MOQ is the number that decides whether wholesale sourcing is worth doing at all. Get it wrong and you either tie up cash in stock that does not sell, or you pay retail-ish prices for a wholesale-sized order. This guide explains what a minimum order quantity actually covers, why suppliers set one, how mixed-batch ordering works, and how to plan a first order you can repeat.
What MOQ means (per model, not per order)
MOQ stands for minimum order quantity. The important part is what it attaches to. Suppliers in Shenzhen usually set the minimum per model — sometimes per colour or per size variant — and not per order. The difference matters more than any other single term in wholesale sourcing.
Take a supplier quoting an MOQ of 20 pieces. If the minimum is per order, you can order one piece of twenty different designs. If it is per model, twenty pieces is the floor for each design you want, and a four-design test order is 80 pieces. The first reading makes a cheap test order possible. The second one makes it impossible. Always ask which one applies before you plan quantities.
Minimums also move with how the product is made. A moulded silicone sleeve has an entry point that reflects the cost of the mould, the material and the finishing step. On this site, most protective cases start at 20 pieces per model, some models start at 10, and the slimmest stylus sleeves start at 50 because they are cut from a different mould with a tighter tolerance. None of those numbers is arbitrary; each one is the point at which the run is worth setting up.
Why suppliers set an MOQ
Buyers often read a minimum as a supplier trying to push volume. It is usually a production constraint instead, and understanding it gives you room to negotiate.
Tooling and setup
Every distinct design needs its tooling mounted, the machine set up, and the first articles checked. That setup cost is the same whether the run is 20 pieces or 20,000, so on a tiny run it dominates the unit price. The minimum is the quantity at which the setup cost stops making the price unreasonable.
Material purchasing
Silicone and TPU are bought by the batch or by the roll. A run smaller than the smallest material increment means the supplier either wastes material or holds it, and both cost money. This is also why a custom colour almost always raises the minimum: the supplier has to buy a whole batch of that colour.
Quality control
Inspecting output properly takes time per piece, and QC on a handful of units is not meaningfully cheaper than QC on a few hundred. A minimum keeps that step worth performing. It is worth knowing that a supplier who will happily ship 3 pieces is usually not performing that step at all.
What is genuinely negotiable
The per-model minimum is often firmer than buyers expect, but three things around it are not: how many models you combine, which shipping mode you choose, and whether you order a sample first. A supplier who will not move on the minimum will often move on the batch composition, which matters more to your cash flow anyway.
How mixed-batch ordering works
A mixed-batch order, sometimes called a mixed-container or mixed-SKU order, is a single shipment that contains several different models. The supplier produces or picks each model in its own run, consolidates everything into one shipment, and invoices it as one order. You pay one freight charge and one payment fee instead of five.
The economics are the reason it exists. If a single-model order carries a fixed freight and processing cost, spreading that cost across four designs cuts the per-piece landed cost for each of them. For a first order, the goal is not to find the cheapest unit price on one model — it is to find out which of four models your customers actually buy, without paying four separate minimums to find out.
What can be mixed
On this site, models and categories can be combined into one batch, so a shipment can contain TWS protective cases, over-ear headphone accessories and stylus sleeves together. That is genuinely useful when you are testing a market across adjacent product lines instead of betting on one. The full range is on the wholesale product catalogue.
What to confirm before mixing
Two things. First, that the minimum still applies per model when you mix — otherwise the mixed order is not really mixed. Second, that the consolidation does not delay dispatch. A busy supplier sometimes holds a shipment until every line is ready, which can add days. Ask whether dispatch runs from the date the last model is ready or the first.
A worked example
Suppose you want to test four TWS product designs and you want a safety margin on freight. Twenty pieces per model is 80 pieces in total. At the lowest reachable unit price on this site, the four models come out as follows:
| Model | MOQ (per model) | Lowest unit price |
|---|---|---|
| 4pro TWS earbud protective case | 20 pcs | $6.00 |
| Scratch-resistant earbud shell | 20 pcs | $6.00 |
| Shock-resistant earbud charging case cover | 20 pcs | $6.00 |
| Pro3 ANC wireless TWS earbuds | 20 pcs | $6.00 |
Prices are read live from the current catalogue and are quoted per piece, not as an order total. Your order total depends on the quantities you choose.
Every one of those lines reaches the minimum, which means the batch ships free by air express to major markets. The order is a single shipment with a single tracking number, dispatched in 3–5 business days, arriving in the usual 14–25 day air express window.
Now compare the alternative: four separate orders of one model each. You pay four freight charges, four payment processing fees and four chances of a customs delay, for the same number of pieces. The mixed batch is not a discount; it is the removal of three duplicated costs.
One more comparison, because it is the one buyers get wrong. If you instead put all 80 pieces into a single model, you get a lower unit price on that model and zero information about the other three. If that model sells, you reorder. If it does not, you own 80 pieces of the wrong thing. The mixed batch costs slightly more per piece and tells you which model to reorder — which is the whole point of a first order.
How to plan a first order
Start from your sell-through, not your budget
Work out how many pieces per week you realistically sell, multiply by the transit time plus your safety stock, and that is your true first quantity. A 90-day cycle at five pieces a week is 65 pieces, not 500. Buying to a budget instead of a sell-through rate is how first orders become dead stock.
Split the batch deliberately
Put the majority of the pieces into the model you are most confident about, and spread the rest thinly across the models you want to test. Two or three designs is usually enough for a first batch; more than five fragments your cash without adding much information.
Fix the unit price side by side
Ask for the price at your first quantity, at three times that quantity, and at ten times. The tiers tell you what a reorder will cost before you are committed to placing one, and they tell you whether the supplier’s pricing is a real curve or an arbitrary discount.
Decide the shipping mode in advance
Free shipping to your address is simpler; shipping to your own freight forwarder in China is cheaper per piece once your volumes are steady. Choose deliberately rather than by default, because the choice is part of the unit price, not an afterthought added at checkout.
Order the sample before the batch
Samples are available on request, and they are the cheapest insurance in the whole process. A sample that fails the fit test costs you one parcel. A batch that fails it costs you the order.
Frequently asked questions
Is the MOQ per model or per order?
Per model on this site. Most protective cases start at 20 pieces per model, some models start at 10, and the slimmest stylus sleeves start at 50. Different models can be combined into one batch.
Can I mix categories in one order?
Yes. Models and categories can be combined, so a single batch can contain earbud cases, headphone accessories and stylus sleeves. It counts towards one minimum order and ships free.
Do you accept a smaller first order?
Samples are available on request for buyers who want to test quality first. For bulk, the per-model minimum applies — but it applies per model, so you can start with one model rather than the whole catalogue.
How long does dispatch take?
3–5 business days after the order is confirmed, then 14–25 days in transit by air express depending on destination customs. Tracking is provided on every order.
What payment methods can I use?
PayPal, Stripe and T/T bank transfer. Samples and first orders are usually paid by PayPal or Stripe for buyer protection.
Can I get a quote before committing?
Yes. Send the models and quantities you are considering and you will get tiered pricing, the MOQ per model and the shipping cost back, usually within one business day.
Next step
Tell us the models you want to test and the quantity you can sell in one cycle. We will come back with the per-model minimum, the tiered unit price and the shipping options so you can size the batch properly.
Get a quote for your first order
Tell us the models you are sourcing and your target market — you will get the MOQ per model, tiered pricing and the shipping cost back, usually within one business day.