Pricing
Three ways to work together. All of them published.
The thing buyers worry about isn't the price — it's whether more money appears later. So: everything below is the full cost, and anything not listed is never added to your invoice.
Most common
Product sourcing
5–8%
Commission on the order value. Minimum $150 per order. Best if you know what you want and just need a verified factory.
Custom products
Product development
$300–800
Fixed project fee for sampling and development, then 3–5% on the production order. Best if the product doesn't exist yet, or needs tooling.
Lowest barrier
Hourly consulting
$50–80/hr
One-hour minimum. No commitment beyond the hour. Best for a quick second opinion on a quote, a factory, or a sample.
What the fee covers
Commission on sourcing covers
- Supplier search and shortlisting
- Factory verification visit
- Quote collection, normalisation and comparison
- MOQ and price negotiation
- Sample ordering and quality feedback
- Production follow-up and photo updates
- Pre-shipment inspection report
- Consolidation and freight quotation
Never charged on top
- Mark-up on your goods — I'm paid a percentage, not a margin
- "Account management fee"
- Supplier relationship fees
- Inspection fees to a third party (unless you request one)
- Tooling marked up — passed through at actual cost
- Travel, unless you've asked me to attend an exhibition
Costs that exist, but aren't my fee
These are real costs you'll pay regardless of who sources for you. I itemise them in every quote so you can compare honestly:
- Duties and import VAT — depends on HS code and destination country
- International freight — sea, air or express
- Certification and testing — CE, FCC, FDA, RoHS; fixed cost per product type
- Tooling and moulds — you own these, invoices attached
- Packaging and design changes — itemised separately from unit price
Payment
How and when you pay me
- Sourcing commission — 50% when the order is placed with the factory, 50% before the balance payment is released
- Development project fee — 100% before sampling starts, so the work is committed from both sides
- Hourly consulting — paid in advance for each block of hours
I don't hold your money. Payments to the factory go directly from you to the factory, and you'll see every invoice.
A note on cheap agents
If someone quotes under 5%, ask why
In my experience, an agent charging well below the market rate is recovering it somewhere — usually a supplier margin, a "verification" fee, or a commission on factory selection that isn't disclosed. It's not automatically a scam, but you should know where the money goes before you start.
I'd rather be slightly more expensive and fully transparent than cheap and ambiguous.