MOQ, Tooling and Lead Time 2026: What Actually Sets the Minimum, and Why 300 and 5,000 Are Both True

"What is your MOQ?" is the second question in most first emails, and the answer that comes back is almost always a range. That reads as a supplier keeping their options open. It is not — it is the only truthful answer, and the reason is worth understanding because it tells you exactly which levers you can pull.

Our published range is 300 to 5,000 pieces for most models, and the gap between those two numbers is not negotiating room. It is the difference between two genuinely different manufacturing situations.

THE FOUR THINGS THAT SET AN MOQ

The finish batch. This is the big one and it is the least obvious. A plating or coating line runs a batch, and the batch has a minimum economic size set by the volume of the tanks and the time to change over between finishes. A model available in six finishes does not have one MOQ; it has an MOQ per finish, because each finish is a separate run.

This is why splitting an order across finishes raises the total minimum rather than lowering it. Five hundred pieces in one finish is one batch. Five hundred pieces split a hundred each across five finishes is five batches, each below its own economic minimum. It is also why our packing data shows the same model in two finishes with completely different carton dimensions — they are, operationally, two products.

The tooling. A casting or a stamping needs a die, and the die has a setup cost that is paid per run regardless of how many pieces come off it. For a model already in production, the tooling is amortised and the MOQ can be low. For a new geometry, the tooling has to be cut, and the first run has to be large enough to justify cutting it.

The packaging. Printed cartons, printed inner boxes and printed instruction sheets all have their own print minimums, and those minimums are frequently higher than the hardware minimum. A buyer who wants their own brand on the box may find that the box, not the lock, sets the order size.

The production run itself. Assembly lines are set up for a model and then run. The changeover cost is real, and a run below a certain size spends more time being set up than being run.

WHY 300 AND 5,000 ARE BOTH TRUE

A model that is already tooled, already in a standard finish, and packed in a stock carton sits at the bottom of the range. The factory is doing something it was already going to do, in a size that fits a normal batch.

A model made to a buyer's specification — a finish we do not stock, a custom backset, a printed box, a modified geometry — sits at the top, because every one of the four factors above resets.

Some items already listed on our Alibaba storefront carry a lower published minimum than either, because they are stock items being sold from inventory rather than produced to order. That is a fifth situation, and it is the one to ask about first if the quantity is small.

WHAT A 30-DAY LEAD TIME IS COUNTING

Our production lead time starts at 30 days from order confirmation, and the phrase that does the work there is "from order confirmation".

The clock starts when the specification is closed and the deposit is received — not when the enquiry arrives. Everything before that point is specification, and specification time is entirely under the buyer's control.

Inside the 30 days sit material procurement, casting or stamping, machining, finishing, assembly, inspection and packing. Finishing is usually the longest single block and the one most exposed to a changed mind, because a finish cannot be started until the parts exist and cannot be redone without stripping.

Outside the 30 days sits everything to do with getting the goods to you: booking, inland transport to port, customs, the sailing itself and clearance at the far end. A 30-day production lead time on a 35-day sailing is a 65-day plus arrival, and a buyer planning around 30 days will be disappointed by arithmetic rather than by the factory.

THE THREE DECISIONS THAT MOVE ALL OF THIS

Consolidate finishes. This is the single most effective thing a buyer can do. An order of 2,000 pieces in two finishes is easier and cheaper to produce than 2,000 pieces across six, and it also produces a more consistent result, because everything in a finish batch is finished together.

Close the specification before asking for a date. Every unresolved question — the backset, the spindle length, the handing, the finish code, the packaging — is a day the clock is not running. Our six-values page lists what an order actually needs to be complete.

Separate the sample from the order. A sample confirms that what we understood is what you meant, and it is much cheaper than discovering the gap in a container. Ask for the sample while the specification is still open, not after the deposit.

WHAT TOOLING COSTS, AND WHY WE WILL TELL YOU BEFORE YOU ASK

If a model needs new tooling, that is a separate cost, a separate timeline and a separate decision, and it should be stated as such rather than folded into a unit price.

We have written elsewhere about what it takes to tool a new exit device, and the short version is that tooling is the point at which a buyer and a factory become genuinely committed to each other. A tool is cut for a geometry. It is not transferable, it is not refundable, and the decision to cut it should be made with the numbers visible.

A supplier who quotes a low unit price and does not mention tooling has not saved you money; they have moved a cost to a place where you will meet it later.

WHAT TO SEND US TO GET A REAL NUMBER

The model numbers. The finish for each. The quantity for each model-and-finish combination, not the total. Whether the packaging is ours or yours. Whether anything differs from the catalogue specification.

With those five, the export team can confirm the minimum for that exact line and a date, before you commit to anything. Without them, any MOQ figure is a range, and a range is what an honest supplier gives when the question has not been narrowed yet.