Questions buyers actually ask

Nine product families: silicone labels and patches, silicone keypads, charms and keyrings, character sleeves, silicone figures, silicone IP characters, soft PVC IP figures, silicone seals and gaskets, and waterproof accessories. All of them are compression-moulded or LSR-injected in our own plant in Dongguan.

MOQ starts at 100 pcs for most silicone items, because the tooling is cut in-house and our presses are sized for short runs. Standard production pricing usually starts to make sense from 500 pcs. PVC figures are quoted per model — a single-character run of 200 pcs is normal.

Yes for simple parts, with a caveat. A photo plus dimensions gives us enough to quote and to model a first draft. For anything with a fitted interface — a seal, a keypad, a sleeve that wraps a specific housing — we need either a 3D file or a physical sample, because a photo cannot tell us the tolerance.

Yes, and the choice matters. Silicone is flexible, heat-resistant to roughly 200 °C, odourless, and suitable for skin contact and food-adjacent use. Soft PVC is cheaper per piece, holds sharper fine detail, takes paint well, and is the standard material for figure and blind-box toy production. We will tell you which one your design is actually suited to before quoting.

No. Rigid ABS, PS, and PP injection is a different process with different tooling and different machines. If your project needs a hard plastic shell plus a silicone gasket, we can make the silicone half and tell you honestly that the other half needs a different supplier.

We mix to Pantone references and send a physical colour chip for approval before production. Expect a small delta on translucent, metallic, and glow-in-the-dark compounds, because pigment behaviour in silicone differs from ink on paper. Matte, gloss, and velvet-touch surface finishes are all available.

Practical range is roughly 5 mm to 300 mm in the longest dimension. Below 5 mm, detail collapses and demoulding gets unreliable. Above 300 mm, tooling cost and warpage risk climb sharply, and a different process is usually the better answer.

Four components: (1) one-time tooling, (2) material by weight plus colour mixing, (3) moulding time per cycle divided by cavities, (4) trimming, inspection, and packing labour. On small orders the tooling dominates; at 5,000 pcs and above the unit price is mostly material and cycle time.

For a simple single-sided silicone label or keypad, tooling typically runs a few hundred US dollars. Multi-cavity production moulds and PVC figure moulds with slides or multiple parts cost more, and are quoted per model. Tooling is a one-time cost — repeat orders pay only for production.

You do, once tooling is paid. We hold it in our plant and will not run it for anyone else. If you want to move production later, we will release the tool to you or to your new supplier. This is written into the quotation, not agreed verbally.

Yes. Sample fees are credited back against the first bulk order, provided the order meets the quantity stated in the quote. Courier cost is usually paid by the buyer and is separate from the sample fee.

We can give a band, not a number. Tell us the product family, the approximate size, the quantity, and the target market, and we will reply with a realistic range and the two or three variables that would move it. A firm quote needs a drawing, a sample, or a reference photo with dimensions.

Yes, but not linearly. The steepest drop is between the sample quantity and the first production run, because tooling and setup get amortised. After roughly 5,000 pcs the curve flattens — further savings come from multi-cavity tooling, not from asking for another discount.

Three to seven days for most silicone items once artwork or the 3D file is approved. PVC figures take longer — typically 10 to 15 days for a first shot — because the mould is more complex and the part usually needs painting.

Usually 15 to 20 days after sample approval for silicone parts, and 20 to 30 days for PVC figures depending on paint and assembly steps. These are working days, counted from approval, not from the inquiry date.

For a simple silicone label or charm order with approved artwork, sample in 3 days and production in 12 is achievable if material is in stock. We will only commit to that in writing if the schedule is real. An optimistic date that slips costs you more than an honest one.

Yes, and please tell us the launch date in the first message rather than the third. The binding constraint is usually not moulding but painting, packing, or sea freight schedule. Knowing the date lets us choose the shipping mode before we quote instead of after.

We do not publish factory-level management-system certificates, because we would rather describe what we actually do than display a badge. Our inspection process is documented and available on request: incoming material check, first-article approval, in-process patrol, post-cure verification, final inspection, and packing check. Each stage has a record you can audit during a factory visit.

We arrange third-party testing per order through SGS, Intertek, or BV, and the report is issued in your company name for your shipment. We do not hold blanket certificates that we hand out to every buyer, because a report is only valid for the specific material, colour, and batch actually tested.

Yes — 200 °C for about 2 hours as standard for parts that will be handled or used near the body. Post-curing drives off residual volatiles and reduces the vinegar-like odour that uncured silicone can carry. It is a process step, not a certificate, and we list it separately from any compliance claim.

Typical tolerance is ±0.1 mm on moulded silicone features, and ±0.02 to 0.05 mm on LSR parts where the tooling supports it. For fitted parts we ask for your critical dimensions up front and build the tool around those, rather than moulding to a nominal and hoping.

If the product is intended for children under 12 in the US, it needs a Children's Product Certificate, and the CPC must be issued by the importer — not by us as the factory. We can supply the underlying test reports that a CPC is based on, but we cannot issue the certificate. CE marking documentation works differently and cannot substitute for a CPC.

Yes. Factory visits are welcome by appointment, and third-party audits (BV, SGS, TÜV, or your own QC team) can be scheduled. We will send the plant address and a contact who will meet your inspector at the gate.

Yes, and we prefer to sign it before you send artwork. Send your NDA or ask for ours. The order matters: a supplier who wants to "see the design first so we can quote" has the sequence backwards.

Both. OEM means you bring the design and we mould, finish, and pack it to your spec. ODM means you bring a concept or a reference and we handle modelling, tooling, and sampling. Most first-time buyers start with ODM and move to OEM once they have their own files.

STEP, IGES, and STL for 3D; AI or PDF for 2D artwork; plus reference photos with dimensions. If you only have a sketch, send the sketch — we will tell you what is missing.

30% deposit / 70% before shipment (T/T) for new customers. Repeat customers and established accounts can discuss different terms. Tooling is typically paid in full before mould cutting begins.

FOB Shenzhen as standard. EXW and CIF are available on request. Express courier (DHL / FedEx) is used for samples; sea and air freight for production, arranged either by your forwarder or ours.

Currently 50+ countries — mainly North America, the EU, the UK, Australia, Japan, and the Gulf. If your country is not on that list it is usually a logistics question, not a refusal; ask and we will check.

Within within 1 business day (GMT+8). Inquiries that arrive with a drawing, a quantity, and a target date get a firmer answer on the first reply than ones that ask "how much for silicone keychain".

Because in this case the trading company owns the factory. Same group, same plant, same tooling. The Shenzhen entity exists to handle contracts, invoices, and English-language project management; the Dongguan plant does the moulding. You are not paying a middleman who forwards your file to a stranger.

It depends on which approval failed, and we will say so plainly. If the parts match the sample you approved, the specification was wrong and we will quote a rework. If they do not match the approved sample, that is our defect and we remake them at our cost. The first-article approval step exists precisely so this argument does not happen after shipment.

No, if it is someone else's protected design. We will tell you what we can do: match the material and finish, and work from a design that is yours. We work with rights holders and licensees regularly, and we do not run other people's tooling.

Say so and we will tell you the real trade-off. Usually the answer is: we can run 100 pcs, but the per-unit cost will reflect that tooling is spread over 100 pieces instead of 5,000. We would rather quote the expensive truth than refuse and lose the relationship.

Only with written permission. No customer designs, moulds, or finished parts appear in our portfolio, social media, or trade-show material without an explicit yes. This is one of the commitments on the IP protection page.