A Care & Maintenance quote is not one number. It is five lines stacked on top of each other: material, stone, labour, plating and overhead. The reason two factories quote USD 38 and USD 62 for what looks like the same Care & Maintenance is that one of the five lines is missing, or quietly thinner.
The five lines inside a Care & Maintenance quote
Ask the factory to split the Care & Maintenance quote. Line one is material: 925 silver, 10K or 14K gold, by weight. Line two is stone: moissanite, lab-grown diamond or coloured stone, by carat and grade. Line three is labour: casting, setting, polishing, finishing.
Line four is plating: rhodium or palladium flash, by micron. Line five is overhead: CAD, mould, QC, packaging. When a Care & Maintenance quote comes back as one number, you cannot negotiate any single line, and you cannot compare two factories honestly.
Material on a Care & Maintenance quote moves with the silver and gold price. Ask the factory to quote material as a rate plus weight, not a fixed piece price, so a metal move does not become a hidden margin cut for them or a surprise for you.
The MOQ price ladder for Care & Maintenance
A realistic ladder on Care & Maintenance. At 50 pieces per design, you pay the entry piece price. At 100 pieces, roughly 4 percent off. At 300 pieces, 8 to 14 percent off, because the mould and plating batch is amortised. At 500 pieces and above, the move flattens.
The step between 50 and 300 is where most Care & Maintenance buyers lose margin. They order 50 to test, then reorder 50 again instead of jumping to 300, and pay the entry price twice.
Stone on a Care & Maintenance quote is where the largest hidden substitution happens. A sample shows an eye-clean stone; bulk ships with inclusions. Specify the colour grade, clarity grade and carat, and require a pre-bulk stone photo.
Margin math for the Care & Maintenance buyer
Work backwards from retail. If your channel prices Care & Maintenance at a target retail of USD X, wholesale piece price is roughly X divided by 2.4. Build the five lines inside that number.
If the factory's five lines add to more than X divided by 2.4, do not accept a thinner plating or a softer stone to close it. Reduce the design complexity or move the target retail on that one Care & Maintenance piece.
Labour on a Care & Maintenance quote is design-specific. A prong-set simple band costs less labour than a pavé halo. When a factory quotes the same labour for both, one of the designs is being cross-subsidised.
Red flags in Care & Maintenance pricing
Four red flags. First, a quote that drops the plating line. Second, a stone line with no grade (colour, clarity, cut) for the Care & Maintenance. Third, a mould or CAD fee invoiced again on a reorder of the same design. Fourth, a deposit asked before the five lines are in writing.
A low Care & Maintenance piece price that wins the first order usually loses the second, when the piece arrives and the plating is thin or the stone grade is not what the sample showed.
Plating on a Care & Maintenance quote should be a line, not a footnote. Ask for the micron count. A factory that refuses to write 0.20 micron on the quote is usually running 0.03 micron and hoping you do not notice.
Payment terms and the Care & Maintenance risk
30 percent deposit, 70 percent against copy documents, is standard on a first Care & Maintenance order. The deposit funds the stone purchase and the mould; the balance is paid when final inspection photos match the approved first article.
After two clean Care & Maintenance orders, the balance can move against delivery photos, then to an LC. Never pay 100 percent upfront on a new factory, and never release the balance before the inspection photos.
Overhead on a Care & Maintenance quote covers CAD, mould, QC and packing. The CAD and mould are one-time per design; if they appear on a reorder line, the factory is charging you twice for the same bench.
Scaling price from 50 to 500 Care & Maintenance pieces
The piece price on Care & Maintenance steps down from 50 to 300, then flattens. The bigger margin lever at 500 is not the piece price; it is mixing designs. One mould per design, one plating batch per metal, one QC pass across designs.
Buyers who reorder 50 at a time forever pay the entry price and never see the 300-step. Plan the Care & Maintenance range to clear 300 per design before committing to a second season.
Picture two quotes for the same Care & Maintenance design: one at USD 38, one at USD 52. The USD 38 line has no plating thickness, no stone grade, and CAD charged again on reorder. The USD 52 line lists material, stone, labour, plating and overhead, and the mould is one-time. The landed cost after six months usually favours the higher quote, because the cheaper line loses three pieces per lot to tarnish and substitution.
Your Care & Maintenance checklist
- Ask the factory to split the Care & Maintenance quote into five lines in writing.
- Compare landed piece price at the MOQ you will actually order.
- Work back from target retail: wholesale is retail divided by 2.4.
- Negotiate plating thickness and stone grade, not the headline number.
- Treat the mould fee as one-time per Care & Maintenance design.
- Keep 30 percent deposit, balance against inspection photos.
- Never release 100 percent before final inspection on a new factory.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does the same Care & Maintenance look cheaper elsewhere?
A Care & Maintenance quote has five lines: material, stone, labour, plating and overhead. A low quote on Care & Maintenance usually drops one of them, most often plating thickness or stone grade. Compare the landed number per piece, not the first number on the sheet. Split the Care & Maintenance quote into five lines with us before you compare factories.
What is a normal wholesale margin on Care & Maintenance?
Retail price for Care & Maintenance is commonly 2.0 to 2.7 times the wholesale piece price. If your target retail is set, divide by 2.4 to back into the wholesale piece price, then negotiate the five lines inside it. Split the Care & Maintenance quote into five lines with us before you compare factories.
Does MOQ really move the price of Care & Maintenance?
Yes. On Care & Maintenance the step from 50 to 300 pieces per design typically cuts the piece price by 8 to 14 percent, mostly through mould amortisation and plating batch size. Beyond 500, the move flattens. Split the Care & Maintenance quote into five lines with us before you compare factories.
What payment terms can I expect for Care & Maintenance?
30 percent deposit and 70 percent against copy documents is standard for a first Care & Maintenance order. Repeat buyers with a clean record can move to balance against delivery photos, then to LC after two or three orders. Split the Care & Maintenance quote into five lines with us before you compare factories.
Are tooling or mould fees charged twice on Care & Maintenance?
No. A CAD model and mould for Care & Maintenance is a one-time charge per design; reorders of the same design should not re-invoice it. Ask for the tooling fee line item in writing and keep the CAD file ownership clause in the order. Split the Care & Maintenance quote into five lines with us before you compare factories.
A Care & Maintenance quote is only as honest as its five lines. The factory that shows you material, stone, labour, plating and overhead separately is the one you can renegotiate next season, not the one that quotes one mystery number.
Related Reading
- More Care & Maintenance wholesale guides from HOLYCOME
- Ask the HOLYCOME bench about a Care & Maintenance order
Next Step
Send us the Care & Maintenance design and your target retail, and we split the quote into five lines with the MOQ ladder. The number that matters is the landed piece price at the MOQ you will actually order.
HOLYCOME is the factory behind the Care & Maintenance lines US boutiques reorder. Because we cast, set, plate and pack in one Wuzhou workshop, the five cost lines are visible on every quote. MOQ is 50 pieces per design, terms 30 percent deposit against documents. Trade desk: service@holycome.com, WhatsApp +86 18078079070.
The five-line Care & Maintenance quote is how HOLYCOME has worked since 2009. Buyers see material, stone, labour, plating and overhead separately, so a metal move or a design change does not become a surprise. MOQ 50 per design, terms 30 percent deposit against documents, sample in three to five days.
Read a Care & Maintenance quote as five lines, not one number: material, stone, labour, plating, overhead. The MOQ step from 50 to 300 cuts the piece price by 8 to 14 percent, and 30 percent deposit with balance on inspection photos is the safe standard on every Care & Maintenance order.
Send us the Care & Maintenance design and your target retail. We split the quote into five lines with the MOQ ladder, so the landed piece price is the number you negotiate, not a single mystery number.
