How it works

How the audit works

A quotation goes in. What comes out is a band, the line items that carry the gap, and the questions to send back. Here is the machinery in between, including where the numbers come from.

What you send

Four things, none of them prepared specially for us. A PDF, a chat screenshot or the numbers pasted into the email all work.

1. The quotation as the supplier sent it — every line, including the ones that look like boilerplate.
2. The quantity you intend to order, and the quantity the quote was given at. The band moves with volume.
3. The specification you are comparing against: material, capacity, motor or battery, packaging, certification.
4. Your target market, so the retail band is read in the right country and currency.

What we do with it

1. Pull the public band. 90 usable factory listings across three product classes, retrieved 2026-10-30 from Made-in-China. The band is the median and the middle half, not the mean: one $560 outlier does not move a median.
2. Normalise before comparing. Quantity first; listings quoted per kilogram or per set are dropped rather than averaged in. Across the sample the median MOQ is 18 units and the range runs from 1 to 1,000.
3. Rebuild the cost from parts. Material, processing, tooling amortisation, packaging, certification, freight to port. Where a component price is not published, the line is labelled an estimate instead of being presented as a fact.
4. Place it against the shelf. 122 US retail listings from Walmart, Target and PetSmart, retrieved 2026-11-01, after accessories, consumables and replacement parts are excluded. That gives the retail band and the multiplier between factory gate and shelf.
5. Write the gap down. The distance between the quote and the modelled band, split into the two or three line items that actually carry it, with the questions to put back to the supplier, in the order that moves the price.

The data behind the band

These are the medians the method starts from, by class. Every figure below is computed from the same two files the audit uses; every listing behind them carries a date and a link.

Factory listings: Made-in-China, retrieved 2026-10-30. Retail listings: Walmart, Target and PetSmart, retrieved 2026-11-01. Medians, not means; listings quoted per kilogram or per set are excluded. 45 of the 90 factory listings price under $50 per unit.

What comes back, and when

The free read is one line, within one business day: how far the price sits from the band for its class, and the two line items carrying the difference. If the price is fine, the read says so.

A paid report follows the same five sections whether you buy the $29 page or the $499 three-SKU audit — what changes is depth, not structure:

1. Where the price sits, against the band for the same specification and quantity.
2. What it sells for in your target market, so the factory-to-shelf multiplier is visible.
3. What the quote states, and what it leaves open.
4. The lines to send back to the supplier, in the order that moves the price.
5. What the report does not do, on the same page as the conclusion.

A paid report takes two to five working days from the moment the quote is complete. One round of written questions is included; if the report misses the question you asked, we fix it.

What is free, what is paid

The read is free and stays free whether or not you buy anything. A report is a fixed fee per product, $29 to $499, and you pay only after the read, once we have confirmed the product class and the tier. The four tiers are set out here.

What this does not do

• No factory visits or supplier vetting — that needs someone on site, and we will not certify a company we have not visited.
• No customs, legal or compliance advice.
• No promise that the supplier will drop the price. We show the room and the levers; the negotiation is yours.
• No bespoke engineering or product design.