Buying wooden toys from China: MOQ, samples, lead time and freight

Most first orders from China fail for reasons that have nothing to do with the product. They fail on minimums, on timing, or on freight. This page is the short version of what we explain on the phone every week.

Start with the minimum, not the price

Every item has a minimum. Ask for it before you ask for a price, because the minimum decides the price more than anything else.

• Stock items: from five cartons per item.
• Mixed loads: three items of two cartons each can be combined.
• Private label: usually 500-1,000 pieces per item.

If someone quotes you ten pieces of a wooden toy at a catalogue price, what usually follows is a delay.

Stock versus made to order

There are two different clocks in this business, and they are often confused.

Stock is what already exists. It waits in a warehouse, it can be counted, and it can usually leave within a few working days. Made to order is a production slot: the factory schedules it, buys the wood and the paint, and the order joins a queue.

Ask which one you are buying. A supplier who cannot tell you the difference is selling you the slower one.

What adds time to a stock order is not the wood. It is whatever you change: artwork, a new colour, custom packing, a printed box.

Samples

Samples should be paid for and shipped at cost. Ours are collected from the factory, photographed before they leave, and shipped with the photographs so you know what is coming.

Free samples usually mean the supplier is confident about one thing only: that you will pay for the samples somewhere else.

Freight is the item most orders get wrong

Freight changes with weight, volume, destination and season, so we do not publish rates. We do publish the way to check them.

Two things matter:

• For a small sea shipment, freight per unit can approach the goods value itself. At that point you are importing freight, not toys.
• A full container behaves the opposite way: the same goods cost a small fraction of their value to move.

The practical conclusion is not "always buy a container". It is: keep small orders small and send them by air or express, and when you go by sea, go by full container or share one.

Who applies for the certificate

Not us, and this is worth understanding before you plan a launch.

For the European Union and the UK the applicant is your company or your importer. For the Customs Union (EAC) the applicant must be a resident of that union - again, your importing company. We are a non-resident, which means we cannot be the applicant even if we wanted to be.

What we do is hand over the technical material an applicant needs:

• material and finish description
• test reports the factory holds for that model
• editable artwork
• carton, weight and packing data

If a supplier promises you a certificate in your own company's name, ask who signs it.

What to put in the first enquiry

Send four things and you will get a useful answer within one working day:

• the item, a photograph, or a link
• the quantity
• the destination country
• whether certification is part of your plan

That is enough for a first comparison. Everything else - packing, brand, carton marks - can be settled once you know the order works.