Source handcrafted, to your brief.

MOQ is the smallest quantity a supplier will produce for one order. Handicraft makers set one because each design carries setup work — moulds, dye lots, print screens, artisan scheduling and export paperwork. A supplier's general MOQ does not establish the minimum for your exact specification: material, number of designs, colourways and packaging all move it. Ask for a dated quotation against your own specification and quantity per design.

Check the legal entity and its registration, control of the website and email domain, a physical production address, evidence the workshop can make your product, and at least one trade reference you can contact. Validate any certificate number with its issuer. Then approve a production-representative sample before ordering. GreenFlip labels every record with what has and has not been checked; none is marked verified until that evidence is on file.

Both models are common and both can work. Manufacturers and artisan cooperatives run the workshop and control quality directly; export houses aggregate several artisan clusters and handle documentation and freight. Ask directly who makes the goods and where, and request photos or a video walkthrough of the production site. The answer changes who you hold responsible for quality.

Handicraft wholesale pricing is almost always quote-based, because it depends on quantity, material grade, customisation, finish, packaging and the delivery term. A price is only comparable with another when both cover the same specification, quantity, packaging, payment schedule and named Incoterm. GreenFlip publishes a supplier's figures only once they are verified; otherwise they come from the supplier in writing against your brief.

Agree what the sample must prove — dimensions, colour, finish, packaging — before it is made, and approve a production-representative sample, not a showroom piece. Sample fees and courier costs are usually charged; whether they are credited against the bulk order is a term to confirm in writing. Record the approved sample as the reference for inspection.

Ex-works, FOB and CIF prices for the same order are different numbers, so name the term and destination in your request. Decide who books main freight, who clears customs at each end, and the packing specification; handicraft cartons are often charged by volume rather than weight. Small or urgent orders may justify air freight; larger orders usually move by sea, as a full container or consolidated.

Work backward from your required arrival date: transport and customs clearance, then production, then sampling and any testing, then your own approvals. Each figure must come from the supplier and forwarder for your specification and lane, not from a general rule. If the window is too short for new production, stocked or lightly customised products may be the realistic option.

Start from the requirement rather than the map: the material, technique, price point, quantity and evidence you need. Heritage clusters matter where provenance is part of the product — zellige from Fes, Kente from Ghana's Ashanti region, Dhokra from central India. Where it is not, several origins may meet the brief and the decision turns on cost, lead time, documentation and capacity.

Some are; a claim is only as good as its evidence. Ask for the certificate or membership number and check it with the issuing body (WFTO, Fairtrade, BSCI/amfori, SEDEX), and ask how artisans are paid and on what schedule. GreenFlip's sourcing standards page explains what we record and what we have not been able to confirm.

The initial assessment of a sourcing brief is free. Development and execution work — specification, comparable quotations, sampling, order and inspection coordination — is paid, at a fee and fee basis agreed in writing for each brief before work starts. Buyers contract with and pay suppliers directly, and any supplier-paid commission is disclosed.