Bulk custom patch production in the LOVECOLOUR factory in Guangzhou.

Procurement guide

No price list. A quotation, built from your specification.

A custom patch has no single price, because the price is the specification: what it is made of, how it is built, how it is packed and how many pieces you order.

This page shows what a quotation is made of, where a minimum order quantity comes from, and why the same design quoted at 100 pcs and at 1,000 pcs carries two different unit prices.

  • Direct manufacturer
  • Baiyun District, Guangzhou
  • Quoted in quantity tiers
  • Quotation valid for 30 days

Why there is no price list

No cart, no checkout, no fixed price — on purpose.

There is no shopping cart and no online payment on this site, and product pages do not carry a fixed price. That is a decision rather than a gap. A price for a custom piece is decided by the size, the material, the process, the build, the packing, the quantity and the date it has to be ready — and a number published without those is not a price, it is an average that would be wrong for most of the buyers who read it.

So the question is answered the other way round. Send the specification, and the answer comes back as a written quotation: in quantity tiers, with each charge on its own line. The rule behind that is simple — a quick reply is never an inaccurate rough price, and a file is read before anything is costed.

In working hours a new inquiry is answered within the hour. Where a formal quotation cannot be issued yet, the reply confirms that the brief has arrived and says what is being verified.

The questions this page answers are the ones buyers ask most about custom manufacturing: why 100 pcs and 1,000 pcs differ so much, why changing the process raises the price, why samples and packaging are charged separately, and why freight moves. Each of them has a structural answer rather than a mysterious one — and none of them needs a figure invented to explain it.

PM01 · 1200×900 (4:3) A written quotation showing quantity tiers, laid beside the artwork, a thread colour card and a packaged sample patch it was costed from.
PM01 · Quotation, artwork & packed piece Own photography · 1200×900

The cost structure

Six things a quotation moves with.

None of them is a hidden fee. Each one is a line of your own brief — change the line and the number moves, which is exactly how a target price gets met or missed.

Size and material

What it is, and how big.

The size you need and the material it is made in are both part of the specification a quotation is built from, so changing either one changes the number. Size also decides what the artwork can carry: the same logo that holds on a large piece can lose its detail on a small one.

Process

The route the design is produced by.

Embroidery, weaving, moulding or print is chosen from line weight, the smallest text and the edge the design needs. A process change is a price change — it is one of the levers used when a target price has to be met — which is why a route is recommended before a number is given.

Design complexity

How much detail the design asks for.

A design that needs a denser build, tighter detail or more colours costs more to produce than a simplified version of the same logo. Where a budget is tight, the options put on the table are to simplify the artwork, reduce the colour count, adjust the size, change the process, the material or the packaging, or increase the quantity.

Packaging

How the pieces are presented.

Individual packaging, backer card, barcode, label, SKU, retail or neutral packing, white label and the carton mark are confirmed before the order is placed. Special packaging sits on its own line on the quotation rather than being folded into the unit price.

Quantity

How many pieces you take.

The largest single lever, and the one a quotation is built around: it is issued in quantity tiers so the movement of the unit price with quantity is visible before you commit to a number.

Lead time

When it has to be in your hand.

A dated project, a rush schedule and the shipping method all put pressure on capacity. Rush is confirmed by production rather than promised in a reply, and it may carry an extra cost.

Around the product price sit the charge lines a quotation keeps apart: the sample fee, the mould or setup fee, special packaging, freight and any other special charge. A total is therefore never one unexplained number. Internal cost, salary and profit structure are the lines that are not itemised — and the page returns to that distinction in the section on what a quotation does and does not include.

Quantity

The same patch at 100 pcs and at 1,000 pcs.

This is the question buyers ask most about custom manufacturing, and it has a structural answer rather than a mysterious one.

A quotation is issued in tiers — 100 / 500 / 1,000 pcs is the usual example, and the actual tiers follow the product — so the movement of the unit price with quantity is visible before you commit.

Two things move at once. The unit price of the piece itself steps with the tier. And the lines that do not scale with quantity at all — the sample fee, the mould or setup fee, special packaging and freight — stay on their own lines instead of being spread invisibly across the pieces. That is why the distance between a small order and a large one looks larger than the difference in the product alone.

Where a target price has to be met, the levers are quantity, size, process, material, packaging, lead time and shipping method — worked through in that order rather than taken out of the specification. A quotation also holds for 30 days; after that, material, labour, quantity, FX, freight and capacity are re-confirmed before the price is reused.

Charge lines on a quotation

  • Product price
  • Sample fee
  • Mould or setup fee
  • Special packaging
  • Freight
  • Other special charges

Not itemised

  • Internal cost
  • Salary
  • Profit structure

A price is not held at a level the specification cannot support. Where a target price is not achievable at the specification you have, we say so and put the alternatives on the table. Meeting the number by quietly lowering the product is not one of them.

MOQ

A minimum is a production fact, not a negotiating position.

A custom run has a floor, and the floor is set by what the process can be set up to do rather than by how a conversation is going. Here is where it comes from and where it can move.

The principle
Every product has a standard minimum order quantity. It is set per product rather than invented for each enquiry, and limited flexibility around it is possible depending on the process, the customer and the order structure.
Where custom orders usually start
Many custom products commonly start at around 100 pcs. That is the common starting point the factory states — not a published figure for every product, and not a promise that every design begins there. The standard MOQ for your product is confirmed with the quotation.
Below the standard
A quantity below the standard MOQ may raise the unit price. The cost structure is not broken to take an order, which is why a below-minimum quantity is quoted rather than simply accepted.
A small first order
A small first order is not a small project. Whether the order repeats, the annual volume, seasonal demand, multi-SKU potential and scale-up potential are all part of the same conversation, so a first order is quoted on what it is rather than dismissed on its size.
When the first batch has to stay small
Ready-stock items are the route for that. They shorten the lead time, lower the cost of testing a new product, support small-batch purchasing and quick restocking, and can be used to test how a market responds before an exclusive version is developed. Ready Stock.
Several designs on one order
A multi-design order is recorded as one master order number plus a sub-number per design, each carrying its own product type, size, quantity, colours, material, process, edge, backing, packaging and approved artwork — so several SKUs on one purchase order cannot be confused at the packing table.

The MOQ is also part of why a small order and a large order are not the same product at two prices: the charge lines that do not scale with quantity — the sample fee, the mould or setup fee, special packaging and freight — are quoted separately, and a quantity below the standard may raise the unit price.

Getting a quotation

What to send for a usable number.

A quotation is only as specific as the brief behind it. These lines are what it is built from — send the ones you have, and the rest are asked back rather than assumed.

What a brief should carry

  • Artwork or logo file
  • Product type
  • Size
  • Quantity
  • Material
  • Backing
  • Packaging requirement
  • Application or usage
  • Required delivery date
  • Destination country

Destination country belongs in the brief: it decides the shipping method and what the landed cost of the order looks like. For a dated project — an event, a launch, a retail drop — the required in-hand date goes in with the file, because it changes how the order is scheduled.

How the answer comes back

The file does not have to be finished. A vector master, a PDF or a photograph of a sketch all start the same review, and whatever is missing is asked back rather than guessed at: nothing is costed from a file that has not been read.

What comes back is a written quotation with the specification it was built from, the quantity tiers, the charge lines kept apart and its validity date on it. From the design complexity, process, material, quantity, packaging and lead-time requirement you send, the team quotes the option it would recommend — not a menu of everything that could be made.

Where a figure cannot be given yet, we say so rather than folding an estimate into the unit price. That is the same rule in both directions: it is why a quick reply is never an inaccurate rough price, and why a costed answer takes the file it needs.

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Included, and not

What a quotation covers, and what it does not.

Most disagreements about price are really disagreements about scope. This is the scope, written down where it can be checked before an order rather than after one.

Kept apart
The product price, the sample fee, the mould or setup fee, special packaging, freight and any other special charge are itemised on their own lines, and the product price and the logistics cost are explained separately rather than merged into a single figure.
Not itemised
Internal cost, salary and profit structure. A buyer does not need them to compare two quotations on the same specification, and they are not presented as if they were part of the product price.
How long it holds
A quotation is valid for 30 days. Once it has expired, material, labour, quantity, FX, freight and production capacity are re-confirmed rather than carried over silently — so a price reused months later is a price confirmed again, not an old one applied.
Freight
Shipping is quoted as its own line, and the option is agreed with it: express, air, sea, DDP, DAP, your own forwarder or your own courier account. A fixed freight figure is not published here, because freight moves with the destination, the method, the weight and the volume of the shipment.
Duty and tariff
Import duty and tariff belong to the landed cost of the market the goods enter, alongside the product, the sample, the mould, the packaging, the freight, rework, delay and defect. They sit outside the product price, and this page publishes no estimate of them.
Discounts
There is no published discount schedule. There is a standard price system with a floor, and an adjustment can be made within an authorised range; anything beyond that needs approval. A price is not held at a loss to win volume.
What turns it into an order
An agreed price is not an order. A confirmed order needs the final specification, quantity, process, backing, packaging, lead time, price and payment terms, with the agreed payment received.

Two quotations for what looks like the same patch can differ because the two specifications differ: a backing, a colour count, a packing instruction, a quantity band and a delivery term are all part of the comparison. The unit price on the front of a quotation is the least of it.

Questions

What buyers ask about price and MOQ.

Six questions that come up before a first order. Each answer is the rule this page is built on, not a reassurance.

Why is there no price on the product pages?

Because there is no cart, no online payment and no fixed product price on this site by design. A price comes from the specification and the quantity, so the answer is a written quotation that names both — rather than a number that would be wrong for most of the people reading it.

Can I get a rough price from a photo?

A photograph is often where a project starts, and it is enough to open the review. It is not enough to price. Nothing is quoted from a file that has not been read, and a quick reply is never an inaccurate rough price: the first answer says what the design can carry, which process it would be produced in, and what is still missing before it can be costed.

Is there a discount for a larger quantity?

The unit price moves with quantity, which is why a quotation is issued in tiers — 100 / 500 / 1,000 pcs is the usual example, and the actual tiers follow the product. Beyond that there is no published discount schedule: the charge lines that do not scale with quantity, such as the sample fee, the mould or setup fee and special packaging, are shown separately rather than absorbed into the unit price.

Can you work below the standard MOQ?

Limited flexibility is possible depending on the process, the customer and the order structure, and a quantity below the standard MOQ may raise the unit price. Where a first batch has to stay small, ready-stock items are the practical route: they support small-batch purchasing and quick restocking, and can be used to test a market before an exclusive version is developed.

Does the price include shipping and duty?

Freight is quoted as its own line, and the shipping option is agreed with it: express, air, sea, DDP, DAP, your own forwarder or your own courier account. Import duty and tariff sit in the landed cost of the market the goods enter rather than in the product price, and no fixed freight, duty or tax figure is published on this page.

What if my budget is below what the specification costs?

We say so, and then the price is worked on through the things that genuinely change it — quantity, size, process, material, packaging, lead time and shipping — with the alternative specification put beside the original one. What we will not do is meet the number by quietly lowering the material, the process or the quality.

The same questions are answered from the process side on How We Work, and the FAQ collects the wider set — samples, lead time, packing and delivery included.

Keep reading

One question, one page.

Each guide below takes one part of what is summarised above and answers it properly — what to send, what a sample costs, and why the second order is easier to run than the first.

Page last updated

Start here

Send the specification, and the number follows.

Artwork, product, size, quantity, backing, packing and the date you need it reach the same desk in Guangzhou. The answer is a written quotation in quantity tiers — with the lines it is made of visible, not hidden.