Bone China mugs from China

[GoonerGary]

It should be the first place to look for bone china mugs, but has anyone had good dealings with any of the Chinese Alibaba companies?

I have my eye on one of them as they have a low minimum order quantity, but previous attempts to contact Alibaba companies in general haven't been successful.

Who have you used?

[pisquee]

We've used Elephant Digital on Alibaba and had good dealings with them in the past ... http://www.transferchina.net/

[GoonerGary]

They only do standard Durham style mugs. I love their translations, delicate straight barrel shape!

Don't most suppliers source from Thailand these days? Which Thai companies can sell in smaller quantities?

[pisquee]

The contact we used at Elephant went to a different company, and we haven't sourced from them in a few years, but they were good at finding stuff that wasn't in their catalogue - so they can source stuff from the factories and suppliers in Ghangzou for you - we found this easier as we'd already dealt with Elephant and trusted them for sending money, so it was easier to get them to find what we wanted.

[Andrew]

Is it a non-standard style you are after then that can't be sourced in UK?

I would imagine most mugs still come from China with Thailand someway behind. Thai prices went up around the same time ADD came into play. I thought India would have been a bit bigger buty now but only one supplier out there I know of that I would trust. Their standards overall I don't find great. You get samples in and it is just a very scruffy impression they leave you with. Pity as they could put a bit of pressure on China if they sort their act out.

[GoonerGary]

Is it a non-standard style you are after then that can't be sourced in UK?

Yeah, I'm bored with standard durham mugs, so if I am going to come back into mug printing properly again, I'd like something different. Price does come into it, we are still competing with big companies after all who can sell for next to nothing.

Contacting them during Chinese New Year wasn't too smart, but I'll see if I can get a better response this time.

@pisquee Were the Elephant sourced mugs good quality? How did you know, it sounds like a gamble?! You could have spent thousands and ended up with cheap ebay specials. This all might be too much of a risk for me. You probably can't tell me the name of the actual reliable mug company you sourced.

[Andrew]

Most of the blanks you find in China / Alibaba are readily available over here and I would think the costs won't be too much different unless you are talking large volumes. The Balmoral etc you mentioned on the other thread plus about 12 other styles and variations can all be found. Is price that key that getting an extra 20p off per blank makes the risk worth taking? They can be sourced cheaper in the UK than the link you put up as I would imagine a company like that sources most of them styles from other importers. What type of volumes and styles are you after as I can probably point you in the direction of the UK source.

[GoonerGary]

I'm looking at 2-3 at styles, one of them I haven't seen in the UK and I suppose that's the most intriguing one. At £2 a mug from a UK supplier, any saving is appreciated, a few mistakes and you can quickly wipe out your profit. But it's more about looking for something different.

[pisquee]

We were getting other products from Elephant, not mugs, but they were happy to discuss options and send samples of products to us before we placed big proper orders.
Our mugs are now custom made to order in Thailand as we wanted something a bit different to what was on offer from UK suppliers, or even Alibaba. As we exhibit at retail trade shows and most of our business is wholesale to shops around the UK, we needed a product that was noticeably different to other brands doing mugs, for us to stand out with something unique, as we didn't want us to be seen as just another brand doing sublimation mugs, especially not a Durham style standard mug.