Sisto BuyWhat a minimum order in Yiwu really is
Every first-time buyer asks the same question, and almost every answer online is a guess. So we measured it against our own catalogue: 4,013 products in 27 Yiwu stores, each with the packing the supplier actually gave us.
The short answer is that the minimum is not a policy number. It is a carton. Everything else follows from that.
The minimum is a carton, not a number
A stall does not keep loose stock. The goods sit in a warehouse in sealed export cartons, and the smallest thing anyone can hand over is one of them unopened. When a supplier says the minimum is 50, what that almost always means is that the carton holds 50.
That is exactly what the catalogue shows. Not one of the 4,013 products has a minimum below a full carton, and 3,277 of them — 82% — have a minimum of precisely one carton.
So the useful question is never "what is the MOQ". It is "how many pieces are in the carton", and the answer varies enormously between products.
- Smallest carton
- 1 piece — large items like an electric bicycle ship one to a carton.
- The small quarter
- A quarter of products come 6 pieces to a carton or fewer.
- Typical carton
- 24 pieces. Half the catalogue is above this, half below.
- The large quarter
- A quarter come 60 pieces to a carton or more.
- Largest carton
- 5,000 pieces — small, light items such as clips and accessories.
What one carton actually costs
A carton of 50 pieces sounds like a lot until you price it. Most of what this market sells is cheap per piece, so the minimum order is usually a small amount of money, not a large one.
Across the catalogue, the cheapest product you can open an order with is ¥8.50 — a single item that ships one to a carton. Half of everything listed starts at under ¥608, and 2,956 products — 74% — start at under ¥1,000. Prices are in Chinese yuan because that is the currency the market quotes in; the site converts to yours on the page.
- Cheapest full carton
- ¥8.50, for an item that ships one to a carton.
- 148 products
- open at under ¥200.
- 1,462 products
- open at under ¥500.
- Median minimum order
- ¥608.
- The expensive quarter
- above ¥1,050 — and one electric vehicle line runs into the hundreds of thousands.
When the minimum is more than one carton
736 products in the catalogue — 18% — do ask for more than one carton, and the reasons are worth knowing, because they tell you whether the number is movable.
A factory that makes to order, rather than a trading company selling from stock, sets its minimum by a production run: several of our scale suppliers quote in fives, so a 40-piece carton becomes a 200-piece minimum. Vehicles are set by the container — an electric motorcycle ships one to a carton, and a supplier that only loads full containers will name a figure like 100. Custom print or your own box is always a separate, higher minimum, whatever the stock minimum is.
Stock held in a warehouse is the flexible case. Made to order, or loaded by the container, is not.
How to get under a minimum that is too big
- What actually works
- Mix products. Ten suppliers' cartons leave as one shipment, so you are not forced to take a large quantity of any single item to make a shipment worth sending.
- Ask for your quantity rather than accept the listed one. A trading company selling from stock can often break its own rule; a factory quoting a production run cannot.
- Choose products with small cartons. A quarter of the catalogue packs six pieces or fewer.
- Buy the plain version. Custom colour, print or box always carries its own, much higher minimum.
- What does not work
- Asking for a split carton. The carton is sealed at the factory and nobody at the stall will open it.
- Expecting the piece price to hold at a smaller quantity. Below the minimum you are buying a sample, at a sample's price.
- Ordering one carton and shipping it on its own. The freight will usually cost more than the goods.
- Treating a factory's minimum as an opening bid. On a made-to-order item it is a real production constraint.
The minimum that really binds is the shipment, not the product
Once you have found products whose cartons you can live with, the constraint moves. Freight has a floor: one carton shipped alone carries the same handling, documents and minimum charge as twenty, so a single-carton import is the most expensive way to buy anything.
A typical carton here is 0.09 CBM, which means roughly eleven of them make a cubic metre. That is the number worth planning around — not the MOQ of any one product. Eleven cartons from eight different stalls is a perfectly normal first order, and at a median of ¥608 a carton it is a few thousand yuan of goods.
That is also why the cartons are consolidated at our own warehouse in Yiwu: the fixed costs are paid once for the whole shipment instead of once per supplier.
Common questions
What is a typical minimum order quantity in Yiwu?
One carton, and a typical carton holds 24 pieces. Measured across our 4,013 listed products, a quarter come in cartons of 6 or fewer and a quarter in cartons of 60 or more, so the honest answer depends entirely on the product rather than on any market-wide rule.
Can I buy just one piece?
As a sample, sometimes — a stall will occasionally sell a single piece, at a price that has nothing to do with the wholesale price. As a wholesale purchase, no. The goods are stored in sealed export cartons and the carton is the smallest unit anyone will hand over.
Is the minimum order negotiable?
It depends who you are talking to. A trading company selling from stock in a Yiwu warehouse can often go lower than its listed figure. A factory quoting a production run cannot, because its number comes from the run itself. Asking costs nothing — post the quantity you actually want and let the agents answer.
Why is the minimum sometimes several cartons?
Three reasons cover almost all of the 736 such products in our catalogue: the item is made to order rather than held in stock, it is large enough that the supplier only loads full containers, or you have asked for custom print or packaging.
Can I mix different products to reach a minimum?
You cannot mix pieces inside one supplier's carton, but you can absolutely mix cartons from different suppliers inside one shipment. That is the normal way to build a first order, and it is what our Yiwu warehouse is for.
Does buying the minimum mean paying a higher price per piece?
Usually a little, yes. Stalls quote in bands rather than on a smooth curve, so the price drops at certain quantities. The catalogue price shown here is the price at the listed minimum, so there is no surprise — and if you want a larger quantity priced, ask for a quote and the agents will come back with the band you fall into.
Tell us your quantity and let the market answer
Post what you want and how many, and buying agents in Futian will come back with the real minimum and the price at your quantity. Free to post, and you are never obliged to accept a quote.