One of the top searches that helps people find our site is "enamel pins, no minimum".
We offer a 50pc minimum order quantity and can go lower if you are willing to pay for it. However, you'll want to know that 10 pins will cost you the same as 50.
Artists and creatives are the biggest consumer of 50pc orders at our company. After all who wants an order of pins that you can't sell ? We get that. Sometimes you just want a handful of pins to test an idea before you sell it online.
We also suspect that creatives choose small quantity orders because they don't trust the supplier on the first order.
When you work with us as opposed to a China-direct supplier, you can look to our Google ratings and quickly determine that we can be trusted. You can also look on Facebook and see our ratings.
With our customers the vast majority who order 50pc, will re-order 100pc on the second order.
We are small business owners just like you. So it actually pains us to see so many of you spending so much and getting so few pins for your money.
Once you understand the pricing structure of lapel pins, you may want to reconsider ordering less than 100pc
Every pin manufacturer and supplier has different pricing models. There are a few charges you are going to pay whether you see the charge or not, on your invoice.
We'll give you $25 off any 100pc order. Just mention this blog post when you inquire.
All factories charge suppliers a "less than minimum fee" for orders less than 100pc. In our pricing, it accounts for $1.00 a pin on top of your other setup fees. So as you can see, you are paying $2.00 more just to order fewer pins.
Fabricating the steel mold and trimming die takes anywhere from 5-20 hours for most enamel pin orders. This is before they have stamped, trimmed, electroplated and painted your pins.
The other thing you need to know is that most factories will keep your "tooling" (mold and die) for two years. Most factories recycle your mold and recoup their costs that way because making tooling for 50pc orders is a money losing venture. Storing so many molds also becomes quite a chore for most factories. Our factory processes around 1000 orders a month for hundreds of companies just like us.