I know HN probably isn't representative of the population, but I imagine we skew heavily on the technical side of this and I would echo OP's suggestion. It would be very helpful for many developer and potentially other use cases as others have made a case for.
I found a factory on Alibaba. I started with a list of about 40 factories that seemed legit and might accommodate a small order (MOQ in their terminology). Since it was a custom shape that I wanted, I shared my designs, and after a bit of back and forth, I eventually settled on 4 factories. I paid for a sample from each, and one factory was far superior. I then had to negotiate down from a MOQ of 2000 units to eventually do a first order of 200 units. Once that one sold out, I ordered 400 units, and now I order 1000 units at a time.
Fulfillment is done in house (I live in Toronto), and the warehouse is my basement!
ahh very awesome! i do have one other question at the moment. is it common for the factory to provide individual packaging already for certain size of products or is it more like sending a pallet over and packaging is sourced elsewhere? thanks so much for entertaining this - this thread has been really cool!
As a disclaimer - I don't have a lot of experience manufacturing in China, but I can tell you what I learned from my experience! And from what I can tell it is extremely common, yes.
Our factory works with other factories they know to provide that kind of thing. For our first order they gave us a choice of plain cardboard boxes or white glossy ones. These boxes were clearly custom shaped because they fit the product perfectly. After selling the first 600 units, I then asked them if we could customize the packaging with a design, and they sent us what's called a "dieline" (google it). Our designer did up a nice design on top of the dieline and that's what we're still using.
From memory, I think it was something like 45 cents more per box for the colour printing.
Another example is a little info page that we include. At the beginning I was printing them at a print shop, then opening each box, putting it in, sealing it back up, etc. I eventually asked the factory if they could do that as well, and they did (for a small additional fee)
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I have some spare cycles currently and prefer part-time and/or short-term engagements from architectural review consultations to MVP delivery or anything in-between.
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I have some spare cycles currently and prefer part-time and/or short-term engagements from architectural review consultations to MVP delivery or anything in-between.
