OEM, ODM And Private Label: What You Are Actually Buying

OEM Means Your Design, Their Bench

You supply the design or the artwork and the factory builds it. The design is yours, the tooling is usually theirs, and the interesting question is what happens to the CAD model. Settle that in writing at brief stage, not after the model exists.

ODM Means Their Design, Your Label

You start from something the factory already makes and adapt it. It is faster and cheaper, and the trade-off is that nothing stops the same base design appearing under another name. This factory accepts both OEM and ODM.

Private Label Is A Marking Question, Not A Manufacturing One

Private label means your mark on the finished piece. Here that is an engraved label, and the source states customers can specify style, stone shape, colour and size and have their own unique label engraved.

The No-Inventory Model And Its Small Print

This factory describes an arrangement where it provides all product pictures and is responsible for production and delivery while the partner establishes a sales website, with no inventory and no cost. That is an attractive model and it is also a commercial promise, not a technical specification. Get the lead times, the despatch responsibility, the defect policy and the pricing in a written agreement before you build a storefront on it.

Questions To Ask Before The First Order

Who owns the CAD file. What the minimum order quantity is for your product, in writing, since none is published. What the finished metal weight will be. Whether the photographs supplied show the piece that will actually ship. What happens to a defective piece that has already reached an end customer.