The most common first email we get is a version of this. Send me your catalog and your price list.
Half of that is easy. The catalog exists and we will send it. The price list does not exist, and the reason is not that we are hiding it.
What a price list would have to hold constant
A suitcase does not have a price the way a screw has a price. The unit cost moves with every one of these, and they move independently.
Size. Construction. Shell material and its thickness. Hardware level, meaning the lock, the wheels and the handle. Interior layout. Finish. Quantity. How many colors that quantity is split across.
Change the shell thickness on the same case and the material cost moves. Split the same quantity across four colors instead of one and the component minimums move. Neither of those is visible on a price list, which is why a price list would be wrong for almost everyone who read it.
A factory that does send a price list is quoting products it already tooled and already stocks. That is a real offer, and it is a different business from building your design.
The catalog is a fair request and you should ask for it
A catalog is useful, just not for pricing. It tells you what is already tooled, which is the cheapest thing you can possibly buy, because somebody else already paid for the mold. It tells you the size range a factory actually runs. It shows which constructions are in house.
What it will not tell you is your price, because your program is not the catalog product unless you decide it is.
Seven lines that turn a question into a quote
Send these and a number comes back in days rather than in a chain of twelve emails.
One. Sizes. Outside dimensions per size, not just carry-on and checked.
Two. Construction. Frame case or full aluminum, which are different products with opposite cost curves, set out in aluminum frame case vs full aluminum case.
Three. Shell material and thickness, or a target weight if you would rather we propose one.
Four. Hardware level. Lock type, wheel type, handle stages. This moves the price more than most buyers expect.
Five. Interior. Lining, dividers, pockets, whether it is fixed or removable.
Six. Quantity, split by size and by color. Not a total.
Seven. Destination and terms, since freight and duty are not part of the factory number but are part of yours.
Why the quantity has to be split
This is the line buyers most often skip, and it is the one that changes the answer most.
Our minimum is 300 units per design, and a design is a size in a construction. Three sizes is three designs. Then color splits that again, because custom color components carry their own minimums set by the masterbatch, anodizing and zipper suppliers rather than by us, which is the subject of matching one color across a shell, a zipper, wheels and a lock and of minimum order quantity per design.
So a thousand units in one size and one color, and a thousand units across three sizes and four colors, are not the same order. They are not close.
Existing tooling or new tooling
The other question that has to be answered before a number means anything.
If you take a case that is already tooled and change the color, the logo and the interior, there is no mold cost and the quote is short. If you want your own shape, there is tooling, and how that gets quoted is in how luggage mold costs are quoted and itemized in the tooling list a luggage quote should itemize.
Buyers sometimes assume a custom shape is a small surcharge. It is a separate line with its own timeline, and it is worth deciding early because it changes which of the seven lines above even matter.
What a real quote should come back with
You are entitled to more than a number per unit. A quote worth comparing carries the unit price at a stated quantity, tooling itemized rather than buried, the sample cost and how many rounds it covers, the bulk lead time from sample approval, and a clear list of what is excluded.
If two quotes differ by a lot, the difference is usually in what one of them left out rather than in the factory being cheaper. The lead time side of that is in what luggage lead times actually mean, and the document that prevents most of the ambiguity is described in what a luggage tech pack has to contain.
What we do and what we do not
We send the catalog on request and we will tell you which items in it are already tooled, because that is the cheapest route into production and it is worth knowing before you commission a shape.
Our minimum is 300 units per design, and smaller test batches are negotiable rather than refused. Sampling runs 7 to 15 days per round and bulk is 45 days from a confirmed sample. Tooling and payment terms are set per program rather than from a fixed table.
We do not send a price list, and we do not quote a number before we know the seven lines above, because a number given without them is a number one of us will have to take back later.
Frequently asked questions
Why will no luggage factory give me a price list?
Because unit cost moves with size, construction, shell thickness, hardware level, interior, quantity and how many colors that quantity is split across, and those move independently of each other. A published list would be wrong for nearly every reader. A factory that does publish one is selling products it already tooled and stocks, which is a legitimate business but a different one from building your design.
What is the fastest way to get a real number?
Send sizes with outside dimensions, construction type, shell material and thickness or a weight target, hardware level, interior spec, quantity split by size and color, and your destination with the terms you want. That set is usually enough to quote in days. Anything missing becomes an assumption, and assumptions are what make two quotes look different when the factories are not.
Does asking for a catalog waste time?
No, ask for it. A catalog shows what is already tooled, and an already tooled case carries no mold cost, which is the single largest saving available to a small first order. Just do not expect the catalog to carry your price, because your program is only the catalog product if you choose it to be.
Written by James
James works at aluvox.com in Houjie, Dongguan. The quoting practice described here is drawn from our own inquiry records and our own quoting process.
