The first quotation came in lower, so the brand placed the order. Three weeks later a supplementary invoice arrived for tooling, and a second for print plates, and the landed cost ended up above the quotation that had looked expensive in the first place. Nothing improper had happened; the first quotation simply described a narrower scope. A charger unit price is built from six lines, and a comparison is only meaningful when both quotations expose all six.
This guide is part of our Charger Factory & Production. Read the full topic guide for the decisions that come before and after this step.
Charger manufacturing company: the six lines inside a unit price
A charger unit price is the sum of six lines.
The bill of materials, tooling and its amortisation, packaging and branding, assembly labour, test and documentation, and freight. Some lines scale with quantity, some are fixed, and some move with decisions that have nothing to do with the electronics – which is why two quotations for the same wattage can differ by more than the components do.
The useful way to read a quotation is to separate the lines that respond to volume from the lines that do not. A fixed line spread across a small order dominates the unit price at low volume and becomes negligible at high volume; a variable line does the opposite. Once the lines are separated, the negotiation has a target instead of a general request for a discount.
Line 1: the bill of materials
The BOM is the least negotiable line and the one most often used to explain a difference in price.
It contains the power stage, the controller, the protection components, the connector, the cable if supplied, and the enclosure material. Two chargers at the same wattage can carry different component grades, and the difference usually appears in derating margins, thermal behaviour and long-term reliability rather than in the datasheet headline. Ask which components are treated as safety-critical, because those are the ones a supplier should not be substituting to reach a price.
Line 2: tooling and amortisation
Tooling is fixed, so its contribution per unit falls as quantity rises.
On an existing platform the line is limited to branding and, sometimes, print plates. On a new enclosure the mould, the trial loops and the associated engineering dominate the early unit price and can make a small order uneconomic. When a supplier quotes a very low MOQ on a new design, the tooling is being recovered somewhere – as a separate invoice, as a higher unit price, or as a narrower scope. Ask which, before comparing the totals.
Line 3: packaging and branding
Packaging is the line where design ambition meets freight arithmetic.
Board grade, insert type, print method, language versions and packout complexity each add cost, and the carton dimensions also change the number of units per pallet and per container. At low volume the setup cost – plates, dies, artwork – is spread over fewer units than anywhere else, which is why a simpler packout often reduces the unit cost more than negotiating the charger itself.
Line 4: assembly labour and packout time
Labour scales with the number of components and the complexity of the sequence.
Kitting a cable, folding an insert, sealing, labelling and weighing all take time, and time is the line that responds most directly to simplifying the packout. Where a bundle adds accessories, the labour line grows even though the charger is unchanged. Ask how the packout is sequenced and whether any step can be removed without affecting protection or the customer’s experience.
Line 5: test, quality and documentation
This is the line buyers most often try to remove, and the one that protects the warranty.
It covers the functional test applied to every unit, the aging step, the inspection gates and the documentation that travels with the batch. Removing a gate reduces the unit price and increases the expected return rate; the trade is rarely favourable because a returned unit costs more than the test time it saved. The right question is not whether to test, but whether the test scope matches the specification.
Line 6: freight, carton volume and terms
Freight is part of the unit cost and is decided by the packaging line above it.
Carton dimensions set the units per pallet and per container, the Incoterm decides who pays for what, and the shipping weight affects the rate. A quotation that states a unit price without a loading plan cannot be compared with one that does. Ask for the carton dimensions, the units per carton and the container loading plan alongside the price.
| Cost line | Fixed or volume-scaled | Lever the buyer controls |
|---|---|---|
| Bill of materials | Volume-scaled | Wattage tier, port layout, cable inclusion |
| Tooling and amortisation | Fixed | Platform route versus new design, order quantity |
| Packaging and branding | Mixed – setup fixed, material scaled | Board grade, insert, print method, language versions |
| Assembly labour | Volume-scaled | Packout complexity, accessory content |
| Test and documentation | Mixed | Test scope, not whether to test |
| Freight | Volume and terms | Carton dimensions, Incoterm, shipment frequency |
Which lines you can negotiate and which you cannot
The negotiable lines are the ones tied to your own decisions; the others describe physics and process.
You can change the wattage tier, the port layout, whether a cable is included, the packaging route, the language versions, the order quantity and the shipment terms. You cannot negotiate away the cost of the components needed to meet the specification, the test time required to verify it, or the volume the packaging occupies. A discount obtained by removing a control or a component grade is not a saving; it is a transfer of cost to the returns line, where it appears later and larger.
FAQ
Why is the second quotation higher for the same wattage?
Usually a scope difference: tooling included, a better board grade, a cable, a market certification or a more complex packout. Ask both suppliers to expose the six lines before comparing totals. Usually a scope difference: tooling included, a better board grade, a cable, a market certification or a more complex packout, so ask both suppliers to expose the six lines.
Which line should we attack first to reduce cost?
Packaging and packout, because they respond to design decisions you control and do not affect the electrical specification. Packaging and packout respond to design decisions you control and do not affect the electrical specification, which is why they are the cheapest place to take cost out without reopening the certification. Ask for the packaging and packout lines separately in the quotation.
Can we reduce the price by sampling the functional test?
Sampling is appropriate for appearance and packing. Sampling output behaviour allows a defective unit to reach a customer, and the return costs more than the test time. Sampling is appropriate for appearance and packing, while sampling output behaviour allows a defective unit to reach a customer at a cost greater than the test time saved on the line. and the saving is larger than the test time it replaces.
Does a larger order always reduce the unit price?
It reduces the contribution of the fixed lines. If the quotation has no fixed lines exposed – no tooling, no setup – a larger order may not move the price much. It reduces the contribution of the fixed lines, but where the quotation exposes no tooling and no setup a larger order may not move the price much at all.
Next step
Send the specification and the quantities you are considering to Wecent Group through the contact page. The reply separates the six lines, states which are fixed and which scale with volume, and gives the MOQ and lead time from order confirmation. Related reading: OEM/ODM manufacturing, quality control and wholesale chargers. External references: USB-IF documentation, IEC standards, ICC Incoterms, ISO 9001, EU CE marking and FCC equipment authorisation.