How We Charge — Transparent Commission, Factory-Direct Pricing

How We Charge

What it looks like with us, and what it looks like without

The easiest way to see the difference is to walk one programme through both paths. Below is a representative first run for a DTC carry-on brand — same product, same volume, same target landed cost — handled two different ways.

Without us

Cold-start, single thread, six months

You message 30 factories on a sourcing platform. Fifteen reply. Eight send quotations. Three send samples. One matches the spec closely enough to consider. You negotiate unit price, pay a tooling deposit, book a freight slot, and find out at the port that a batch of frames is out of tolerance.

9 months from first email to first shipment, on average for first-time DTC programmes
3–5% rework or scrap on the first production run
One bundled unit price, no factory cost breakdown
You never speak to the factory directly during the run

~9 monthsto first shipment

With LuggagePro

Vetted shortlist, one accountable team

You send us the brief. We come back in a week with three factories matched to your product, your MOQ and your quality tier — and a frank view on whether the price target is realistic. You pick one. We run sampling, in-process checks and a final AQL inspection against your specification, with photo-documented reports at each gate.

10–14 weeks from kickoff to first shipment, on a comparable programme
A right-first-time spec that holds line-side; lower first-pass defect rate at FQC
Factory invoice shown to you in full, commission disclosed on the order
You hold the factory relationship and the contract; we stay accountable

10–14 weeksto first shipment

What Changes in Practice

Three multipliers from thirty years on factory floors

These are the rough order-of-magnitude shifts we see in well-run programmes compared with a typical cold-start sourcing effort. They are not a guarantee for your run — your product, your factory and your starting point all matter — but they reflect what we see when the work is done properly.

9×

Faster start to a vetted shortlist

The common industry experience is vetting around nine factories to find one that genuinely fits a new programme. Our network short-circuits that screening, so a usable shortlist is in your hands in days, not quarters.

Indicative ratio from general industry experience.

1.5×

More time on real production work, less on coordination

In a typical cold-start engagement, a large share of hours go to clarifying the brief, chasing samples and reconciling time zones. With a senior team that already speaks the factory's language, more of the clock goes into the work that actually ships.

Indicative productivity shift from general industry experience.

2.3×

Lower first-pass defect rate at FQC

A right-first-time specification, in-process checks at the right gates, and a final AQL inspection tied to corrective action at the line — the combination consistently produces fewer defects landing in your 3PL than a typical first run.

Indicative defect reduction from general industry experience.

Multipliers are indicative, drawn from general industry experience and aggregated across programmes. Your results depend on product complexity, the factory's starting capability, and the scope you bring us. We will give you a frank view of what is realistic in your case.

The Three Ways You Save

Where the money actually comes from

Our commission is not an added cost if the work removes more cost than it charges. Here is where that happens.

1 · Compressed timelines

Weeks of supplier back-and-forth collapse into days when the person asking speaks the factory's language — technical, commercial and cultural. Time is working capital.

2 · Avoided rework

A single failed production run costs more than a year of our fee. Thirty years of pattern knowledge is mostly the memory of what not to do.

3 · Factory-direct pricing

We negotiate on your behalf and the factory invoices you directly. The saving stays on your side of the ledger, not in a spread.

Plain Answers

Questions people ask about the money

The commercial structure is agreed before any work begins and stated on every order. Whether it is a percentage or a fixed project fee depends on the scope — what does not change is that the factory price is shown to you in full, and our compensation is disclosed rather than embedded.

Because then we would be paid by the factory and accountable to nobody you can see. A disclosed fee keeps us on your side of the table when a difficult conversation with a supplier is needed.

We will tell you honestly whether the programme is viable. If a small first run is better placed elsewhere, we would rather say so early than take a fee for a project that is going to struggle.

Yes. The factory relationship is yours. Clients stay with us because the work keeps paying for itself, not because we hold the supplier relationship hostage.

How We Set The Fee

Our fee is benchmarked against your losses, not our competitors

Most agents price against what other agents charge. We price against what one bad outcome costs you — because that is the number the work actually moves.

One failed production run

Rework, air freight to recover the date, or a written-off run. This is the single largest avoidable cost in a luggage programme, and it is almost always decided at the specification stage rather than on the line.

One wave of returns

Return handling and refunds at $40–70 per unit, plus the reviews that follow. A defect rate you can sell through and one you cannot is often one inspection gate apart.

One blocked listing

A missing test report or audit document can hold a retail or marketplace launch by weeks. The goods are fine. The paperwork is not.

Our fee typically sits at a fraction of a single one of these events — indicative, and dependent on your order size, channel and product complexity. We will put the number in writing before any work starts.

You are not paying a markup. You are paying for certainty.