Three prices landed in the same afternoon. I almost picked the low one. The sample arrived thinner than the spec, in a plastic bag, while another quote had included the sleeve I planned to show on Amazon. I had compared numbers. I had not compared products.
Send one page before anyone quotes
Suppliers quote what they assume. If you do not write the assumption down, each of them invents a different product and you call it a price comparison. I send the same page to every factory: material, size, color, parts in the box, and the packaging the shopper will see.
I also ask them to mark anything they changed. Honest factories do this. The ones who quietly substitute a cheaper material are telling you how the production order will go.
Do not bargain while a cell is blank. A blank is not a discount. It is a fact you do not have yet.
Put them in one table, at one quantity
I compare the quantity I will actually order and store. A price that only looks good at ten thousand units is a different project. I also write the shipping term. “At our door” and “on the ship” are not the same cost, and people lose real money pretending they are.
Price at 1,000
- Factory A
- $1.40
- Factory B
- $1.10
- Factory C
- $1.55
Material
- Factory A
- Matches the spec
- Factory B
- Thinner
- Factory C
- Matches the spec
Box the shopper sees
- Factory A
- Sleeve
- Factory B
- Plastic bag
- Factory C
- Sleeve
Mold
- Factory A
- $800, you own it
- Factory B
- Not written
- Factory C
- $700, you own it
Sample time
- Factory A
- 10 days
- Factory B
- 7 days
- Factory C
- 12 days
Safe to compare?
- Factory A
- Yes
- Factory B
- Not yet
- Factory C
- Yes
| Item | Factory A | Factory B | Factory C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price at 1,000 | $1.40 | $1.10 | $1.55 |
| Material | Matches the spec | Thinner | Matches the spec |
| Box the shopper sees | Sleeve | Plastic bag | Sleeve |
| Mold | $800, you own it | Not written | $700, you own it |
| Sample time | 10 days | 7 days | 12 days |
| Safe to compare? | Yes | Not yet | Yes |
Example only. Your numbers will be different.
Fill the holes, then look again
Factory B looked cheapest until I added a proper sleeve, the missing mold note, and freight on the same terms as the others. The low number was a different offer. After the holes were filled, it was the expensive one.
Example only. Your numbers will be different.
When a price is strangely low, I ask what was removed. Thinner material. Fewer checks. A generic bag. A longer wait because you are using leftover capacity. Or a trader who can switch factories after you approve a sample, which means the sample and the bulk may not be the same building.
Keep the spec and the chosen quote in the same folder. If the invoice does not match both, you are in a new negotiation. Smile, and treat it like one. Do not wire a deposit against a memory of the chat.
This is the same path we run in the Amazon Selling System. You approve the product, the factory, and the launch. We do the work.