figure to hit a price. That is the decision that produces the returns " you were trying to avoid.
Four pitfalls worth avoiding
- The incomplete size run. Ordering one size of a ring in quantity looks thrifty until you " cannot sell half of it. Either sell to a single-size order book, or buy a spread.
- Colour drift between batches. Plating colour varies with the bath and the batch. Approve a " physical sample and keep it as the standard, rather than matching to a photograph.
- Freight volume. Packaging and boxes are volume, not weight. A rigid gift box can cost more " to ship than the jewellery inside it, so compare landed cost rather than ex-works price.
- Testing left to the last minute. If your market requires nickel-release or REACH " documentation, arrange it before the run, not after the goods are on the water.
The honest summary. A first order is a market test, so make it " small, broad and reversible: stock lines across two or three materials, most of the money in the cheap " materials, packaging branded before products customised. Then reorder the winners in the material " their price point actually deserves.