Working Out Cosmetics OEM MOQ: From 50 kg to 2,000 Units

Kilos count bulk. Units count finished pieces.

The 17 categories split into two pricing bases, and the split is not arbitrary. Counted in kg: body care, hair care, hand care, baby care, oral care and home care. The emulsifying tanks are charged by weight, so the floor sits on the bulk; packing is a downstream step and changing a bottle or carton does not move the minimum batch.

Counted in units: fragrance, men’s fragrance and the whole pet line. Bottle and closure are already inside the quote, so the figure you get is finished pieces.

The two cannot be compared side by side. Ask "what is your MOQ" and the first question back is which basis your product falls on — 50 kg and 2,000 units are not the same order of magnitude.

Three bands: which one your category lands in

Find the category first, then read the number. The ones marked "quoted per formula and pack" are not hiding a figure: within those categories the formulas and packs vary too widely for one number to be honest.

Hair mask at 200 kg is the only band below 500 kg inside one category. The full 18-category table is on MOQ & sampling.

What 2,000 units is in kilos: and why there is no fixed factor

The conversion is one multiplication: pieces × net fill per piece × density = bulk weight. You have the first two. You do not have the third — density follows the formula: water-based sits near 1, oil and powder phases push it away, and fragrance moves with concentrate level.

So we do not quote you a fixed factor. Tell us 30 ml at 15% concentrate and we work it out on the spot from your bottle and fill. Ask the reverse — "how many pieces is 50 kg" — and the answer still starts with the fill volume.

This is not evasion. The industry shorthand of "1 kg is about 4 bottles of fragrance" collapses the moment the formula changes. Budget on it and the gap that shows up is in your cash.

30 ml and 50 ml are two SKUs — the floor is per SKU

Confirmed in writing by the plant on 2026-10-28: the two fills are two separate SKUs, and MOQ plus tiered pricing must be quoted on separate lines. They are not added together.

The budget consequence is direct: launching both fills at once doubles the entry floor. Launch one, add the other once sell-through justifies it, and the entry cost halves.

The same applies to price tiers. The bands on a price list are a function of quantity per SKU, not of total order volume — quote two fills together and you will be given two low-band prices anyway.

What sampling costs in time and money

Sampling is the one stage where the commitment is complete and in writing: rounds, lead time and who pays shipping.

Free does not mean unlimited. Three rounds is the ceiling and round four is charged per project — saying so at the start beats raising it at round five.

The clock starts the day the formula and bottle are confirmed, not the day you send the enquiry. Until those are settled there is no start point, and the same logic runs through the schedule: sampling, production, QC and shipping carry no fixed day counts until the slot is confirmed.

The floor will not come down, but it can be split

The floor is set by equipment, not by negotiation. Five emulsifying tanks on site, the smallest a 100 L vacuum tank — the 50 kg band sits at that order of magnitude. Below it there is no smaller tank that discharges reliably, which is why 50 kg is not a threshold you can argue past.

The floor can be split, though. Three moves, in order of how fast they pay:

If all three have been tried and the volume still falls short, we cannot take the order — and we say so in the first email rather than after three meetings. The criteria are on what we turn down.

1. Split the SKU. Run 30 ml first, add 50 ml once sell-through supports it — start at the floor for one SKU instead of two.
2. Use a stock bottle. Picking from it avoids tooling, which is exactly the upfront cost a new mould adds. Pumps and cartons are quoted separately.
3. Change the format. For the same moisturising brief, a cream and a serum do not share a floor. Send the direction and we answer band by category.

Six items that get you an answer on day 0

Quoting means costing the formula, the pack and the line slot — the slowest step in the process. Send these six together and the route decision comes back on day 0: can it be made, what the floor is, how sampling is scheduled.

1. Category and format — wet or dry process; cream, lotion, liquid or spray.
2. Net fill per piece — 30 ml or 50 ml, or by weight.
3. Target quantity — kg or units, per SKU.
4. Bottle source — yours, or picked from the stock library.
5. Target market — which country or region, which sets the documents and the registrant.
6. Launch date — which decides whether the production window fits.