How to read a Dehua quotation without overpaying

Almost every quotation that arrives from a workshop on this street arrives the same way: one number, one delivery date, one line that says "including mould". It looks tidy. It is also impossible to compare with the next workshop, and impossible to argue with later.

Ask for four lines, not one number

A quotation you can actually use separates:

• One-time tooling — modelling, master model printing, plaster working moulds.
• Per piece — body, glaze, firing.
• Surface work — laser engraving, decal, gilding, sanding.
• Freight and packing — sample freight, bulk packing, tax or export paperwork.

Most workshops quote one bundled figure. The minimum you should insist on is one-time tooling separated from per-piece cost. That single split tells you what a second order will cost before you have placed the first one, and it tells you whether the quote is front-loaded or back-loaded.

The four extras that reappear

Once you have the four lines, watch for these four items showing up as separate charges later:

1. Body only. Glaze and firing invoiced separately from the piece. If you do not ask, you will not know until the invoice.
2. Plaster mould wear. Each working mould has a finite cycle count. Re-moulding is a new charge — cheaper than a new master model, but not free. Ask for the cycle count in writing.
3. Revisions. Free rounds are usually limited. The limit, and the price of an extra round, belong in the quote rather than in a message three weeks later.
4. Packing upgrades. Inner tray, printed box, label — priced per unit and easy to leave out when you are comparing two quotes that look identical.

Three things to put in writing

Before you compare numbers, get these three sentences from every workshop:

• How long the price holds. A quote without a validity date is an opinion.
• Which processes are inside the number. Firing, glazing, trimming, polishing.
• Which are extra. Tooling, engraving, packing, testing, freight.

A number without that sentence is not a quotation. It is a starting position.

The reason this matters more in Dehua than in a larger industrial cluster is structural: the workshops here are small, specialised and honest about their own process — but they quote the way they have always quoted, to buyers who already know the local conventions. You are not one of those buyers yet. Asking for the split is not a negotiating trick; it is the only way to compare two workshops that are both telling you the truth.