Custom lapel pins no minimum: Exclusive Guide [2019]

1. Why do pin manufacturers require 100-piece orders as the minimum order quantity?

They just can’t avoid these basic costs.

Basic Cost #1. The Cost of Pin Molds. (AKA the killer of small quantity orders).

Regardless if you order 1 customized pin or 1,000 customized pins, the pin factory needs to spend money to create a mold.

The mold fee would cost anywhere from 50$ ~ 500$. Depending on the quantity of the order and the details of the mold itself, that number can always increase or decrease. 

In essence, manufacturers want to encourage customers to order more pins to cover the cost of the mold. Unfortunately, the cost of the mold simply can’t be avoided.

Basic Cost #2. Design Fee.

Though some pin suppliers claim that they offer free design services for you, it may not come without the cost for the supplier. They will often be required to hire an graphic designer to ensure that your design is production-ready.

And this does require a good deal of work; everything from finding a suitable Pantone color, to turning the jpg file into an ai file, or even transforming your doodle or drawing into a good graphic for production will cost money.

And again, this simply cannot be avoided.

Basic Cost #3. Shipping Cost

As most of the pin suppliers import from overseas or invest in factories overseas, this type of infrastructure costs money.

Although, the freight fee for 1 pin or 100 pins is roughly the same. And depending on if the package is shipped by express companies, such as DHL, FEDEX, UPS, they often charge freight fees by Kilogram, with the minimum weight being 1/2 kilogram.

So, regardless of your package is just 10 grams, [ 1 pin ] or 500 grams, [100 pins], manufacturers will always be charged on 1/2 kilogram.

The cost amounts to 20$ ~ 40$.

Basic Cost #4. Material & Human Resources

Yes, more quantity means more materials and time needed to produce the lapel pins.

The estimated cost lies anywhere between 10$ ~ 100$ for 1 ~ 100 pins.

The truth is:

If you order 1 custom pins, the cost for the factory would be over 100$.

This is precisely why most of the pin suppliers cannot or do not offer custom lapel pins at a without a small or no minimum criteria.

In fact, most suppliers in the market require an order of at least 100 pieces. If you order 100 pcs, you would see a price of about 200$, which still only makes a small profit for the pin supplier.

This is why only a few suppliers can fulfill custom lapel pins with no minimums or in small quantities.

However, the total cost is still well over 150$.

For smaller quantities, the cost will always be higher for the customer, to help offset some of the costs for the manufacturer. And with big orders, this trend is reversed.

You also can test in  online ordering system,

You’ll see that the price for 30 or 100 custom pins does not differ tremendously. 

In fact, companies who accept no minimum orders do not make money from small quantity orders.

Sometimes, they can even lose money if your design is complicated. But then again, why do they accept small quantity orders?

Lifetime Values!

While they may lose money on your small orders, they do so under the assumption that you’ll become a repeat buyer.

So if you ask me, should I work with those companies who offer small order services?

Well, sure why not?  

I think that the best companies are the ones who are looking for long-term business, not short-term profits.

2. How Can I find the right pin company who can make my custom pins without requiring a minimum order quantity?

Simple:

Just Google custom lapel pins no minimum, and you will instantly receive a list of companies who can produce pins in small quantities.

But how do you know which one is the right one?

Who can produce quality pins at a fair price?

Who can deliver my product on time?

By following 5 simple tips, we will help you figure out the right pin supplier for your order.

Tip 1: Find a company that has real third-party reviews.

It is hard to trust a company in general, but especially so if you’ve never worked with them before. But you can always trust the real third-party reviews that you’ll find on the Internet.

Why a third-party review? Because the pin company can’t change, edit, or alter the review themselves; every review is a real review.

From the real review, you can find out:

Whether or not this company offers a fair price, whether the pin quality is good, and whether they care about customers in the way that they should.

Conclusion: If you find a company that has good third-party review, that would a good sign to trust that company.

Tip 2. The company has an online ordering system.

What is a custom pin online ordering system?  

An online ordering system is just like a DIY system. With the system, you can order your custom lapel pin in just a few minutes, without even having to wait for an official price quote from a sales representative. It is simply upload and purchase type of platform.

Why an online order system?

It will save you tons of time.

If you’re only ordering a small quantity, why spend hour’s worth of time to communicate, bargain, send documents, and sign contracts?

With a few clicks, you can upload your design, pay, and then finish your order quickly. Wouldn’t that be much more convenient? 

Conclusion: Online ordering systems save your time, and time is money. So, to save both time and money, the pin manufacturer who use online system can be your priority choice.

Tip 3: Pin Companies that do not require a mold fee.

We know that mold fees are one of the most important basic costs for manufacturers.

And one that they just can’t avoid.

So, how come some of these companies do not charge you a mold fee or a setup fee?  

They just add it to the unit price, as they find a way to negate the mold fee completely.

Conclusion: If you work with a pin supplier who doesn’t require a mold fee, you will save at least 50$ cost for small quantity order. 

Tip 4:  Work with the company who does not require a design fee.

Designing a pin is simple, especially if you have your graphic designer.

And if it seems too difficult for you to do on your own, you have to find a freelancer or an outside company to help you.

The cost to design a pin would be around 50$ at least, especially if you search for a freelancer on upwork.com, or 99design.com

And need hours of work to search right freelancer.

Conclusion: If you do not have a graphic designer, work with the Pin company with free graphic design service will save you time and money.

Tip 5. Work with the pin company who guarantees their delivery.

You don’t want to miss your event because your custom pins didn’t ship on time.

So, choose a pin company with a fast delivery time. 

And a pin company who offers a guaranteed delivery time would be an even better choice.

Why?

While you can order your pins 1 week or 2 weeks earlier to avoid delay, a delay would still most likely occur. As there are dozens of processes to designing and manufacturing custom lapel pins, any mistake that happens in the process will cause a delay.

But if your supplier gives you a guarantee, you’ll never have to worry about missing your delivery.

Any comment or question for custom lapel pin with small order quantity? Please comment below.

If you want to custom make your own pins, you can try our DIY system now.