Questions before a drawing
FAQ
What buyers ask before they send a drawing: what to prepare, what is free, how the money and the tool work, and what happens before the goods ship.
- Evaluation and quotation are free
- Sample approved before production
- Drawings treated as confidential
Sending a part
What to send, and what it costs
A 2D or 3D drawing, or a STEP file, together with the requirements that decide the price:
- The key dimensions, and the tolerances that matter for assembly
- Material and hardness you need, or the conditions the part works in
- Colour, logo and packaging requirements
- The part this silicone piece fits, or its key dimensions
- Expected quantity, and whether this is a first order or a repeat
- The target market, because it decides the testing that may need to be quoted
A sketch, a photograph of a sample part or a written description also starts the conversation when the drawing is not ready yet.
Yes. Drawing evaluation and quotation are free, and sending one commits you to nothing — it is not an order. Where a drawing has to be produced first, paid design help can be arranged separately, with its scope, price, deliverables and revision rounds agreed before it starts.
We can come back with ranges: what looks feasible, which details are still open, and roughly what kind of tool the part would need. Ranges help you decide whether to continue, but they are not a formal quotation — the quotation follows a finished drawing.
Quotations are issued in USD and are valid for 60 days. Once the mold is paid, the quoted unit price at each quantity tier is held for 12 months for the first mass-production order.
Tooling and payment
Who builds the mold, who pays, who owns it
No. Yiwu Gaoran Trading Company is a trading company and project coordinator: the tooling and the production run are done by a long-term partner silicone factory. We hold the quotation, the contract, the payment and the delivery, we have no machines and no production staff of our own, and we do not hold stock.
Paying for the mold and ordering mass production are two separate decisions. The mold cost is paid at 100% when you accept the quotation, and the tool is then built. A physical first sample is molded from that tool and shipped to you. Mass production is a separate order, placed only after you confirm that sample in writing, and runs on 30% deposit and 70% balance.
For new orders, the customer who pays for the mold owns it. The partner factory stores it free of charge for two years and you may take it back. A customer-paid logo tool is stored free for one year. These rights are documented per order, and your drawings, logo and dedicated tools are used only for your project.
Sometimes. If an existing factory mold suits your part, no new tool is built and the quotation starts from the unit prices and the minimum quantity that the mold sets, with your own colour, logo and packaging. Parts from an existing mold are not stock — they are produced after your order is placed — and if your dimensions differ from what the tool was cut for, the part is evaluated as a new development.
Sample, quality and delivery
From the first sample to the shipped order
Yes. A physical first sample is molded from the tool and shipped to you, and it is the part you judge: fit, feel, colour and finish. You confirm it in writing, or send the points that have to change. The confirmed sample becomes the reference the factory keeps and production is measured against.
Yes. You or your own third party may inspect the order before shipment, in person or by video. If you arrange a third-party inspection, tell us the scope and the timing with the order so the goods are ready for it. A video inspection walks the order with you: the packed goods, a count, parts drawn from the run next to the reference sample, and the packaging as it will arrive.
A difference from the confirmed sample, the confirmed drawing, the key dimensions or the agreed function is raised with the factory before shipment rather than after. Visible problems with appearance, quantity or packaging should be reported within 7 days of arrival, with photographs of the parts, the cartons and the labels, so they can be traced against the production records and the reference sample.
No. Material reports, such as documents related to FDA or LFGB requirements, cover specific raw materials: they do not by themselves certify a finished part, and they do not cover a different grade, a different colour or a different supplier's batch. For each project the material, the part, its use and the destination market are checked, and any extra test is quoted and arranged before production. Infant, medical and specific food-contact projects are never pre-approved.
Yes. Send a summary first — the part type, what it has to do, the approximate size and the quantity — and we can sign an NDA before receiving the file. Drawings and files sent to us are treated as confidential project material and are not published.