You choose cotton cushion covers at Canton Fair and plan a first order of 600. Your shop wants mostly navy, with fewer charcoal covers and a small cream selection. The salesperson accepts the total, then sends a quote with equal quantities of each colour. You can afford that batch. You do not want that assortment. Before negotiating another unit-price discount, find out which combinations the factory will make and compare them with the stock you intended to buy.
The covers, quantities and buying choices below are fictional illustrations, not customer transactions or standard factory minimums. This article is general information, not production, legal, accounting, tax or investment advice. The supplier must confirm its actual constraints and any exception. A workable assortment does not establish demand or guarantee delivery.
Get the minimum for each production choice
Send the supplier your proposed quantities by model, colour and size. Include the material, print and packaging you want. A quotation for “600 cushion covers” leaves room for two people to imagine different purchases.
The factory may apply a minimum to the whole model, to each colour or to a fabric purchase shared across several products. Your buyer needs the supplier's explanation of which constraint applies and which variants can share it. Ask whether the quoted quantity also has a cutting, packing or dispatch multiple. Record “not yet confirmed” where the salesperson has no answer; guessing a favourable rule can make your proposed mix impossible to supply.
Discuss the print and retail pack as separate production choices. A plain stock cover and one carrying your brand may have different commercial terms. The printer may quote its own minimum, even after the sewing factory accepts a smaller batch. Your team needs the complete proposal before deciding whether the total fits the budget.
Compare your intended mix with the feasible mix
For the fictional covers, suppose the supplier confirms a minimum of 200 per colour and quantities in multiples of 20. Your buyer planned the following assortment. The last column shows one way to meet those stated constraints; it is not the only allocation the factory could accept.
| Colour | Buyer's proposed quantity | Proposal meeting the stated colour minimum and multiple |
|---|---|---|
| Navy | 360 | 360 |
| Charcoal | 180 | 200 |
| Cream | 60 | 200 |
| Total | 600 | 760 |
Keeping the desired navy quantity and all three colours would add 160 covers. Finance should price those extra units, their freight and storage, while the buyer considers how long it could take to sell them. Calling the additional cream stock “part of the MOQ” gives you no evidence that customers want it.
An equal split of 200 in each colour meets the stated constraints at 600 units, but reduces navy below your plan. A two-colour proposal of 360 navy and 240 charcoal also reaches 600 under those assumptions. You would give up cream and take more charcoal. Purchasing should choose that trade-off, rather than let the salesperson substitute a mix after you pay.
If you have no credible reason to hold the excess, reduce the range or reconsider the purchase. A lower price per cover can accompany a larger cash commitment. The landed-budget guide helps compare complete purchases, including freight and destination charges.
Negotiate the constraint that prevents the purchase
Tell the supplier which part of its proposal you cannot accept. For these covers, the cream minimum causes most of the unwanted stock. You could ask whether it has suitable stock fabric, whether it can accept a priced exception, or whether a plain stock variant provides another option. Each is a question for this factory, not an entitlement to a lower minimum.
A stock-fabric proposal needs a new specification review. Your buyer should see the material and available colours, with confirmed quantities and condition. Taking a different cream fabric to retain the original quantity may change the product you intended to sell. Do not approve that substitution through a payment instruction.
Ask the salesperson to price feasible alternatives with the same scope. Keep setup charges visible and identify any change in lead time. The listing-price and quotation guide covers the price comparison; here you are deciding which quantity and mix deserves a quotation in the first place.
Keep a printing minimum out of the goods count
Suppose the cover supplier offers the 760-unit mix, but the proposed retail-box printer quotes a run of 1,000. That would leave 240 boxes beyond the goods quantity if the arrangement produces those exact counts without waste or additional allocations. It does not require your business to order 1,000 covers.
Purchasing can compare the proposed printed run with another pack the product and destination reviewers accept. Discuss who pays for the print setup, who owns and holds any unused boxes, and whether the factory may use them later. A charge for printing does not settle title to stock or give you permission to omit required product information.
Ask the supplier to distinguish goods units, packaging units and any setup service on the quotation. Otherwise finance may see one minimum and miss another paid commitment. Storage or future-use assumptions belong in the agreement, with their costs and limitations stated.
Approve the assortment before creating the payment obligation
Keep one supplier-confirmed allocation with the chosen material and pack revision. Identify the minimums and multiples the seller has accepted, any priced exception and the quantities you declined. Give finance the resulting goods total and separate charges, rather than an earlier quote for an assortment you no longer want.
Article 14 of the CISG text addresses the definiteness of a proposal, including the goods, quantity and price. It does not prescribe a factory MOQ or decide whether your particular exchange created a contract. Have counsel assess applicability and any existing commitments before treating a revised mix as an agreed change.
Once you accept the smaller or revised mix, use the lower-MOQ order guide to check that the supplier-issued payable order reflects it. If you already committed to another assortment, seek an agreed amendment; an internal stock preference does not cancel the seller's obligations or yours.
Use pay an invoice to ask A2vanta about the approved supplier payment before funding. Your buyer chooses the assortment and the factory accepts the production scope. Payment handling does not negotiate variant minimums or make unwanted stock easier to sell.