Toy Sourcing Brief: Get 3 Comparable Quotes

What goes in a toy sourcing brief before you send it

A usable brief has two halves: what you are buying, and what you are asking the supplier to price. The first half is product identity — SKU, product name, material and construction as recorded, size, age grading, colorway, and the artwork or packaging revision you are approving. The second half is commercial: order quantity, destination port or delivery point, carton pack, and an explicit list of what the unit price does not include.

The quote-exclusion line is the one buyers skip and later regret. Freight, duty, testing, mold or tooling, print setup, sample charges and packaging print minimums are all legitimate exclusions — but only if you name them. When one supplier quotes FOB and another quietly quotes a landed number, you are comparing two different products, not two prices.

Quote on the same specification across all three suppliers. That is the precondition for using those numbers later in any price conversation, and it is also the only way to spot which supplier is cheapest on the product versus cheapest on the assumptions. Maple Sourcing frames competing quotes on one specification as the fair-market reference point; the same logic applies before you negotiate, not after.

How to fill the quantity, carton pack and artwork fields

Quantity should be stated as a per-SKU number, not a total across a mixed order. If you are quoting several SKUs at once, give each SKU its own line and its own quantity, then a separate line for the combined shipment. Consolidating SKUs into one shipment does not reduce any individual SKU's minimum — those are separate commercial terms and must be quoted separately.

Carton pack is a physical fact about the product, not an order multiple. A carton quantity tells you how the goods ship; it does not by itself mean you must order in full-carton increments unless the supplier states that restriction in writing. Ask each supplier to confirm the carton quantity, carton dimensions and carton weight for the exact SKU, and to state whether the order quantity must round up to a full carton.

Artwork version needs a revision identifier, not a description. "New box design" is not a version. Use a dated file name or revision code, attach the file, and ask the supplier to confirm in the quote which revision they priced. If packaging print has its own minimum — separate from the product minimum — that minimum belongs in the quote, along with who owns any unused printed material.

What each requested record tells you about supplier fit

For toys sold in the United States, a toy for children 12 and under cannot be sold without third-party testing at a CPSC-accepted laboratory and a Children's Product Certificate issued by the importer. The mandatory standard is ASTM F963-23, in force for toys made from April 20, 2024, and the CPC must cite that version. Importivity states both points directly. That is why the brief asks for current test documentation for the exact SKU rather than a general factory certificate — a factory-level document does not cover your product, and the certificate you rely on must match the version and the construction you are actually buying.

Ask for the test report reference, the laboratory, the standard version cited, and the SKU or model it covers. You are checking traceability, not auditing the supplier's honesty. A supplier who cannot locate the right document quickly is telling you something about documentation discipline; a supplier who sends a report for a different SKU is telling you something more important.

Quality terms belong in the brief too. A workable quality assurance agreement names an AQL of 2.5 for major defects and 0 for critical defects, with sampling per ANSI/ASQ Z1.4 — the structure Squishy Toy Supply recommends. Put that in the RFQ as a term you are asking the supplier to accept, so you learn now whether they will sign it, rather than after the deposit clears.

Tariff treatment is a quote input, not a footnote. As of early September 2026, China-origin toys on Section 301 List 4A pay 7.5 percent, a smaller set on List 3 pays 25 percent, and a Section 301 forced-labor action added a flat 12.5 percent on Chinese goods from July 24, 2026, per Importivity. Rates were still in flux in 2026 amid litigation, and importers were advised to model baseline, escalation and exclusion scenarios rather than assume one rate. Ask each supplier to state the HTS subheading they are quoting against, then run your own landed-cost model on top of the unit price.

Reading three replies against the same criteria

Score the replies on the brief itself, not on how friendly the email was. Four questions do most of the work: did they quote every field you sent, did they flag the fields they could not quote, did they return the requested records for the exact SKU, and did they commit to the quality terms. A supplier who answers all four is easier to manage than one who is 4 percent cheaper and vague on two of them.

Response speed is a communication observation, not a verdict. A slow reply tells you the account may be under-resourced or the request landed badly; it does not prove the supplier will perform worse after payment. Note it, weight it lightly, and let the quoted terms and records carry the decision.

Watch the distance between the quoted unit price and the landed cost. In one published sourcing example, a supplier's landed unit cost came out at $4.10 against the $3.40 originally quoted once real freight was added, and another supplier quoted a 7-day sample lead time but delivered samples in 16 days. Both are single anecdotal observations from SaleHoo's workflow example, not forecasts — but they illustrate exactly the two gaps your brief is designed to expose: freight assumptions and sample timing.

On the direct-factory versus trading-company question, do not assume a trading company means weaker quality control. A trader's price includes a margin you may be able to compress, though you also have less visibility into real factory cost; ask what the trader actually adds in coordination, and weigh that against the work you would take on going direct. The honest comparison is service scope against your own sourcing capacity, not a blanket rule about quality.

What to request, what a good answer looks like, and what it decides

An illustrative fill using a recorded catalog SKU

Here is how the fields look when filled, using STS348379 as a recorded catalog example. The numbers below are illustrative arithmetic for the brief itself — they are not a quoted price, a promised order, or a reserved allocation, and no transport cost is included.

Two cartons of STS348379 at 264 pieces per carton gives 528 pieces and 0.084 CBM. Add five cartons of STS342803 at 120 pieces per carton for 600 pieces and 0.245 CBM, and the combined illustrative shipment is 1,128 pieces across 7 cartons and 0.329 CBM before any repack. Send that arithmetic to all three suppliers as the quantity basis, so nobody prices a different order size.

Packaging print minimums are a separate line. If a sleeve print minimum is assumed at 500 units against 264 toys, that leaves 236 unused sleeves and roughly 52.8 percent initial utilization on the illustrative run. The product minimum and the packaging print minimum are different commitments, and who owns the leftover printed material has to be agreed in writing before the order, not after.

Buyer questions on running a three-supplier toy RFQ

How many suppliers should I quote on one brief?

Two or three qualified suppliers on an identical specification is enough to establish a market reference and keep the comparison manageable. More than three adds coordination work without adding much information, unless the product is unusually specialized.

Should I send the same brief to a trading company and a direct factory?

Yes, if you send it identically. The comparison you are making is service scope versus cost visibility, not quality tier. Ask the trader what coordination they add, and price the work you would absorb going direct.

What if a supplier quotes a different quantity than I asked for?

Ask them to re-quote at your stated quantity and to state the minimum they can actually accept. A supplier quoting a higher quantity may be signaling a minimum order requirement — that is useful information, but it is not a comparable quote until it matches your brief.

Do I need a test certificate before I place the order?

For US sales of toys for children 12 and under, third-party testing at a CPSC-accepted laboratory and a Children's Product Certificate issued by the importer are required, with the CPC citing the applicable mandatory standard version. Request the documentation for the exact SKU during quoting so you know what exists before you commit.

How do I compare quotes when one is FOB and another is landed?

Convert both to a landed unit cost using your own freight and duty assumptions, and use the supplier's stated HTS subheading. Because Section 301 rates on Chinese toys were in flux in 2026, model more than one tariff scenario rather than betting on a single rate.

Is a slow reply a reason to drop a supplier?

Not by itself. Treat it as a communication observation and note it in your scoring. The decision should rest on whether they quoted every field, returned the requested records for the exact SKU, and accepted the quality terms.

Sources

• 30 High Profit Margin Products to Sell Online in 2026 | SaleHoo
• How to Ask a Supplier for a Lower Price: Email Template
• Toy Manufacturers in China and How to Vet One | Importivity

Next step: turn the brief into a quotable request

If you have the SKU list and target quantities but not the packaging and carton detail, that is the gap to close first. Squishy Toy Supply can take a filled brief — SKU, quantity, destination, carton pack and artwork revision — and coordinate sampling, standard customization, packaging and procurement quality checks at ordinary industry level, so the three quotes you receive are built on the same document. Send the brief and we will tell you which fields still need a decision before it goes out.