How to buy electronics wholesale from China: MOQ negotiation, pricing structures, payment terms, and the traps that cost buyers thousands.
The short version: wholesale pricing from China is not a fixed number. It is a negotiation, and most first-time buyers leave 15–25% on the table because they don't understand how the pricing structure works. This guide explains the mechanics so you can negotiate from an informed position.
If you're still earlier in the process — deciding how to find suppliers in the first place — read our complete electronics sourcing guide before continuing here.
How wholesale pricing actually works
Chinese manufacturers almost never quote a single price. They quote a price schedule tied to quantity, and the relationship between price and volume is not linear. Understanding this structure is the first step to getting a competitive number.
A typical quote for, say, a 1,000-unit order of Bluetooth speakers at $8.00 EXW per unit will also include: $7.20 at 3,000 units, $6.60 at 5,000 units, and $6.10 at 10,000 units. The jumps between tiers are not proportional. The move from 1,000 to 3,000 units saves $0.80 per unit. The move from 3,000 to 5,000 saves $0.60. From 5,000 to 10,000, only $0.50. The steepest saving is always at the bottom of the schedule — which is where most buyers are operating.
This structure reflects the factory's fixed-cost amortization logic. Setup costs — tooling, firmware flashing jig, test fixture, BOM procurement — are spread across the order quantity. At 500 units, setup cost might represent $0.80 per unit. At 5,000 units, it's $0.08. The factory's per-unit margin at 500 units is either low (if they quote competitively) or high (if they see a small buyer who doesn't know better).
EXW vs. FOB vs. DDP: what each actually includes
The price point means nothing without knowing the trade term it's quoted under. These are not interchangeable.
EXW (Ex Works) means the price covers the goods at the factory gate. The buyer pays all freight, export clearance, and customs from that point forward. EXW is the most useful basis for comparing quotes from multiple factories because it strips out logistics variability. Always ask for EXW pricing when getting competing quotes.
FOB (Free on Board) means the factory pays to get goods onto the ship at the named port (almost always Shenzhen or Shanghai). The buyer pays ocean or air freight from port to destination, plus import duties and customs clearance. FOB is the most common trade term for direct wholesale relationships. It's a reasonable default if you have a freight forwarder and understand import logistics.
DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) means the seller covers everything — factory to your door, including import duties. DDP sounds convenient but it almost always costs more than arranging your own logistics, and it obscures the actual product cost from the shipping cost. Avoid DDP for anything above a sample order.
When a factory sends you a quote without specifying the trade term, ask explicitly. "What does this price include?" A quote that doesn't specify is almost always EXW, but confirm before making any comparisons.
MOQ: what it actually means and how to negotiate it
Minimum Order Quantity is the supplier's floor for accepting an order. It is not a hard technical constraint in most cases — it is a business constraint. The factory needs the order to be worth their time given setup costs and production scheduling.
Typical MOQ ranges for consumer electronics:
- Standard catalog products (commodity Bluetooth speakers, USB hubs, power banks): 100–300 units
- Products requiring minor customization (your logo, custom packaging): 500–1,000 units
- Products requiring tooling or significant engineering (custom enclosure, PCB changes): 1,000–5,000 units
- Full ODM with proprietary design: 3,000–10,000 units
For first-time buyers, the MOQ often feels like a wall. Three practical ways to negotiate it down:
Offer a higher unit price on the first order. If the factory's MOQ is 1,000 units at $8.00, offer 500 units at $9.50. You're paying more per unit, but your total cash outlay drops from $8,000 to $4,750. The factory gets a similar total margin contribution. This works best with factories that are not running at full capacity and want to build the relationship. Frame it explicitly: "We want to start with 500 units to validate the product in our market, then reorder at full MOQ if the first batch sells."
Commit to volume in writing. A purchase order for 500 units now with a written commitment to reorder 2,000 units within 90 days gives the factory something to plan against. Put the commitment in the contract with reasonable conditions (e.g., subject to first batch passing QC). This reduces the factory's perceived risk of the small order.
Start with a paid sample run. Order 20–50 units at close to unit cost (not the nominal sample price, which is often arbitrarily high). This lets you validate the product and establishes a real commercial relationship before the first production order. Factories are much more willing to accommodate you on MOQ when they've already built product for you and you've paid promptly.
One thing that does not work: asking for a lower MOQ without offering anything in return. Every buyer asks. The factories that agree without any concession are usually slower-moving inventory that nobody else is buying — which is worth asking yourself why.
Price tiers and the curve that surprises buyers
When you get a multi-tier quote, don't just look at the price at your target quantity. Understand the shape of the curve.
Here's the thing most buyers miss: the price curve is not always monotonically decreasing in a way that makes financial sense to chase. If you're targeting 1,000 units and the price at 1,500 units is only $0.30/unit lower, the extra $3,000–4,500 in cash tied up in inventory is probably not worth freeing up $300–$450 in unit cost savings.
Do the math on total cost, not unit price. A 500-unit order at $9.00 EXW costs $4,500 in goods. A 1,000-unit order at $8.00 costs $8,000. If your first run is about validation and you're uncertain about demand, the lower unit cost at 1,000 units might cost you $3,500 in unsold stock if the product doesn't move.
The one scenario where chasing a higher price tier makes sense: when you have strong demand confidence and the saving per unit is large enough to materially improve your landed margin. For a product selling at $29.99 on Amazon with a $6.00 landed cost target, dropping from $9.00 to $7.00 EXW at higher volume is significant. Dropping from $8.00 to $7.80 is not.
Payment terms in wholesale
The standard payment structure for direct wholesale from China is T/T (telegraphic transfer): 30% deposit before production, 70% balance payment before shipment (or sometimes against bill of lading). This is what you should expect and plan for.
For a detailed breakdown of all China payment options — including escrow, trade assurance, and what to use at different order sizes — see our China payment terms guide.
The 30/70 split is not arbitrary. The 30% deposit covers the factory's component procurement cost — they're not going to buy $8,000 of components on your behalf with no money down. The 70% is held until the goods are ready to ship, which gives you some leverage if there are quality problems. Once the goods are on the water, your negotiating position becomes significantly weaker.
On Letters of Credit (L/C): L/C is technically the most buyer-protective payment method, but it is rarely worth the overhead for orders below $50,000. Bank fees run $500–$1,500 per transaction, the documentation requirements are strict, and most small and mid-size Chinese factories dislike L/C because bank review delays their cash flow. You'll often find factories quote slightly higher prices for L/C orders to compensate for the financing cost.
For new relationships: if you're placing your first order with a factory you haven't worked with before, consider using Alibaba Trade Assurance (for Alibaba-listed suppliers) or a third-party escrow service. Trade Assurance isn't a guarantee of product quality, but it does give you a dispute mechanism. Once you've completed two or three successful orders with a factory, standard T/T is fine.
For established relationships: some buyers negotiate payment terms to 50/50 or even 40/60 after a track record is established. This is worth asking for on the second or third order if cash flow is a constraint.
The hidden costs in wholesale pricing
The EXW unit price is the most visible number in a wholesale quote. It is rarely the most important number when you calculate landed cost.
Tooling and mold costs. If your product requires a custom enclosure or any injection-molded parts, tooling costs are typically $1,500–$8,000 for a simple mold, $8,000–$30,000 for complex multi-cavity molds. These are usually one-time costs, but the factory will expect payment upfront or as part of the first order. On a 500-unit run, a $3,000 mold cost adds $6.00 per unit to your actual cost — that's often more than the visible discount between price tiers.
Packaging design and print setup. Custom retail packaging — branded boxes, inserts, multilingual compliance text — involves a design fee ($200–$800 if done by the factory) and a print plate setup fee ($150–$400). These amortize over volume but hit disproportionately on small first orders.
Certification costs. FCC certification for a Bluetooth product costs $2,000–$5,000 in lab testing fees. CE costs vary by product but $1,500–$4,000 is typical for a consumer electronics device. If the product isn't already certified (or if you need your own certification rather than using the factory's), add these to your total cost calculation. Certification is often missing from wholesale quotes because factories don't always ask whether you need it.
Freight. Air freight from Shenzhen to Los Angeles runs approximately $6–$9/kg for commercial shipments. A 1,000-unit order of Bluetooth speakers at 500g/unit is 500kg — roughly $3,000–$4,500 in air freight alone. Ocean freight for the same shipment (half a CBM) is $150–$350, but takes 25–35 days. Know your landed cost target before committing to a unit price.
Import duties. US tariffs on Chinese electronics vary by HTS code. Many consumer electronics fall under 301 tariffs adding 7.5%–25% of FOB value. Calculate duties on the FOB value (not EXW), since US Customs uses FOB as the basis for duty calculation.
Add all of these up before comparing your EXW quote to the price of sourcing locally or from a different market. The product that looks 40% cheaper EXW from China might be 15% cheaper landed — which may still be compelling, but changes the decision calculus.
Red flags in wholesale quotes
Suspiciously low prices. If a factory's quote is 30%+ below every other supplier you've queried, it's a red flag, not a win. Chinese electronics manufacturing has transparent cost structures — components, labor, overhead, margin. A factory that quotes dramatically below market is either planning component substitutions, has inflated the sample quality relative to production, or is hoping you'll discover the real cost after the deposit clears.
Vague specifications in the quote. A legitimate factory quote should reference your product spec sheet, include specific component callouts for key parts (radio module model, battery capacity, chip platform), and note the applicable certifications. A quote that says "Bluetooth speaker as per sample" with no technical detail is not a contract — it's an opening position that gives the factory wide latitude on what they actually build.
Unwillingness to sign a formal purchase order. Some factories prefer to work on a proforma invoice only, with no PO specifying technical requirements. This is a commercial risk. A signed PO with explicit technical specifications, QC standards, and delivery terms is your main contractual protection. Walk away from factories that won't sign one.
Unresponsiveness on compliance questions. Ask directly: "Do you have FCC/CE test reports for this product? Can I see the actual grant documents?" A factory that deflects, says "yes we have CE" without producing documentation, or says "the certificate is at our partner company" is either using shared certifications (which may not cover your specific configuration) or misrepresenting their compliance status. This is your problem as the importer if it comes out at customs.
Getting multiple quotes and comparing them
The only way to know whether a quote is competitive is to have at least three of them, all on the same technical basis.
Send the same RFQ to three to five factories. Include a specific product spec sheet, your target quantity, your trade term preference (ask for EXW), required certifications, target packaging requirements, and delivery timeline. Standardizing the RFQ is the only way to get quotes you can meaningfully compare.
When the quotes come back, convert everything to EXW if it isn't already. Strip out freight, duties, and any service fees the factory is bundling in. Compare: unit cost at your target quantity, tooling/mold costs if applicable, lead time, minimum payment requirements, and whether they can provide test reports for your target markets.
Don't automatically go with the lowest EXW quote. A factory quoting $7.80 with 8-week lead time, no tooling fee, and FCC test reports in hand is often better value than $7.20 with a $2,000 tooling cost, 12-week lead time, and "we can arrange FCC later." Model the total landed cost.
When direct wholesale makes sense — and when it doesn't
Direct wholesale from Chinese factories is cost-effective when the order size and relationship maturity justify the overhead of managing it yourself. Below a certain threshold, the time cost and risk of direct sourcing exceeds what you'd pay a sourcing agent.
The approximate threshold: if your order value is below $10,000, direct sourcing is usually not the right model. Here's why. Finding qualified factories, vetting them, negotiating the PO, arranging a pre-shipment inspection, managing freight, and resolving any quality disputes takes 20–40 hours of your time on a first-order basis. At $10,000 order value, a sourcing agent's 6–8% fee ($600–$800) represents significantly less than the opportunity cost of doing all of that yourself — and the agent brings relationships and expertise you'd take months to build.
Above $10,000, the math starts to change. At $30,000–$50,000, you're still paying a sourcing agent $1,800–$4,000, which is meaningful. If you have a clear spec, an audited factory, and a track record of successful orders, direct wholesale at that size makes sense. At $100,000+, direct wholesale with your own QC arrangements is almost always preferable.
For first orders in any size range, the risk premium of going direct without a trusted factory relationship tends to outweigh the agent fee savings. The time to build direct relationships is on your third or fourth reorder, not your first.
Our supplier sourcing service covers factory identification, vetting, and negotiation — including getting comparable quotes and making an apples-to-apples recommendation. If you're at the stage where you're comparing $10,000–$50,000 orders and don't have established factory relationships, it's worth a conversation before committing to a supplier. For a real-world example of how direct wholesale with the right factory compares to buying through an intermediary, see how a Japanese distributor cut 18% in costs by sourcing LoRa gateways directly instead of through Hong Kong middlemen. The same principle applies to consumer electronics: an EU startup sourcing 5,000 Bluetooth speakers achieved an 18% margin improvement over their prior agent by establishing a direct factory relationship with proper audit and inspection in place.
Summary checklist
Before placing a wholesale order from a Chinese electronics factory:
- Get EXW quotes from at least three factories, using the same spec sheet
- Calculate total landed cost including tooling, packaging, certification, freight, and duties — not just EXW unit price
- Verify the trade term on every quote before comparing prices
- Confirm the factory can provide actual test reports (FCC, CE, RoHS) for your target markets — not just a "yes" answer
- Plan for 30% T/T deposit before production and 70% before shipment
- Get a signed purchase order specifying technical requirements, not just a proforma invoice
- Run a pre-shipment inspection before releasing the balance payment, especially on first orders
- If your order is below $10,000, calculate whether direct sourcing is actually cheaper than working with a sourcing agent
If you have a specific product in mind and want a second opinion on whether a quote you've received is competitive, send us the details. We can usually tell within a day whether the pricing and terms are in the right range.
