This page is the procurement detail behind the OEM and private-label overview: the vocabulary a first RFQ has to get right, the eight lines every quotation must itemise, the payment and Incoterm structure, the lead time stage by stage, and exactly what to put in a first brief. The commercial framework — the four routes, MOQ by tier, tooling ownership — stays on the overview.
The words in an RFQ, and what each one commits you to
A first request for quotation usually fails on vocabulary rather than on price: two buyers use the same six phrases to mean four different things, and the quote comes back answering a question nobody asked. These are the phrases that appear in almost every brief in this category, in the order they matter, with the commitment each one carries. They are not a glossary for its own sake — each line is a thing to put in writing before the deposit, because each one is a thing a factory can interpret in its own favour.
- Private label intimate wellness manufacturer
- A plant that builds a device to your brand on a tool it already owns. The phrase commits the factory to your colour, packaging and artwork, and commits you to the certificate pack — the tool stays theirs unless you buy exclusivity separately.
- Medical grade platinum cured silicone
- The material claim worth paying for, because it names both the cure system and the grade. Platinum cure leaves no peroxide by-products, which is the difference that matters on a surface that stays in contact with skin. Ask for the declaration, not the adjective.
- Body safe silicone ISO 10993
- The test family behind the phrase, and the reason it is written as a standard rather than as a promise. ISO 10993 covers biological evaluation in parts; a report that names the part and the extraction conditions is a document, and "body safe" on a carton is a word.
- OEM ODM adult wellness
- The search form of the four words above, and the reason they are confused. In an OEM arrangement you own the design and the plant builds it; in ODM the plant owns the design and you license it. The difference is who can sell your shape to a competitor next quarter.
- CE RoHS REACH compliance
- Three separate obligations that arrive together. CE is the declaration of conformity, RoHS restricts substances in the electronics, REACH covers chemical safety of the materials. One document does not answer the other two, and a folder with all three should name the same sample.
- ISO 13485 ISO 9001 manufacturer
- Two management-system certificates describing how the plant runs, not what it makes. Read the scope line: a certificate naming a site that will not run your order is a certificate about a different building. Useful for deciding whether to visit, useless for deciding whether to sell.
- White label sex toys wholesale
- Buying a finished product with your logo applied at the lowest commitment in the ladder. It is the fastest route to a listing and the weakest defensible position, because the same product is available to every competitor who asks. The price is the price; the only variable is volume.
- IPX7 waterproof rating
- Immersion for thirty minutes at one metre, tested on the unit rather than on the design. It is the rating a device that gets washed needs, and it is the one most often claimed from a sister model. Ask for the per-batch dielectric and immersion record, not the badge.
- Rumbly vs buzzy motor
- The distinction buyers actually feel, and the one a spec sheet never states. A rumbly motor puts energy into low-frequency depth; a buzzy one puts it into surface vibration that numbs. It follows from the motor, the eccentric mass and the housing — which is why it is a sampling question, not a data-sheet question.
- Decibel level at 30 cm
- Noise only means something with a distance and a setting attached. Thirty centimetres is the working distance for a device held in the hand, and the useful figure is the setting a customer will actually use rather than the maximum. Any supplier who quotes a number without either is quoting a brochure.
- Private label wellness products MOQ
- The minimum on an existing tool, which is a different number from the minimum on a new one. On this catalogue it is 100–300 units on a public mould, 300–500 with a colour match, and 1,000 when a tool has to be cut. Ask which of the three the quote is priced against.
Read the eleven together and the pattern is that every phrase splits into two halves: what it promises the buyer, and what it silently excludes. The quote is where the second half gets decided, which is why the sourcing stage treats each of them as a document to request rather than a term to agree on, and why the buyer desk starts from the brief rather than from the price.
The words on an inspection plan, and what each one decides
An inspection plan is where a price becomes an obligation, and it is written in a vocabulary that sounds like a measurement and is frequently only a threshold. Four of these phrases appear on almost every plan in this category, and each one decides something different: what gets counted, how much gets counted, what document proves it, and what counts as a defect in the first place.
- AQL 2.5 level II
- The sampling plan most often quoted, and the number a buyer asks for without knowing what it commits. Level II is the default inspection level: a sample size is drawn from the lot by table, and the lot is accepted or rejected on the defect count inside that sample. AQL 2.5 states the quality level the plan is designed to accept, which means the plan tolerates a defined fraction of major defects by construction — it is a producer’s risk figure, not a promise that nothing is wrong.
- Inspection level III on a first order
- The tightened level a first order can be bought under, and the one most first orders should use: more units inspected per lot for the same acceptance number, so a bad run is caught while it is still a run. The switching rule practitioners describe is level III on the first order and level II once the plant has a clean record, reversed after a failure. Ask for the level in writing — it changes the inspection bill and the plan, and a plan quoted without a level is a plan quoted at the default.
- Certificate of conformance vs certificate of analysis
- Two documents that arrive in the same folder and answer different questions. A certificate of conformance asserts that the goods were produced to a named specification; a certificate of analysis reports measured values for one lot. The first is a statement about a process, the second is data about a batch, and a buyer holding only the first has been told the goods conform without being shown a number.
- Defect classification list before production
- The list that decides whether a scratch is a defect at all. Critical, major and minor are defined against the drawing and the golden sample before the run, so the same mark is cosmetic in one class and a rejection in another. Writing the list before production is what makes an inspection result arguable; without it the result is one person’s opinion recorded on a form.
- Tiered pricing
- The price at each of your quantity bands, quoted as separate numbers rather than as one figure with a note about volume. It is not a discount table: the tiers exist because the fixed setup is spread over a different number of units at each one, which is why a quote that gives a single price “and better at volume” has not answered the question the tier was asking.
Read the plan with the quote in front of you, because the two documents answer each other. A quote with a low minimum, and a plan at the default level with no defect list and no certificate of analysis, is not a cheaper order — it is the same order with the checking removed, and the invoice shows that as a saving right up until the first lot is rejected.
Payment terms, and what a quote has to itemise
30% T/T deposit with the 70% balance before shipment is the ordinary structure in this industry, with an irrevocable letter of credit at sight for larger programmes. What we will not ask for is 100% upfront on a first order, and a supplier who does is telling you something worth hearing: it usually means the order is being financed from your deposit rather than from their balance sheet.
The mirror risk is entirely yours as the buyer. Never pay a balance before an inspection report exists, whichever terms you agree, and never accept a quotation whose only number is a unit price. Eight lines have to be visible, and each one has a question that surfaces it:
| Line a quote must show | Why it matters | The question that exposes it |
|---|---|---|
| Unit price at your volume | A price at 10,000 units is not a price at 500 | "Is this the price at my quantity, or your best price?" |
| Tooling, as its own line | Folded into the unit price it can never be checked or recovered | "What is the tooling, separately, and who owns it after?" |
| Setup fees for colour, print and packaging | These are the charges that appear after the price is agreed | "Which of these are one-off and which repeat on a reorder?" |
| Sample charge and whether it credits | Changes the real cost of the first order | "Does the sample come off the bulk invoice?" |
| Packaging and manual, itemised | The most common place for a hidden margin | "Is the retail carton in this price or is it extra?" |
| Certification and testing | Either included or a surprise at the port | "Which test reports are included and which do I pay for?" |
| Incoterm — EXW, FOB or CIF | Decides who pays the freight and where your risk starts | "Which Incoterm is this price quoted on?" |
| Payment schedule and balance trigger | "Before shipment" and "before inspection" are different terms | "Is the balance due before or after the inspection report?" |
One line deserves its own sentence: the Incoterm. EXW means the goods are yours at the factory gate and you arrange everything after it; FOB means the supplier clears them for export and loads them, and your risk starts when they are on board; CIF means the supplier pays freight and insurance to your port but the risk still passes at loading.
A price quoted without an Incoterm is not comparable to any other price, because the difference between them is often the size of the margin you thought you were negotiating. Which is also why most first-time buyers arrive asking for an FOB CIF comparison when the number they actually need is a landed-cost comparison — freight, duty and the inspection line priced in.
Lead time, stage by stage
Nobody who has run a first order believes a single lead-time number, and they are right not to. The honest version is a sequence with a range on each leg, and the only way to plan a launch date is to add them up backwards from the shelf date rather than forwards from the order date.
| Stage | What happens | Typical duration | What can stretch it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sample | A stock unit, or a custom sample if the tooling already exists | 3–5 business days | A colour match, which needs a Pantone approval round |
| Tooling and first article | Mould cut, first units shot, dimensions verified against your packaging | The variable leg — ask for it in writing with a date | Design changes after the tool exists, which are the expensive kind |
| Bulk production | IQC, in-process checks, final inspection on every unit | 25–35 days after sample approval and deposit | A packaging component arriving late, which stops the line |
| Inspection and booking | Third-party pre-shipment inspection, then a vessel booking | 1–2 weeks | Inspection findings that need rework, and the booking queue in peak season |
| Freight | Sea to Europe or the Americas, then customs and inland delivery | 25–38 days | Port congestion, and a document set that does not match the carton |
The compounding effect is the part that catches people: 57 to 87 days end to end on a stock product, before any tooling, means the December campaign is decided in August. A custom project adds the tooling leg in front of that, so a mould ordered in September is a product on a shelf in February, not in November.
They add up rather than overlap: the total is the sum of the three legs, which is why the page quotes a range instead of a date.
The three planning legs, and the total they add up to
25 + 7 + 25 = 57 at the fast end and 35 + 14 + 38 = 87 at the slow end.
How to send a brief
Six items, and none of them requires a finished design. Target market and channel. First-order quantity and intended annual volume. What you want changed, if anything. Target landed cost or retail price. Packaging and artwork status. Any compliance documents you already hold.
| What to send | Why we need it | If you do not have it yet |
|---|---|---|
| Target market and channel | It decides the certification set, the packaging language and the label | Give us the two most likely markets and we will quote both |
| Quantity for the first order and the intended annual volume | The first number picks the route; the second picks the price tier | A range is enough — we will tell you where the break points are |
| What you want to change | It separates a private-label run from a mould investment | Nothing needs changing is a valid answer, and the cheapest one |
| Target landed cost or retail price | It tells us whether the product is realistic before anyone spends time on it | Optional, but it shortens the conversation considerably |
| Packaging and artwork status | Artwork that exists shortens the schedule by weeks | We will quote packaging as a separate line so you can see the cost |
| Any existing compliance documents | It stops us re-testing what has already been tested | Say so, and we will price the testing in |
Send it through the enquiry form on the for-brands page and it reaches the partnerships desk, which replies with a written scope rather than a sales call. If you already know which SKU you are interested in, the catalogue specification table states its minimum, lead time, material and certification set, so the first reply can be about your market rather than about what the product is. What happens to the six answers afterwards is not a separate policy: they are treated exactly like any other message, which is why the retention window and the list of processors are on the privacy page rather than in a paragraph here.
Back to the OEM overview, or on to quality control and compliance.