There is no blanket minimum order quantity. The minimum is set per project, once we know the metal, the method and the stones. This page explains how that number is arrived at, so you can work out roughly where you stand before you email us.
Most factory websites either dodge this question or answer it with a number that turns out not to apply to whatever you actually want made. Both waste your time. Here is how it really works.
Why there is no single MOQ
A minimum order quantity is not a rule a factory invents to be difficult. It is the point at which a job stops losing money.
Every new design carries one-off costs that do not change with quantity. The wax model. The mould. The first sample and the changes you make to it. Setting up the bench for that piece. Those costs are the same whether you order twenty or two thousand, so they land on each piece more heavily the fewer you make.
Against that sits the material. On a gold piece, the metal is most of what you are paying for, so the setup is a small share of the total and a short run still prices sensibly. On a silver piece, the material costs very little, so the setup dominates and a short run prices badly.
That is the whole of it. Which is why a real answer depends on what you are making.
What moves the number
Metal
Gold and platinum can start small. The material carries the cost, so the setup is proportionally minor. If you are making a small run of gold pieces to test a market, that is a normal request and we can usually help.
925 sterling silver wants more volume. Same setup, much cheaper material, so the unit price on a short run looks bad and neither of us is happy with it.
Titanium and surgical steel sit closer to silver in this respect, with the added factor that they are harder to work, so the labour per piece is higher.
Recycled gold is available, but the price per gram is above the standard bullion rate and it carries its own minimum. If your brand story depends on recycled metal, raise it in the first email rather than late in the quoting, because it changes both numbers.
Production method
Casting needs a mould. That is the one-off cost that usually decides your first quantity. Once it exists, repeat orders are cheaper and can be smaller.
Stamping has a higher setup than casting and a lower unit cost, so it wants real volume to make sense. Above a certain quantity it is clearly the right choice.
Handmade has almost no setup and a high cost per piece, which flips the usual logic. Small runs of handmade work are perfectly reasonable. Large runs are expensive.
Electroforming carries its own minimum because of how the process runs. Ask before designing a whole collection around it.
Laser cutting is flexible on quantity and often the cheapest way to do fine repeated detail.
Stones
Stones affect the minimum in a way people rarely expect. Buying one good sapphire is easy. Buying two hundred that match each other for colour and tone is a different job, and it is the matching, not the buying, that sets the floor.
Common stones in common sizes are flexible. Unusual cuts, unusual sizes and specific colour matching push the minimum up, because we have to buy a parcel and select from it. Diamonds, natural or lab grown, are generally easier to specify tightly and therefore easier to run in smaller numbers.
We source our own stones through the Bangkok trade and we are a member of the Thai Gem and Jewelry Association, which is why we can tell you at quoting stage whether your stone specification is going to be a problem, rather than discovering it during production.
Repeat orders
Second and later orders of the same design are almost always easier. The mould exists, the sample is approved, the bench knows the piece. If your first run was uncomfortable on quantity, the next one usually is not.
How we quote
You get a written price per piece, at the quantities you asked about, itemised so you can see what is driving it. Metal weight, labour, stones, finish and plating are separate lines, because if the number is too high, one of those five is the reason and you may be able to change it.
A few practical points about quotes:
- Metal prices move daily. A quote holds for a stated period and the period is written on it. This is not a sales tactic. Gold moved and so did the price.
- Ask for two or three quantities at once. Seeing 50, 200 and 500 side by side tells you more than any explanation of MOQ can.
- Sampling is quoted separately. A sample costs what it costs to make one piece properly, and it is money well spent.
- Plating is per piece. Rhodium costs more than gold plating. On a large silver run it is a real line item, not a rounding error.
What a first project usually looks like
The brands that get a good result tend to do the same things.
They start with fewer designs than they want to. Four pieces made properly beat twelve made thinly, and the mould costs alone will tell you why.
They take the sample stage seriously. Changes to a sample are cheap. Changes once a run has started are expensive and slow, and sometimes they are not possible at all.
They tell us the real deadline early. If you need stock for a fair or a season, say so at the first email. Lead times are typically six to ten weeks from first contact to delivery, of which three to five weeks is production. Most of the rest is decision time, and that is the part you control.
And they ask about quantity before falling in love with a design, not after.
Payment and terms
New clients work on a deposit and balance arrangement, with the balance settled before shipping. Established clients often move to different terms once there is a history. We are a manufacturer, not a finance company, so we would rather agree something straightforward at the start than renegotiate it under time pressure later.
We ship worldwide and can use your courier account if you have one.
Ask us for a real number
Send the design, or a photograph of something close to it, the metal you have in mind, the stones if you know them, and the quantity you were hoping for. You will get back a price and an honest answer about whether that quantity works, including the case where the honest answer is that you should wait until you can order more.
Email [email protected] or call +66 91 760 0505. The office is on Sukhumvit 71 in Bangkok, open Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm and Saturday 9am to 1pm.