Most first enquiries we receive are written as if the supplier were a shop: send me your price list. There is no price list, and that is not us being difficult. A phone holder does not have a price until someone decides how many pieces, in what colour, with what logo method, in what packaging, and with which magnet and plate in the box. Every one of those decisions moves the number.
What wholesale means when the supplier is a factory
When you buy wholesale from a factory you are not buying a shelf of finished goods. You are buying production capacity for the next three to five weeks, and the price is assembled from a bill of materials, labour, tooling amortisation, packaging and freight. Three consequences follow from that, and they are the reason factory buying feels different from buying stock.
- Your order is produced, not picked. Nothing moves until you approve a sample. That is slower than buying stock and it is the only way to get your own colour, logo and packaging.
- The cheapest unit price is not at the smallest quantity. Tooling and setup are fixed costs. At 50 pieces they weigh heavily on the unit price; at 5,000 they almost disappear.
- Changes have a deadline. Colour, logo artwork and packaging must be frozen before production starts. Asking for a change after the moulding run has begun costs real money, on both sides.
Six questions that separate a factory from a trader
You do not need a factory visit to work this out. Six questions usually settle it, and none of them are rude.
| Question | What a factory says | What a trader has to work around |
|---|---|---|
| Who makes the mould? | We do — in our own tool shop. Here is the cavity count. | A partner factory does. They will forward the question. |
| Can you change the material? | Yes: aluminium, PC or PU, and here is how the price and weight move. | Maybe, once they have asked the factory. |
| Can you print our logo? | Yes: laser engraving, silk-screen or UV. We send a mock-up before production. | Yes, through the same factory. |
| What happens if units are faulty? | Inspection data, photos of the batch, replacement on the next shipment. | It depends on what the factory accepts. |
| Can we visit or video call the line? | Yes — a walkthrough of the plant, moulding, assembly and packing. | Usually a showroom, not a line. |
| Which layers of magnets are used? | A specific grade with a measured pull figure. | The grade from the specification sheet. |
A trader is not automatically a bad choice. If you need twenty different accessories from twenty categories in one container, a good trader is worth the margin, because you are buying their logistics and their range. The mistake is paying a trader's margin and thinking you are paying a factory price.
How a wholesale unit price is actually built
Tooling
If your design is new, someone has to cut a mould, and that is a one-time cost that belongs to you rather than to the unit. Ask for the cavity count and for the expected mould life, because those two numbers decide how the tooling cost amortises across your order. If your design happens to match a model already on tooling, there is no tooling cost at all — which is exactly why most first orders start from an existing model.
Material and magnet
Aluminium grade, surface finish, magnet grade and magnet volume all move the price. They also move the product. A holder that has to survive a thick phone case in a hot car needs more magnet than one sold to people who use bare phones, and the difference is measurable rather than a matter of opinion.
Packaging
Retail packaging is frequently the second-largest line in the quotation after the product itself. Poly bag, blister card, printed box and marketplace-ready packing all behave differently in cost and in transit. Ask what the packaging does to the freight volume as well, because a compact box measured in cubic metres can cost less overall than a cheaper box that ships a lot of air.
Freight
We quote FOB Shenzhen, which means your forwarder takes over from the port. Ask your forwarder for a landed cost per unit before you decide the order quantity — the answer sometimes changes which quantity is actually the cheapest to sell.
MOQ 50, and why that number exists
Our minimum is 50 pieces per model, and it includes custom logo, colour, material and packaging. That is low for this industry, and it is low on purpose: the tooling for our 21 production-ready models is already paid for, so your first order does not have to carry a mould. When a supplier asks for 3,000 pieces on a first order, it is usually because a new mould has to be cut — which is a different situation, not a worse one.
Pay for the sample, and look at what comes back
Samples are charged, and the sample cost and the freight are quoted separately from the production order. Treat the sample as the cheapest part of the project. When it arrives, check the things that do not appear in a specification sheet: whether the ring rotates smoothly through the full turn, whether the magnet grips through your own phone case rather than through a bare phone, whether the logo edges are clean, and whether the colour matches the Pantone you approved. A problem found in the sample costs one sample. The same problem found in the container costs the container.
Lead times, in real numbers
| Stage | Time | What has to be true first |
|---|---|---|
| Sample | 7-10 working days | Drawing or reference confirmed |
| Mass production | 7-12 days | Sample approved in writing |
| Packing and final inspection | 3-5 days | Production finished |
| Total from approval to FOB | 10-17 days | No artwork changes after approval |
The two things that break these numbers are late artwork approval and a change requested after production has started. Both are avoidable and neither is unusual.
What to put in your first enquiry
One email with five lines gets you a usable quotation. Anything less and the reply has to be a question.
- The model you are looking at, or a reference photo if you are still choosing.
- Target quantity, even as a range.
- Colour, and your logo artwork if you have it.
- Packaging: poly bag, box, blister, or your own design.
- Destination country and port, so the freight line in the quotation is real.
Questions we are asked before a first wholesale order
What is the minimum order for wholesale phone holders?
50 pieces per model, including custom logo, colour, material and packaging. All 21 of our production-ready models start there.
Do you have a price list?
No, and no factory in this category has one that would mean anything. Quantity, material, logo method, packaging and magnet specification each move the unit price, so we quote per project — usually within one working day.
Can we order under our own brand?
Yes. Custom logo goes on by laser engraving, silk-screen or UV printing, and you get a mock-up to approve before production. Your design stays yours: we sign an NDA for customer designs.
Are you a factory or a trading company?
A factory. Mould making, injection moulding, assembly and packing all run in our own 3,500 m² plant in Dongguan, and we hold five granted patents (CNIPA) on the rotating, folding and pressure-relief mechanisms used in our holders. We do not hold CE, RoHS or SGS certificates by default and we will not claim them; if your market requires certification we will tell you honestly whether we can arrange it.
How to start
Send the five lines above. You will get unit price, sample date and freight estimate in one reply, and if a technical question needs checking on the line we will say so rather than guess. If you are still comparing designs, order a sample of one ring holder and one car mount together — holding both answers more questions than a catalogue page does.
Need a price for your own model?
Send us your drawing or a reference photo. You will get unit price, sampling time and shipping cost within one working day.
Models mentioned in this guide