How to Vet a Paint by Numbers Supplier in China: 14-Point Checklist

Written by the export team at Art Painting by Numbers, Tianjin · Updated October 2026 · 13 min read

The cheapest way to evaluate a paint by numbers supplier is to ask fourteen specific technical and commercial questions and score how precisely they answer. A real manufacturer answers with numbers, tolerances and processes. A trading company answers with adjectives, or forwards your question to someone else and replies two days later.

We wrote this checklist to be used against us as well as anyone else — every point below is something we will answer in writing, and several are places where we would rather lose an order than promise something untrue. Send the same list to three suppliers and the differences will be obvious within a day.

First: manufacturer or trader?

This is the single most consequential distinction, and it is deliberately blurred in this industry. Many suppliers described as factories are trading companies with a relationship to one. Neither is automatically bad — a good trader offers consolidation and service — but you should know which you are dealing with, because it determines your price, your technical answers and who can actually fix a problem.

• Ask for the business licence and check whether the registered scope includes manufacturing (生产 / production) as well as trading (贸易 / sales).
• Ask for a live video call at the factory floor, not a pre-recorded tour. Request it at a time they cannot prepare for, and ask to see a specific thing — your design in production, the paint filling station, the QC bench.
• Ask a technical question with no marketing answer — "what gsm canvas do you use at 40 × 50 cm?" A manufacturer answers instantly. A trader asks someone else.
• Check address consistency. A trading office in a city business park and a factory in an industrial zone are different addresses; ask which one you would visit.

The 14-point checklist

1. Canvas specification, in numbers

Ask: material, weight in gsm, primer coating (single or double side), and whether numbers are printed in grey or black. Expect an answer like "cotton-blend, 300 gsm, double-side acrylic primer, light grey outlines at 0.3–0.5 mm." Vague answers such as "high quality thick canvas" mean the supplier does not control the material.

2. Paint opacity and sealing

Ask: pigment load or single-coat coverage over a printed outline, viscosity, open time, pot volume by canvas size, and whether pots are foil-sealed and vacuum-strip packed. Sealing is the difference between paint that arrives wet and paint that arrives as a plug. Specifications are covered in our quality guide.

3. Brush filament type

Ask: standard nylon or high-elasticity nylon, ferrule construction, handle material, and shapes supplied. Then test tip recovery on the sample — press firmly for five seconds and watch whether the tip returns to a point within two seconds. This $0.06 component drives more reviews than anything else in the box.

4. Colour count policy

Ask: how colours are chosen for a given canvas size, and whether the automatic count is reduced before production. A supplier who optimises colour count for paintability is thinking about the end customer; one who simply maximises it is thinking about the listing thumbnail. For 40 × 50 cm the right answer is 20–28 colours.

5. MOQ stated per design and per order

Ask: is the MOQ per design or per order, and does it change with packaging format? Then ask about setup and plate costs, and whether they are amortised or refunded at volume. Suppliers who quote one number without qualification usually revise it upward later. The full reasoning is in paint by numbers MOQ explained.

6. Quantity tolerance

Ask: if I order 500, will you ship 485 or 520, and how is the invoice calculated? Made-to-order manufacturing normally ships within ±3% and invoices the actual count. A supplier who cannot state their tolerance has not thought about production planning. Our position is written into section 6.2 of the terms of service.

7. Lead time definition

Ask: from what date does lead time run — order, deposit, or written artwork approval? The correct answer is the later of cleared deposit and written Proof approval. Then ask what happens in peak season and around Chinese New Year. A supplier quoting the same 15 days in October as in March is not being realistic.

8. QC process and inspection standard

Ask: how many inspection points, what AQL level for major and minor defects, and whether you may appoint a third-party inspector. A credible answer is four inspection points, AQL 2.5 major and 4.0 minor, with third-party inspection welcomed rather than resisted. Ask for a sample inspection report before you order.

9. Compliance for your specific market

Ask: which tests they can supply reports for — EN71-3, ASTM F963, CPSIA, REACH, CE or UKCA — whether reports can be issued in your company name, who pays, and how long the laboratory takes. Then ask what age grading they recommend for your product. A supplier who says "our paint is non-toxic so you need nothing" does not understand your market's rules.

10. Packaging and carton engineering

Ask for carton dimensions, sets per carton, gross and net weight, board specification, and how components are immobilised inside the box. Then calculate the volumetric weight yourself. Paint by numbers ships on volume, so a supplier who has not thought about carton cube is costing you money on every shipment.

11. Incoterm clarity

Ask which Incoterm the price is quoted on, and what specifically it includes. Then ask for FOB, CIF and DDP side by side for your destination. If a supplier cannot explain the difference, you will discover it as an unexpected invoice. FOB Tianjin explained covers this in full.

12. Intellectual property and exclusivity

Ask in writing: will you sell my custom design to another customer? Will you sign an NDA? Who owns the packaging dieline and the paint recipes? Will you refuse to produce infringing artwork? A good answer is a clear no to reselling, yes to an NDA, assignment of bespoke output to you, and an explicit refusal to reproduce third-party copyrighted imagery. Ours is in section 5 of the terms of service.

13. After-sales policy, stated before the problem

Ask: what is the claim window, what evidence do you need, and what are the remedies — replacement, credit or refund? Who pays freight on replacements? Every supplier is pleasant before an order; the policy is what you are actually buying. Get it in writing, in the contract or terms, not in a chat message.

14. Responsiveness under normal conditions

Measure it rather than judging it. How long did the first quotation take? Did they answer every part of a multi-part question, or only the easy parts? Did they push back on anything unrealistic in your brief? A supplier who corrects you during the quotation stage is more valuable than one who agrees with everything and then misses the date.

Scoring the answers

Response pattern	What it usually means	Weight
Specific numbers, tolerances and processes, answered in the first reply	Manufacturer with real production control	Strong positive
Answers that require "checking with the factory" and take 2–3 days	Trading company, possibly a good one	Neutral — price will be higher
Adjectives instead of specifications ("premium", "top quality", "best price")	No control over materials	Strong negative
Resistance to a live video call or a third-party inspection	Something to hide about the facility or the process	Disqualifying
No stated quantity tolerance, no claim window, no AQL level	Disputes will be resolved by who has more leverage	Strong negative
Willingness to reproduce third-party copyrighted artwork	Legal exposure for you, and no ethical line they will not cross	Disqualifying
Pushes back on an unrealistic part of your brief with an alternative	Experienced supplier who is protecting you from yourself	Strong positive

The sample test: one evening, fourteen checks

Reading answers is not enough. Order a sample and paint it. These are the checks we would run on a competitor's kit:

1. Weigh the kit and measure the canvas against the stated size (tolerance ±2 mm)
2. Check pot seals are intact and count pots against the canvas colour key
3. Open three pots at random and confirm the paint is wet and workable, not rubbery
4. Measure number size with a ruler — under 4 mm on a 40 × 50 cm canvas is a design fault
5. Check outline colour: black rather than light grey means two coats everywhere
6. Paint one coat of the lightest colour over the darkest outline and hold it to daylight — can you still see the number?
7. Paint a pale colour over a dark area and count the coats needed for full coverage
8. Press each brush firmly for five seconds and time how long the tip takes to recover
9. Try to paint the smallest segment on the canvas — is it possible with the supplied detail brush?
10. Flex the canvas sharply at an unpainted corner and check for primer flaking
11. Check the reference card is legible, laminated and matches the canvas colour key exactly
12. Look for an instruction card, and whether it addresses storing open pots
13. Check the box: board thickness, print registration, whether components moved in transit, any warning labels present
14. Time how long the whole painting took, and ask whether you would finish it if you were a beginner

Checks 6, 7, 8 and 9 are the ones that predict customer satisfaction. Everything else is secondary. A kit that passes those four will earn good reviews even with modest packaging; a kit that fails them will not be saved by a beautiful box.

Due diligence beyond the product

• Company registration — verify the licence number through the national enterprise credit system, and confirm the entity name matches your contract and your bank details exactly
• Payment risk — the beneficiary name on the invoice must match the contracting company. A request to pay a different entity or a personal account is a red flag, whatever the explanation
• Platform protection — for a first order, Alibaba Trade Assurance or a similar escrow arrangement is worth the small fee
• References — ask for two buyers in your region and email them. A supplier with genuine long-term customers will provide them
• Site visit — if you are ordering above $20,000 a year, visit. Tianjin is 30 minutes by high-speed rail from Beijing South and about two hours from Beijing Capital airport, so a visit combines easily with other business. Our position on visits is on the contact page.
• Written terms — before the first deposit, get the claim window, quantity tolerance, lead-time definition, IP position and Incoterm in a document both parties sign

Frequently asked questions

How do I tell a factory from a trading company on Alibaba?

Check the verified supplier report for business type and registered scope, look at whether the address is an industrial zone or an office building, and ask three technical questions with numeric answers — canvas gsm, brush filament type, pot sealing method. Manufacturers answer immediately and consistently; traders pause, ask someone else, or give answers that shift between messages.

Is a trading company always worse?

No. A good trader offers multi-factory consolidation, quality control on your behalf, English-language service and flexibility on small mixed orders — genuinely valuable if you are buying across categories. You pay a margin for it. The problem is only being told you are buying from a factory when you are not, because then your price assumptions and your escalation path are both wrong.

Should I always order a sample?

Always, from every supplier you are seriously considering, even for a repeat design. A sample costs $25–$45 and one evening to paint. It is the only way to test coverage, brush recovery, seal integrity and number legibility — the four things that determine whether your customers finish the painting. Reputable suppliers refund the cost against your first order.

What payment terms are normal for a first order?

30% deposit by T/T and 70% balance before shipment, against inspection photographs. PayPal or Wise for orders under $2,000. Platform escrow such as Alibaba Trade Assurance is sensible for a first transaction. Full payment in advance to an unfamiliar supplier is not normal practice and you should not agree to it.

How do I protect my designs from being resold?

Sign an NDA before sending artwork, get an explicit written commitment that bespoke designs and packaging will not be sold to other customers, and ensure the contract assigns bespoke output to you. Then verify: periodically search marketplaces for your design. A supplier with real production work does not need to resell your artwork, and the ones who do are usually the ones who resisted putting the commitment in writing.

What is a fair claim window for defective kits?

14 to 30 days from delivery, with photographic evidence, and remedies of replacement in the next shipment, credit note or refund at the buyer's election. Shorter than 14 days is unreasonable because many buyers take two weeks to unpack and inspect a shipment; a supplier refusing any written claim window is a supplier planning to argue later.

Related reading

• Paint by numbers quality guide: canvas, acrylic paint and brush specs
• Paint by numbers MOQ explained: real numbers for new brands
• FOB Tianjin explained: shipping paint by numbers from China
• How to start a paint by numbers brand
• All sourcing guides and industry analysis →

Custom Photo Paint by Numbers: The Highest-Margin Kit You Can Sell

Written by the design and fulfilment team at Art Painting by Numbers, Tianjin · Updated October 2026 · 12 min read

A custom photo paint by numbers kit costs about $8.50 to produce and fulfil and sells for $49.99 to $89.99, giving roughly 86% gross margin before advertising — the best unit economics in the DIY art category. The reason is structural rather than clever pricing: a kit made from the buyer's own photograph has no identical competing listing, so it cannot be price-matched.

It is also the product customers photograph, share and gift. That reduces acquisition cost over time in a way a generic landscape never will. This article covers the economics, the photo quality requirements that determine whether the output is paintable, the automation that makes single-unit production viable, and the operational problems sellers actually hit.

The economics, line by line

	Generic 40 × 50 cm kit	Custom photo 40 × 50 cm kit
Retail price	$29.99	$59.99
Product cost, dropship	$5.40	$8.50
Shipping to customer (US, tracked economy)	$5.90	$5.90
Payment processing	$1.17	$2.04
Contribution before advertising	$17.52	$43.55
Advertising at a 2.2 blended ROAS	$13.63	$27.27
Net contribution per order	$3.89	$16.28
Net margin	13%	27%

The custom kit generates four times the net contribution per order on roughly twice the revenue. At the same advertising budget, that is twice the profitable order volume. It is also far more resilient: a competitor can copy a landscape design in a week and undercut it, and nobody can copy a customer's photograph of their own dog.

The comparison assumes dropshipping economics. At wholesale volumes the generic kit's margin improves, but the personalisation premium persists because the constraint is competition, not cost.

Which photographs convert into paintable canvases

This is where the product succeeds or fails, and it is a design problem more than a printing problem. A photograph that looks beautiful on a phone can produce a canvas that is impossible to paint.

What works

• A single clear subject — one animal, one face, one building, one flower arrangement
• Strong tonal separation between subject and background, so segments have distinct boundaries
• Good even lighting. Harsh shadow across a face becomes a large flat dark region that is tedious to paint
• At least 2,000 pixels on the long edge. Below that, the numbered segments become too small to print legibly
• A limited natural palette. Photographs with 6–10 dominant colours convert far better than ones with 40 subtle variations

What does not

• Group photographs with many faces. Faces need 15–25 colours each to look right, so a family of five pushes the total past 60 and the segments shrink to nothing
• Fine detail — fur texture, foliage, crowds, confetti. These produce thousands of tiny segments that cannot be painted with a standard brush
• Low-light, high-ISO images. Noise becomes false edges, which the conversion reads as segment boundaries
• Heavy filters or HDR processing. Unnatural tonal banding produces large flat areas with hard arbitrary borders
• Distant subjects. A person occupying 8% of the frame becomes an unrecognisable shape once converted

The right response to a poor photograph is not to refuse the order — it is to manage it. Offer a crop to isolate the subject, a larger canvas so segments stay paintable, or an illustrated treatment that simplifies detail. Sellers who guide the customer at upload get far fewer refunds than those who accept anything and print it.

Colour count: the decision that matters most

An automated conversion will happily produce 45 colours from a photograph, because more colours means a closer match to the source. That is the wrong optimisation. More colours means smaller segments, more pots each holding less paint, more pot-swapping, and a higher chance the painter runs out of a colour halfway through.

Canvas size	Recommended colours	Pot size	Difficulty	Best subject
20 × 30 cm	12–18	3 ml	Beginner	Single pet, one face, simple object
30 × 40 cm	18–24	3 ml	Beginner–intermediate	Pet portrait, couple, house
40 × 50 cm	22–30	3 ml, 5 ml for dark areas	Intermediate	Family pet, wedding, landscape with a subject
50 × 65 cm	28–38	5 ml	Intermediate–advanced	Detailed scenes, group portraits, memorials

Our designers reduce the automatic colour count as a standard step, merging shades that are visually adjacent and enlarging the resulting segments. It costs a few minutes per order and it is the difference between a finished painting and an abandoned one. Full component specifications are in the quality guide.

The production pipeline for single-unit orders

Two years ago each photo kit needed twenty minutes of a designer's time, which made single-unit personalisation uneconomic. The pipeline that changed this has six stages, with a human reviewing exceptions only:

1. Ingest. The customer's photograph arrives with the order, at a minimum resolution check.
2. Segment. Subject-aware segmentation isolates the main subject from the background, so detail is preserved where it matters and simplified where it does not.
3. Quantise. Colours are reduced to the target count for the canvas size, merging perceptually adjacent shades.
4. Enlarge and place. Segments below a minimum paintable area are merged into neighbours; numbers are placed in the largest region of each segment and sized for legibility.
5. Human review. A designer checks faces, eyes, hands and any high-salience region — the areas where an artefact is unforgivable — and corrects. This step is what separates a good photo kit from a bad one and it cannot be removed.
6. Proof and print. A proof is sent to the customer for approval where the seller's workflow requires it, then the canvas is printed, paints are matched to the generated palette, and the kit is assembled and shipped.

End to end this runs in 3–5 days including dispatch. Sellers handling more than about 500 personalised orders a month can move to a fully automated flow with exception handling, which shortens it further.

How to sell it: listing and customer flow

• Show the transformation, not the product. The most effective creative is a before-and-after: photograph, then numbered outline, then finished painting. It explains the offer in two seconds.
• Set photo guidance at upload. Tell customers what makes a good photo — one clear subject, good light, close crop. This single UI element reduces refunds measurably.
• Offer a proof approval step. It adds a day and removes almost all "it doesn't look like my dog" disputes. Worth it at a $59.99 price point.
• Lead with occasion, not craft. Memorial and remembrance, wedding anniversary, new home, a first pet, a baby milestone. These buyers are not comparing prices.
• Offer an upsell to framed or a larger canvas. Customers buying a memorial piece will pay for 50 × 65 cm and framing far more readily than a hobby buyer will.
• Ask for the finished-painting photo. Customers of personalised kits share results at a much higher rate than buyers of generic designs, and that user content is your cheapest creative.

If you fulfil these through our dropshipping programme, there is no minimum order — each personalised kit is produced and blind-shipped individually with your thank-you card in the parcel.

The problems sellers hit, and how to avoid them

• Unusable photographs. Solved by upload guidance, an automatic resolution and quality check, and a human who can request a better image before printing rather than after.
• Expectation mismatch on likeness. A paint by numbers kit is a painting, not a photograph. Say so on the product page, in the proof, and in the confirmation email. Sellers who frame it as an artistic interpretation get delighted customers; those who imply photographic accuracy get refunds.
• Longer dispatch than standard kits. Personalised orders take 3–5 days to dispatch against 24–48 hours. State it separately on the personalised product page so the estimate is accurate.
• Privacy concerns about uploaded photographs. Publish a clear statement: images are used only to produce that order, are not reused, are not added to any design library, and are deleted after the warranty period. This is our position and it is written into section 3.2 of our privacy policy, which you can point customers to.
• Rights and sensitive content. You may only use photographs the customer has the right to supply. Decline third-party artwork, celebrity imagery and content that infringes — a position we enforce on every order.

Frequently asked questions

What resolution photo do I need for a custom paint by numbers kit?

At least 2,000 pixels on the long edge for a 40 × 50 cm canvas, ideally 3,000 or more. Higher resolution matters less than good subject separation and even lighting — a sharp 2,500 pixel photo of one well-lit dog converts better than a noisy 6,000 pixel photo of a crowd.

Can you make a kit from a group photo or a wedding photograph?

Yes, on a larger canvas. Group and wedding subjects need 30–38 colours and a 50 × 65 cm or larger format so each face keeps enough segments to be recognisable. On a 40 × 50 cm canvas we would recommend cropping to the couple rather than including the whole group.

What is the minimum order for custom photo kits?

One. Personalised kits are produced per order and shipped individually, so there is no MOQ under our dropshipping programme. If you want a private label personalised range with your branded packaging, printed boxes start at 500 units — see the OEM and private label page.

How long does a custom photo kit take?

3–5 days from receiving the photograph to dispatch, including design conversion and human review. Add a proof approval step if your workflow uses one, which adds 1–2 days. Transit to the customer is then 9–16 days to North America or 10–18 days to Europe by tracked economy.

What retail price should I set?

$49.99–$69.99 for a 40 × 50 cm personalised kit, and $79.99–$99.99 for 50 × 65 cm or framed. The market supports this because there is no identical listing to compare against. Testing shows conversion is far more sensitive to the quality of your before-and-after creative than to a $10 price difference.

Do you keep customers' photographs?

Only as long as needed to produce the order and cover the warranty period. Images are not added to our design library, not reused for other customers, not used for marketing, and can be deleted on request. The full position is in our privacy policy.

Related reading

• The paint by numbers dropshipping playbook for Shopify sellers
• Paint by numbers quality guide: canvas, acrylic paint and brush specs
• Private label vs white label paint by numbers
• All sourcing guides and industry analysis →

Q4 Planning: Lead Times for Paint by Numbers Wholesale Orders

Written by the production planning team at Art Painting by Numbers, Tianjin · Updated October 2026 · 10 min read

To have wholesale paint by numbers stock on your shelf for the holiday season, your order must reach the factory by late July for sea freight or mid-September for air. Those two dates are the whole article in one sentence. Everything below explains why they are what they are, and how to recover if you have already missed them.

Every year we watch buyers place Q4 orders in October, then pay three to ten times the freight to fix a problem that was created by a calendar. The category has a hard seasonal peak, factories across China compete for the same production windows, and the Chinese New Year shutdown then collides with the following quarter. Planning against that reality is not pessimism; it is the difference between 30 cents and $2.60 of freight per kit.

The full timeline, backwards from delivery

Work backwards from the date you need stock in your warehouse, not forwards from the date you feel ready to order. For a custom design with printed packaging, sold online from 1 November:

Stage	Duration	Finish by (sea)	Finish by (air)
Stock available for sale	—	1 November	1 November
Import clearance and inland delivery to your warehouse	5–10 days	22 October	22 October
Ocean or air transit	25–40 days sea / 6–12 days air	12 October	10 October
Production	15–20 days for a custom printed-box order	22 September	22 September
Pre-production sample approval	3–5 working days	2 September	2 September
Digital proof and revisions	2–5 working days	26 August	26 August
Artwork, barcode and label files supplied	Buyer's task	18 August	18 August
Deposit paid and order confirmed	—	Late July	Mid-September

Two things stand out. First, the buyer's own tasks — supplying vector artwork, barcode numbers, packaging copy and compliance information — consume more calendar than most people expect, and they are the most common cause of a slip. Second, sample approval cannot be compressed safely. Skipping it saves four days and risks an entire order.

Why the peak season is expensive

• Factory capacity tightens from September. Every craft, toy and gift manufacturer in China is chasing the same October and November production slots. Our standard 8–15 day lead time becomes 15–25 days for orders confirmed after mid-September.
• Freight rates rise into peak season. Carriers apply peak season surcharges, usually from August or September, and space on westbound routes becomes scarce in October and November. A 40ft HQ booked in July can cost substantially less than the same box booked in October.
• Port congestion compounds. Destination ports handle their own seasonal peak simultaneously, so the 25–35 day transit estimate can extend by a week or more in November and December.
• Air freight becomes the only lever. Buyers who miss the sea deadline pay air rates — roughly $1.90–$2.60 per 40 × 50 cm kit instead of $0.28–$0.42 by LCL. That is more than the product cost.

The freight comparison is set out with working maths in FOB Tianjin explained.

The Chinese New Year trap

Chinese New Year falls between late January and mid-February depending on the year, and its effect on supply is much larger than the holiday itself. Factories begin winding down ten to fourteen days before the official holiday as workers travel home, and take two to three weeks afterwards to return to full staffing — many workers do not come back at all, so February and March are often spent recruiting and retraining.

Practical rule: any order you need delivered before the end of February must be confirmed by early December. Any order confirmed in January arrives, realistically, in March or April. Buyers who treat the shutdown as two weeks are consistently a month behind.

Period	Factory status	Realistic lead time
September – mid-October	Peak season, capacity constrained	15–25 days
Late October – November	Peak easing, freight still high	12–20 days
December – early January	Normal capacity, best window of the year	8–15 days
Mid-January – pre-CNY	Winding down, workers departing	Confirm only what can ship before the holiday
Chinese New Year, 2–3 weeks	Closed	No production
2–4 weeks post-CNY	Restarting, staffing recovery	15–25 days
March – August	Normal, best rates and capacity	8–15 days

The December-to-early-January window is the best of the year: capacity is free, freight has come off its peak, and lead times return to 8–15 days. Buyers who plan Q1 and Mother's Day ranges in that window get the fastest service and the lowest cost of the entire cycle.

A year-round ordering calendar

Sell into	Confirm order by (sea)	Confirm order by (air)	Notes
Valentine's Day, 14 February	Early October	Early December	Collides with CNY — order earlier than feels necessary
Easter, March–April	November	January	Post-CNY restart risk; build a buffer
Mother's Day, May	Early February	Mid March	Florals and personalisation; strong gifting season
Summer, June–August	March	May	Coastal, garden, travel and kids' ranges
Back to school, September	May	July	Kids' kits, lower colour counts
Halloween, October	June	August	Dark palettes, gothic themes
Black Friday and Christmas	Late July	Mid September	The deadline that matters most
January wellness push	September	November	New Year resolution demand; mindfulness positioning

If you have already missed the deadline

It happens, and there are four ways to recover, in order of preference:

1. Split the shipment. Produce the full order but air-freight the first 20% to cover launch and promotions, and let the balance follow by sea. You pay air rates on a fifth of the volume instead of all of it — often the cheapest recovery available.
2. Drop the printed box for this run. A custom box adds 3–5 days and a 500-set MOQ. A kraft mailer with your printed sleeve ships faster and at a lower quantity, which buys back a week or two.
3. Buy from the ready design library. Designs that are already converted and colour-matched produce in 8–10 days instead of 15–20. Add your thank-you card and label, and you have a branded product on a white label timeline.
4. Start on dropshipping while stock is in transit. List the designs, sell them, and let us fulfil single orders direct to your customers. You begin generating revenue and reviews immediately, then switch to your own stock when it lands. Our dropshipping programme has no minimum order, which is what makes this workable as a bridge rather than a compromise.

That fourth option is genuinely useful rather than a consolation. Sellers who bridge with dropshipping keep their advertising account warm, accumulate reviews before stock arrives, and learn which designs actually sell before the container lands.

How to shorten your own part of the timeline

• Send vector artwork (AI, EPS, SVG or PDF) rather than a raster logo. A low-resolution JPEG forces a redraw and costs days.
• Have barcode numbers ready before you order. Buying EAN or UPC codes from your national numbering body can take a week.
• Decide your compliance market early. If you need EN71-3 or ASTM F963 testing, add 7–10 days for laboratory turnaround and book it at proof stage rather than after production.
• Approve proofs fast. Production lead time runs from written approval, not from order. A three-day internal review delay is a three-day shipping delay.
• Keep an approved reference on file. Repeat orders of an existing design skip proofing and sampling entirely and ship in 8 days. This is the single biggest lead-time advantage available to an established brand.

Frequently asked questions

What is the last date to order paint by numbers stock for Christmas?

Late July for sea freight and mid-September for air freight, assuming a custom design with printed packaging and stock needed by 1 November. For a ready-library design in standard packaging you can push those dates roughly three weeks later. After mid-October, sea is no longer viable for holiday selling.

Does your lead time really stay at 8–15 days in peak season?

For orders confirmed before mid-September, yes. After that, capacity constraints across the category mean 15–25 days is the honest figure, and we will tell you so at quotation rather than promising a date we cannot hold. Repeat orders of existing designs stay closest to 8 days even in peak.

How long is the factory closed for Chinese New Year?

The official holiday is about a week, but the practical shutdown runs four to six weeks: production winds down ten to fourteen days beforehand as workers travel, and full staffing takes two to three weeks to return afterwards. Plan as though the factory is unavailable for six weeks from late January.

Can I split an order between air and sea to save money?

Yes, and it is the standard recovery move. Air-freight the quantity you need to launch and promote, and let the balance follow by sea. You pay premium rates on a fraction of the volume. We will produce both consignments from one run and pack them separately with distinct carton markings.

Should I hold safety stock?

For your three best-selling designs, yes — enough to cover one full replenishment cycle, which is roughly six to eight weeks from order confirmation to shelf. That buffer is what lets you absorb a production slip, a port congestion event or an unexpected demand spike from a viral post without going out of stock. Depth beyond that ties up cash for little additional protection.

Related reading

• FOB Tianjin explained: shipping paint by numbers from China
• Paint by numbers trends 2026: what buyers should stock now
• Paint by numbers MOQ explained
• All sourcing guides and industry analysis →

FOB Tianjin Explained: Shipping Paint by Numbers from China

Written by the export and logistics team at Art Painting by Numbers, Tianjin · Updated October 2026 · 12 min read

FOB Tianjin means we deliver the goods, cleared for export, alongside the vessel you nominate at the port of Tianjin Xingang — and from that moment the cost, risk and paperwork of the main carriage are yours. It is our default Incoterm, and for most buyers it is the right one, because it puts you in control of freight pricing without asking you to manage Chinese export formalities you cannot handle from abroad.

Incoterms are the most misunderstood part of an international quotation. Two suppliers can quote the same dollar figure and mean completely different things by it. This article sets out who does what under each term, and then works through the specific logistics of paint by numbers — a product that is light, bulky and easy to ship badly.

Why Tianjin matters for a buyer

Tianjin is one of northern China's largest container ports and the principal seaport serving Beijing, Hebei, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia. Our factory is roughly an hour's drive from Tianjin Xingang, which has three practical consequences:

• Inland haulage is short and cheap. Trucking from a Guangdong factory to Shenzhen or Yantian is often longer and more congested than our run to Xingang. On a light, bulky product the inland leg is a real share of total cost.
• Cut-off pressure is lower. A one-hour inland leg means a production delay is less likely to miss a vessel, which matters when you are working against a seasonal deadline.
• Air and rail alternatives exist. Tianjin Binhai International airport handles air freight, and Tianjin is a departure point on the China–Europe rail corridor, which gives EU buyers an 18–25 day option between sea and air.

Incoterms compared

Term	We handle	You handle	Risk passes	Use when
EXW Tianjin	Make goods available at the factory	Everything from our door: inland haulage, export clearance, freight, insurance, import	At our factory	You have a strong forwarder in China and want maximum control
FOB Tianjin	Inland haulage, export clearance, port charges, delivery alongside the vessel	Main carriage, insurance, import clearance, duty, onward delivery	On board at Tianjin Xingang	Default. Best balance of control and simplicity
CFR / CIF	All of FOB plus ocean freight (CIF adds insurance)	Import clearance, duty, onward delivery	On board at Tianjin	You want one price to your port and no freight sourcing
DDP	Everything, to your door or FBA warehouse, duty and tax paid	Nothing but unloading	At your named place	You want zero logistics work and accept a higher price

A common error is comparing a FOB price against a CIF price as though they were equivalent. A $1.42 FOB quote and a $1.80 CIF quote may be the identical deal — the difference is simply ocean freight. Always ask which term a number is quoted on before comparing suppliers.

Paint by numbers ships on volume, not weight

This single fact changes almost every shipping decision. A 40 × 50 cm kit weighs around 380 g but occupies roughly 3,500 cm³ packed flat. Its density is about 108 kg per cubic metre — far below the 1,000 kg/m³ that carriers treat as the break-even between weight-based and volume-based pricing. So you pay for space, and every centimetre of packaging thickness costs you money.

Freight is therefore charged on the greater of actual weight or volumetric weight. For air and express, volumetric weight is normally calculated as length × width × height in centimetres divided by 5,000 (some carriers use 6,000). A 54 × 44 × 28 cm export carton has a volumetric weight of about 13.3 kg against an actual gross weight of 15.5 kg for 40 kits — here the real weight wins, but for lighter kits the reverse is common and surprises buyers.

Practical consequences

• Rolled canvas beats framed, by a wide margin. A framed 40 × 50 cm kit occupies roughly four times the volume of a rolled one, which can quadruple the freight per unit. Frame locally, or ship framed only for premium lines where the retail price absorbs it.
• Box thickness is a freight cost. A rigid gift box with a foam insert may look excellent and cost $0.20 per cubic centimetre of freight you did not plan for. Measure the finished packed carton, not the product.
• Pack tight, but do not crush. Under-filled cartons ship air. Over-compressed cartons damage frames and crack paint pots. The right answer is a correctly sized carton with a folded card or moulded pulp insert that immobilises the components.
• Consolidate categories. We produce diamond painting, felt painting and punch-needle kits on adjacent lines. Combining them into one shipment spreads fixed freight across more units.

Carton and container figures

Kit	Carton size	Sets per carton	Carton volume	Gross weight	Sets per 20ft	Sets per 40ft HQ
20 × 30 cm rolled	34 × 24 × 22 cm	60	0.018 m³	11.5 kg	≈ 46,800	≈ 99,000
30 × 40 cm rolled	44 × 34 × 26 cm	40	0.039 m³	12.0 kg	≈ 19,200	≈ 40,800
40 × 50 cm rolled	54 × 44 × 28 cm	40	0.067 m³	15.5 kg	≈ 14,000	≈ 29,600
40 × 50 cm framed	56 × 46 × 44 cm	20	0.113 m³	16.5 kg	≈ 3,800	≈ 8,000

A 20ft container holds about 28 m³ of usable space and a 40ft HQ about 68 m³, but stowage is never perfect. Treat these as planning estimates and confirm exact counts against your chosen designs before booking.

The framed figure is the one to notice: 3,800 sets in a 20ft container against 14,000 for rolled. Framing nearly quadruples your freight per unit, which is why framed kits are usually a premium line rather than a core one.

Shipping methods and transit times

Method	Transit	Cost for 1,000 sets of 40 × 50 cm rolled	Cost per kit	Best for
International express (DHL, FedEx, UPS)	4–8 days	$3,800 – $5,200	$3.80 – $5.20	Samples, urgent restocks, orders under 150 kg
Air freight	6–12 days	$1,900 – $2,600	$1.90 – $2.60	Seasonal deadlines, mid-size orders
Sea LCL consolidation	25–40 days	$280 – $420	$0.28 – $0.42	1–5 m³, planned buying
Sea FCL 20ft	25–45 days	Quoted per sailing	Falls sharply with volume	Full container loads
China–Europe rail	18–25 days	Quoted per sailing	Between sea and air	EU buyers avoiding air rates

Sea LCL costs roughly one seventh of express per unit. That gap is why planning matters more than negotiating: the difference between ordering Q4 stock in July and ordering it in October is often several dollars per kit, which is more than most buyers save on product price in a year.

Duty, tax and de minimis

Import duty depends on your country's tariff classification for printed canvas art and craft kits, and on any preferential origin arrangement in force. Rules and thresholds change frequently, so verify the current position with your customs broker before you commit. General shape as we write:

• United States — duty varies by classification and by the trade measures in force at the time of entry. The de minimis treatment of low-value parcels has been tightened significantly in recent years, which materially affects single-parcel dropshipping economics. Confirm the current position with your broker before you price a dropshipping offer.
• United Kingdom — VAT is collected on import for consignments above the low-value threshold; parcels below it are generally handled by the carrier under a simplified scheme.
• European Union — the €150 duty exemption applies to many craft goods, but import VAT is due on all commercial imports and is collected through IOSS for parcels or at the border for freight.
• Australia, Canada, Japan — low-value thresholds exist but are lower than many buyers assume, and GST or consumption tax applies.

Two rules we will not break: we declare goods accurately, and we will not under-declare value or misdescribe contents at a buyer's request. Under-declaration is customs fraud in the destination country, it exposes you to seizure, penalties and marketplace suspension, and it puts our export licence at risk. If duty is a problem, the solutions are classification review, origin preferential treatment, freight method or order structure — all legitimate and several of them effective.

Documents you will need

• Commercial invoice — seller, buyer, description, quantity, unit and total value, Incoterm, currency, country of origin
• Packing list — carton count, dimensions, gross and net weight per carton, contents by item code
• Bill of lading (sea) or air waybill (air) — the transport document and, for a negotiable B/L, the document of title
• Certificate of origin — general, or a preferential form where an arrangement applies
• Test reports — EN71-3, ASTM F963, CPSIA, REACH, where your market or retailer requires them
• Fumigation or wood packaging certificate — only if your shipment uses wooden crates or pallets; our standard export cartons do not
• Insurance certificate — under CIF we arrange it; under FOB and CFR it is your responsibility, and it is worth buying

We supply all documents within our control on the day of shipment, in PDF, and originals by courier where your bank or broker requires them.

Frequently asked questions

What does FOB Tianjin include exactly?

Product cost, our inland haulage from the factory to Tianjin Xingang, Chinese export customs clearance, export documentation, port handling charges and loading alongside or on board the vessel you nominate. It excludes ocean or air freight, marine insurance, import clearance, duty and tax, and onward delivery in your country.

Should I use FOB or DDP?

FOB if you have or can appoint a freight forwarder, because you will see the true freight cost and can shop it. DDP if you want one landed price and no logistics work — it costs more, but for a first order or a small business without a forwarder, the simplicity is often worth it. We quote both.

Can you ship direct to an Amazon FBA warehouse?

Yes, DDP to your nominated FBA warehouse, with FNSKU labels applied at kitting stage, poly-bags with suffocation warnings where required, and cartons built to Amazon's size and weight limits so they are received without issue. Send your listing plan and we will confirm carton dimensions against current FBA requirements.

How long does sea freight from Tianjin take?

Typically 25–35 days to a US west coast port, 32–45 days to US east coast, 30–40 days to major northern European ports, 20–30 days to Australia's east coast, and 18–25 days by rail to Europe. These are port-to-port; add time for inland haulage at both ends and for import clearance.

Is insurance worth buying?

Yes, on any sea shipment. Marine cargo insurance for craft goods typically costs 0.3–0.6% of the insured value. Against a $1,500 order that is under $10, and it covers water damage, carton crushing, theft and general average contributions — all of which are the buyer's risk once goods are on board under FOB.

What happens if the vessel is delayed or the goods are damaged in transit?

Under FOB, risk passes to you once goods are on board, so transit delay and damage are for your account and your insurer. We will support you with documents, photographs taken at loading, and liaison with the carrier or forwarder — but the claim is yours. This is the trade-off for controlling your own freight, and it is why insurance matters.

Related reading

• Q4 planning: lead times for paint by numbers wholesale orders
• Paint by numbers MOQ explained
• How to vet a paint by numbers supplier in China
• All sourcing guides and industry analysis →

Paint by Numbers Trends 2026: What Buyers Should Stock Now

Written by the design team at Art Painting by Numbers, Tianjin · Updated October 2026 · 11 min read

Five shifts are changing what sells in paint by numbers in 2026: personalisation, accessibility for older painters, wellness positioning, premium gifting formats, and short-form video as the primary discovery channel. Generic landscape kits remain the volume base, but growth and margin are concentrated in these five.

These observations come from what our design team is being asked to convert, which designs our wholesale buyers reorder, and which specifications buyers now request without being prompted. It is factory-floor data rather than survey data, and it is directional — treat it as a stocking guide, not a forecast.

Trend 1: Personalisation has become the default premium tier

Custom photo kits moved from a novelty to a standard offer. The driver is simple economics: a kit made from the buyer's own photograph has no identical competing listing, so it does not compete on price. Factory cost is around $8.50 per unit against $5.40 for a stocked dropship kit, and retail sits at $49.99–$89.99 rather than $24.99–$34.99.

What has changed technically is that per-order conversion can now be automated. Two years ago each photo needed a designer's hands for twenty minutes. Today a pipeline can convert, optimise the colour count and produce a proof for customer approval with a human checking exceptions only. That is what makes single-unit personalisation commercially viable.

What to stock: pet portraits, weddings and engagements, family homes, memorial and remembrance pieces, and baby milestones. Remembrance is the fastest-growing sub-segment and the one where price sensitivity is lowest.

Full unit economics are in custom photo paint by numbers.

Trend 2: Accessibility is an unserved market

A large share of paint by numbers buyers are over fifty, and a meaningful share are over seventy. Almost every kit on the market is designed for good eyesight and steady hands. The gap is wide and the fix costs almost nothing:

• Numbers printed at 5–6 mm instead of 4 mm
• Higher-contrast outlines in dark grey rather than light grey, with larger segment areas
• Fewer colours — 14 to 18 — so there is less pot-swapping and less chance of error
• 5 ml pots, which are easier to open and less likely to dry between sessions
• Thicker brush handles with a soft-grip section, and ergonomic rather than tapered shapes
• Larger print on the reference card and instruction card, minimum 12 pt

None of these are expensive. Together they add perhaps $0.20 per kit and support a distinct product line aimed at an audience with high disposable income and strong loyalty. Care homes, retirement communities, occupational therapy practices and hospital activity programmes are all viable B2B channels for this range.

Trend 3: Wellness positioning has replaced hobby positioning

Copy that sold this product in 2019 described a craft activity. Copy that sells it in 2026 describes stress reduction, screen-free time, mindfulness and flow state. The product did not change; the framing did, and the framing reaches a much larger audience — including people who would never describe themselves as crafty.

Practical implications for buyers:

• Instruction cards should include guidance, not just rules. A short note on working in sessions, not needing to finish in one sitting, and how to store open pots converts a product manual into a wellness tool.
• Calm, muted palettes outperform saturated ones in this positioning — sage, terracotta, dusty blue, oat, deep green.
• Corporate wellness gifting is a growing B2B channel. Employers buy branded kits in volume for remote teams, and the MOQ for a corporate run is usually 500–1,000 units of one design.
• Subscription formats work. A monthly kit with a themed design and a printed prompt retains better than one-off sales, because the customer is buying a ritual.

Trend 4: Premium gifting formats command real price increases

Format	Adds per unit	Supports retail price	Best season
Printed colour box, matte laminated with spot UV	$0.18–$0.35	$29.99–$39.99	Year-round
Framed canvas with kiln-dried pine stretcher	$1.20–$1.80	$44.99–$64.99	Q4, Mother's Day
Rigid magnetic gift box with foam insert	$0.55–$1.20	$59.99–$89.99	Q4, corporate gifting
Multi-canvas gift set, 3–4 designs	$3.00–$6.00	$69.99–$119.99	Q4
Letterpress-style insert and wax-seal detail	$0.25–$0.45	+$10 on any format	Wedding, anniversary

The rigid gift box is the highest-leverage change for a brand aiming above $59.99 retail, but it carries a 1,000-set MOQ and $150–$300 of dieline setup. Test the price point with a printed colour box first. Specification detail is on the OEM and private label page.

Trend 5: Discovery happens in short-form video

TikTok Shop and Reels have become the main way new customers find this product, and the category is unusually well suited to video: the time-lapse of a canvas filling with colour is intrinsically watchable, and the finished result is a visible, hangable object.

What that changes for sourcing:

• Demand arrives in spikes, not curves. One video can move 500 units in a week. A supplier who can restock a proven design in 8 days is worth more than one who is $0.10 cheaper with a 25-day lead time.
• The unboxing is content. Packaging that photographs well — a printed sleeve, a wax seal, a nicely laid-out interior — generates free creative. Budget for it as marketing, not as packaging.
• Visual distinctiveness beats realism. Designs with a strong graphic identity read better on a phone screen at speed than subtle painterly ones. Bold shapes, limited palettes, high contrast.
• Creator seeding needs samples fast. Being able to courier ten kits to ten creators in a week is a commercial capability, not just a marketing one.

Our repeat-order lead time of 8 days exists precisely because buyers on this channel cannot wait 25. Planning around spikes is covered in Q4 lead time planning.

Design themes performing well right now

Request the current design catalogue with thumbnails, sizes and colour counts from the contact page, or send a mood board and our designers will build a bespoke range free of charge.

A stocking calendar for 2026–27

Sell into	Order by (sea)	Order by (air)	Themes
Mother's Day, May	Early February	Mid March	Florals, personalisation, premium gifting
Summer, June–August	March	May	Coastal, gardens, travel, kids' ranges
Halloween, October	June	August	Gothic, skulls, autumn, dark palettes
Q4 holiday, November–December	Late July	Mid September	Christmas, winter scenes, gift sets, premium boxes
Chinese New Year gift, February	October	December	Red and gold palettes, zodiac animals
Valentine's, February	October	Early December	Couples, hearts, romantic landscapes

Note the July deadline for Q4. Factory capacity across the category tightens sharply from September, and Chinese New Year closures in February affect the following quarter. Missing the sea deadline usually means paying for air, which can exceed the product cost on a light, bulky item like this. The full working is in FOB Tianjin explained.

Frequently asked questions

Is the paint by numbers market still growing in 2026?

Yes, but growth is concentrated in personalisation, wellness-positioned ranges and premium gifting rather than in generic designs. The volume base is flat and price-led; the margin growth is in differentiated product. New entrants should not plan to compete on price against established marketplace sellers.

What sells best: framed or unframed kits?

Unframed, by volume, because it is cheaper to ship and most buyers frame their own finished work. Framed sells better as a gift and at premium price points, particularly in Q4. Stock unframed as your core line and offer framed as an upgrade on your best three designs.

Which sizes should a new brand stock?

40 × 50 cm as the core, 30 × 40 cm as an entry price point, and 20 × 20 cm or a mini kit as an add-on or impulse purchase. Three sizes covers most demand without fragmenting inventory. Add 50 × 65 cm only once a design is proven, because large canvases are expensive to ship per unit.

Are diamond painting kits still worth adding?

As a complementary line, yes — the audience overlaps heavily and the same packaging and freight can carry both. Diamond painting has a lower average price and higher unit volume, so it works best alongside rather than instead of a paint by numbers range. We produce both on adjacent lines, which allows consolidated shipping.

How far ahead should I order seasonal stock?

Five months for Q4 by sea, three months by air. Add a month of buffer if your design requires custom artwork or a printed box, since proofing and sampling add two to three weeks before production starts. Full reasoning and the calendar are in Q4 planning.

Related reading

• Paint by numbers quality guide: canvas, acrylic paint and brush specs
• Q4 planning: lead times for paint by numbers wholesale orders
• Custom photo paint by numbers: the highest-margin kit you can sell
• All sourcing guides and industry analysis →

Paint by Numbers Quality Guide: Canvas, Acrylic Paint & Brush Specs

Written by the production and QC team at Art Painting by Numbers, Tianjin · Updated October 2026 · 13 min read

Three components decide whether a customer finishes a paint by numbers kit or abandons it: the opacity of the acrylic paint, the elasticity of the brush filament, and the coating of the canvas. Everything else — box finish, insert design, canvas size — affects how the product sells. These three affect whether it works.

None of them are visible in a product photograph, which is exactly why they get cut first when a buyer asks a supplier to hit a lower price. This guide is the specification sheet we use internally, written so a buyer can quote it back to any factory and get a comparable answer.

Canvas

The canvas carries the printed numbered outline, which is the reference the painter depends on for hours. Two failure modes matter: numbers bleeding when wet paint touches them, and the surface not holding acrylic properly so colour lifts or beads.

Grade	Material	Weight	Coating	Use for	Relative cost
Economy	Poly-cotton blend	230–260 gsm	Single-side light primer	Mini kits, promotional items, low price points	1.0×
Standard	Cotton-blend	280–320 gsm	Double-side acrylic primer	Most retail kits, 20 × 30 to 40 × 50 cm	1.25×
Premium	Pure cotton	340–380 gsm	Triple-coat, archival-grade	Premium and gift ranges, framed kits	1.6×
Artist	Linen	380–450 gsm	Triple-coat with sizing	Large format, high retail price, art-market positioning	2.4×

What to specify: at least 280 gsm cotton-blend with a double-side acrylic primer for any retail kit above 20 × 30 cm. Below that weight the canvas wrinkles when paint is applied and the print registration shifts visibly.

What to check on a sample: brush a wet stroke of dark paint directly across a printed number and wait two minutes. If the number is still legible through the dried paint, the coating is right. Then flex the canvas sharply — a properly primed surface cracks at the fold rather than flaking.

Print quality on the canvas

• Line weight — 0.3–0.5 mm for main outlines, 0.2 mm for internal divisions. Thinner than 0.2 mm disappears under one coat of paint.
• Number size — 4 mm minimum for a 40 × 50 cm canvas; 5–6 mm for an accessible or senior range. This is the most common complaint from painters over fifty and the cheapest thing to fix.
• Outline colour — light grey, not black. Black outlines require two coats of paint to cover and produce a muddy result in pale areas.
• Registration — within ±0.5 mm. Misregistration puts a number in the wrong segment, which is unrecoverable for the painter.
• Resolution — source artwork at 300 dpi at final print size. Anything less produces soft number edges that bleed.

Acrylic paint

Paint is where cheap kits fail most visibly, because the failure happens in the customer's hands, hours after delivery, and they blame themselves before they blame the product.

Opacity and pigment load

The critical specification is single-coat coverage over a printed dark outline. Low-pigment acrylic needs three coats, which means the painter runs out of paint two thirds of the way through — the most common cause of an unfinished kit and a bad review. Ask a supplier for the pigment load as a percentage, or simply test it: paint one coat over a black outline on the sample and hold it up to daylight.

Viscosity and open time

Paint should flow from a fine brush without dripping and stay workable for 8–12 minutes on the palette. Too thick and it will not level in small segments; too thin and it runs outside the outline. Fast-drying formulations frustrate blending in sky and water areas. Our standard formulation is a medium-viscosity acrylic with a retarder that keeps open time around ten minutes.

Pot size, sealing and shelf life

Pot volume	Suitable canvas	Colours typical	Notes
2 ml	10 × 15 and 20 × 20 cm	Up to 18	Tight for darker palettes; specify 3 ml if coverage matters
3 ml	20 × 30 to 40 × 50 cm	18–30	Our standard. Balances cost, coverage and parcel weight
5 ml	40 × 50 cm and above	24–40	Use for large skies, dark backgrounds or high-coverage designs
8 ml	50 × 65 cm and above	Any	Premium and large-format ranges

Sealing is what determines whether paint arrives wet. Every pot must be foil-sealed under the screw cap and the strip vacuum-packed. Unsealed pots lose moisture through the cap thread in transit and arrive as a rubbery plug. Target shelf life is 24 months sealed, 3–6 months once opened — worth printing on the instruction card, because painters who leave a kit open for a year and then complain have a legitimate grievance they cannot diagnose.

Safety

Water-based, non-toxic acrylic is the baseline. Where you sell to children or into regulated markets, specify third-party testing: EN71-3 for migration of heavy metals in the EU, ASTM F963 and CPSIA for lead and phthalate limits in the United States, and REACH for chemical restrictions. Reports should be issued in your company name where a retailer or marketplace requires it. We arrange testing through accredited laboratories and supply the reports with your shipment — see our standards and compliance section.

Brushes

The brush is the component customers mention most often in reviews, positively and negatively, because it is the thing their hand holds for three hours.

Specification	Economy	Standard	Premium
Filament	Standard nylon	High-elasticity nylon	Sable-blend or tapered nylon
Tip recovery	Splays permanently within 10 minutes	Returns to a point after pressure	Holds a point through a full session
Ferrule	Aluminium, crimped	Aluminium, double-crimped, corrosion resistant	Nickel-plated, seamless
Handle	Painted wood, short	Kiln-dried hardwood, balanced length	Lacquered or laser-engraved hardwood
Shapes supplied	2 round	3 — flat, round, detail	4–5 — flat, round, detail, liner, fan
Cost impact per kit	baseline	+$0.06	+$0.18

The single best upgrade you can buy is moving from standard nylon to high-elasticity filament. It costs about $0.06 per kit and eliminates the most frequent negative review in this category. If you sell at a premium price point, add a tapered liner brush for fine detail — another $0.12 that experienced painters notice immediately.

How to test: wet the brush, load it with paint, press firmly onto a hard surface for five seconds, release, and watch the tip. A good filament snaps back to a point within two seconds. A poor one stays splayed and never recovers, which means the painter cannot do detail work for the rest of the kit.

Frames, packaging and the rest

• Stretcher bars — kiln-dried pine, moisture content below 12%, mitred and stapled. Green or unseasoned wood warps in transit and in a heated home, which pulls the canvas out of square.
• Box board — 300–350 gsm for a standard printed box, 1,200 gsm greyboard wrapped for a rigid gift box. Corrugated E-flute where the kit ships direct to a consumer without an outer carton.
• Inserts — moulded pulp or folded card to stop components moving. Movement causes paint pots to crack open, which is the most common transit damage claim.
• Reference card — printed at 200–250 gsm, matte laminated so paint drops wipe off. A gloss-laminated card holds fingerprints and glare.
• Export carton — double-wall corrugated, 5-ply, with the design item code and quantity printed on two adjacent faces so a warehouse can identify it without opening.

Carton dimensions and container planning figures are on the wholesale page.

Where it is safe to economise

Hitting a target price is a legitimate goal. These cuts do not damage the painting experience:

• Reducing colour count from 30 to 22 — often improves the experience, because segments get larger
• Rolled canvas instead of framed — the largest single cost saving, and most buyers frame their own finished work anyway
• Kraft mailer instead of a litho-printed box, with a printed sleeve for shelf impact
• Two brushes instead of three, provided one is a good detail brush
• Standard cotton-blend canvas instead of pure cotton, for canvases under 40 × 50 cm

These cuts damage it: unsealed paint pots, standard-nylon brushes on a kit with fine detail, sub-280 gsm canvas above 30 × 40 cm, black printed outlines, and numbers smaller than 4 mm on a full-size canvas. Each one produces a review that says the product was impossible to finish — and the reviewer will be right.

A specification you can send to any supplier

Copy this into an enquiry and you will get comparable quotes instead of vague ones:

Canvas: cotton-blend, 300 gsm, double-side acrylic primer,
        40 x 50 cm, rolled with protective interleaving
Print:  light grey outlines 0.3-0.5 mm, numbers 4 mm minimum,
        registration within 0.5 mm, 300 dpi source
Paint:  water-based acrylic, single-coat coverage over printed outline,
        medium viscosity, 10-minute open time, 3 ml pots,
        foil-sealed and vacuum-strip packed, 24 colours
Brush:  3 pcs high-elasticity nylon - flat, round, detail;
        double-crimped aluminium ferrule; kiln-dried hardwood handle
Cards:  colour reference sheet 250 gsm matte laminated;
        line-art guide card; printed thank-you card with QR
Pack:   kraft mailer with printed full-wrap sleeve;
        folded card insert to immobilise pots
QC:     AQL 2.5 major / 4.0 minor, inspection report with photographs
Terms:  FOB Tianjin, 500 sets, lead time from approved artwork

Send that to us and we will quote within 24 hours. Send it to three suppliers and you will learn a great deal from which ones cannot answer parts of it — a point developed in how to vet a paint by numbers supplier in China.

Frequently asked questions

What canvas weight is best for paint by numbers?

280–320 gsm cotton-blend with a double-side acrylic primer for retail kits between 20 × 30 cm and 40 × 50 cm. Below that weight the canvas wrinkles when paint is applied and print registration shifts; above 380 gsm you are paying for artist-grade material that hobby painters will not notice.

Why does paint in some kits arrive dried out?

Almost always because the pot was not foil-sealed under the cap. Moisture escapes through the cap thread during weeks of transit and the paint sets into a plug. Specify foil-sealed, vacuum-strip-packed pots and check the seal when your sample arrives — it takes ten seconds and prevents the most avoidable complaint in this category.

How many colours should a 40 × 50 cm kit have?

Between 20 and 28. More colours means smaller segments and more pots, each with less paint, which increases the risk of running out and of pots drying between sessions. A 40-colour canvas looks impressive in a listing thumbnail and is significantly harder to finish.

Are the paints non-toxic and safe for children?

Our acrylic paints are water-based and non-toxic as standard. For a product marketed to children, specify third-party testing to EN71-3 in the EU, ASTM F963 and CPSIA in the United States, and REACH for chemical restrictions, and grade the packaging accordingly. Untested goods should be sold as adult craft products, age 14 and over.

What is the cheapest upgrade with the biggest effect on reviews?

High-elasticity nylon brush filament, at about $0.06 per kit. Brush quality is the component customers describe most often in reviews, and standard nylon that splays permanently within ten minutes is the most common specific complaint we see in low-cost kits.

Related reading

• How to vet a paint by numbers supplier in China: 14-point checklist
• Paint by numbers trends 2026: what buyers should stock now
• How to start a paint by numbers brand
• All sourcing guides and industry analysis →

The Paint by Numbers Dropshipping Playbook for Shopify Sellers

Written by the fulfilment team at Art Painting by Numbers, Tianjin · Updated October 2026 · 12 min read

Paint by numbers is one of the few physical products that genuinely suits dropshipping: it is flat, light, unbreakable, has no sizing problem, and carries a retail markup wide enough to absorb international shipping on a single parcel. This playbook is the setup we recommend to sellers registering for our programme, from store configuration to the delivery-time wording that keeps chargebacks near zero.

It is also honest about where the model fails. Dropshipping from China will not satisfy a customer who expects next-day delivery, and it will not give you wholesale margins. Used correctly it is the cheapest possible market research; used carelessly it is a complaint machine. The difference is entirely in setup.

The numbers before you start

Item	Figure
Minimum order quantity	None — one kit is one order
Setup fee or monthly fee	$0
Dispatch time, stocked designs	24–48 hours
Dispatch time, custom photo kits	3–5 days
Transit to US and Canada, tracked economy	9–16 days, $4.80–$6.90 per parcel
Transit to UK and Europe, tracked economy	10–18 days, $5.20–$7.40 per parcel
Express courier, any major market	3–8 days, $19–$42 per parcel
Dropship unit cost, 40 × 50 cm	$5.40 against a $1.42 wholesale cost at 1,000 units
Typical retail price	$24.99–$34.99 standard; $49.99–$89.99 custom photo

Current rates and the full regional table are on the dropshipping page. We pass carrier increases through without markup and confirm rates when you register.

Step 1: Build the store around delivery expectations

Almost every dropshipping failure we see is a communication failure rather than a product failure. Fix these four pages before you spend a dollar on advertising:

• Product page. State the dispatch window and the delivery window separately, in the top third, not buried in a tab. "Ships in 1–2 business days. Delivery to the United States 9–16 business days."
• Shipping policy. Disclose that orders ship from our fulfilment partner in China. Customers tolerate a long wait; they do not tolerate discovering it after purchase.
• Checkout. Show the delivery estimate against the shipping method, not after payment.
• Order confirmation email. Repeat the delivery window and explain that tracking may not update for 3–5 days while the parcel is in transit to the destination country. This one sentence prevents a large share of "where is my order" tickets.

Sellers who disclose a 12–16 day window convert almost as well as those promising 5 days, and they collect a fraction of the disputes. The buyers of a hobby kit are planning several evenings of painting; they are not in a hurry.

Step 2: Choose five to eight designs, not forty

A narrow range is easier to advertise, easier to describe, and produces cleaner data. Pick designs that share an audience — a botanical store, a pet-portrait store, a coastal-minimalism store — rather than a general art shop. Then personalise the range with one custom photo offering, which is where the margin lives.

On registration we send a product data pack: high-resolution images on white and lifestyle backgrounds, SEO titles, long descriptions, bullet-point features, size and weight data, and suggested retail prices by market. You get a licence to use it across your own channels. Full detail is in section on platform integrations below.

Step 3: Connect the orders

Platform	How orders reach us	Notes
Shopify	Order CSV export on a schedule, or automatic sync through a dropshipping app of your choice	Most common setup. Shopify's native CSV includes everything we need.
WooCommerce	CSV or REST API; tracking written back to the order record	Good option if you want to avoid app fees.
Etsy	Daily CSV of new orders	Personalised photo listings perform strongly here.
TikTok Shop	Order file export	We dispatch inside the platform's handling-time requirement.
Amazon and eBay	Flat-file order reports	Amazon requires tracking with a valid delivery scan; we provide it on every parcel.
Anything else	A CSV with name, address, SKU and quantity	A REST API is available for higher-volume partners.

The CSV columns we accept: order_id, sku, quantity, recipient_name, address_line_1, address_line_2, city, state, postal_code, country_code, phone, email, and personalisation_url or personalisation_note for custom photo orders. Send it once daily, or trigger it per order — either works.

Step 4: Make the parcel feel like your brand

Blind shipping means the parcel carries no reference to us — no invoice showing your cost, no Chinese-language markings, no supplier branding. What it can carry is you.

• Thank-you card — $0.03–$0.06 per unit, printed with your logo, a discount code and a QR code to your review page. This is the highest-return item in the parcel.
• Branded sticker sealing the mailer, from 500 units.
• Printed sleeve over a plain mailer, from 500 units, for a stronger unboxing without box tooling.
• Fully printed box from 500 units — the point at which most dropshippers graduate to holding wholesale stock.

One thing cannot be concealed: the postal origin country. Disclose it in your shipping policy. Sellers who pretend otherwise accumulate disputes, and marketplaces increasingly check.

Step 5: Price for the model, not against Amazon

Do not try to match marketplace pricing while dropshipping. Your unit cost is $5.40 where a stock-holding competitor's is $1.42, and their advertising is amortised over years of review velocity. Instead, price on differentiation:

• Lead with custom photo kits at $59.99–$89.99. Nobody can price-match a kit made from the buyer's own photograph.
• Bundle: two kits plus a brush upgrade at a perceived discount, which lifts average order value more reliably than a single-item discount.
• Offer express courier as a paid upgrade at checkout. Some customers will pay $25 to receive in five days, and that upgrade is pure margin.
• Sell the outcome, not the product. "Three quiet evenings and a finished canvas for your hallway" outperforms "40 × 50 cm acrylic paint by numbers kit".

The full margin case for personalised kits is in custom photo paint by numbers.

Handling the three problems you will definitely get

"Where is my order?" after day five

Tracking on economy international parcels often shows no scan between departure from China and arrival in the destination country — a genuine gap of 3–6 days, not a lost parcel. Set the expectation in the confirmation email and provide a tracking page. If a parcel shows no movement for 21 days, contact us and we will open a carrier investigation and reship immediately.

Damaged or dried paint on arrival

Report it to us within 14 days with the order number and photographs. We reship at our cost or refund in full, your choice, and we pursue the carrier ourselves. Dried paint is almost always a seal failure rather than a formulation problem; every pot is foil-sealed and vacuum-strip packed precisely to prevent it.

Customs charges on delivery

Most single kits fall under de minimis thresholds in the US, UK, EU, Canada and Australia, so no duty is collected. It is not guaranteed — thresholds change and depend on declared value and origin. Declare accurately, never under-declare at a customer's request, and if a charge is levied, absorbing it yourself is usually cheaper than losing the customer and the review.

When to stop dropshipping

Move to wholesale stock when any of these are true:

• One design is selling more than 30 units a month — the margin gap between $5.40 and $1.42 now exceeds the cost of holding stock
• Delivery time is your most common support query or the reason cited in refunds
• You want to bundle kits, insert samples of other products, or offer expedited domestic shipping
• You are ready to move to private label packaging, which needs 500 units of a printed box
• You want the Prime badge or a marketplace's fast-delivery filter

The transition is easy because nothing is wasted: your approved artwork, paint recipes and packaging files stay on record, so a wholesale run of a design you already dropship needs no re-proofing and ships in 8–10 days. Most of our wholesale customers started exactly this way, and we would rather help you plan that move than keep you on the higher unit price indefinitely.

If you are still choosing suppliers at this stage, run through our 14-point supplier vetting checklist first — dispatch speed and blind-shipping discipline are two of the fourteen.

Frequently asked questions

Is paint by numbers dropshipping profitable in 2026?

Yes, at a personalised or niche positioning. A $5.40 kit sold at $29.99 leaves roughly $19 after fulfilment, payment processing and shipping, which supports a cost per acquisition of $12–$15 at a healthy contribution. Generic designs sold on price against marketplace incumbents are a much harder business.

Do I need to buy stock in advance?

No. There is no minimum order, no setup fee, no monthly subscription and no inventory commitment. You pay for each order after your customer has paid you.

Can I sell on Amazon with your dropshipping service?

Yes, provided you comply with Amazon's drop shipping policy: you must be the seller of record on all packing slips and external packaging, with no third-party seller information visible. Our blind shipping meets that requirement and tracking with a valid delivery scan is uploaded for every parcel.

How do custom photo orders work operationally?

Your customer uploads a photograph to your store. You pass us the image URL or file with the order. Our designers convert it into a numbered layout, print a one-off canvas, kit it and ship it within 3–5 days. For high-volume stores we can run this through an automated pipeline with a proof sent to the customer for approval before printing.

What image files do you supply for my listings?

High-resolution product images on white and lifestyle backgrounds for every design, at square, 4:5 and 16:9 crops, plus titles, descriptions, bullet features, dimensions and weights. You are licensed to use them on your own sales channels; we ask that you not use them in advertising that misrepresents the product.

Related reading

• Custom photo paint by numbers: the highest-margin kit you can sell
• Paint by numbers MOQ explained
• How to start a paint by numbers brand
• All sourcing guides and industry analysis →

Private Label vs White Label Paint by Numbers: Which Fits You?

Written by the design and export team at Art Painting by Numbers, Tianjin · Updated October 2026 · 10 min read

White label means we supply a finished paint by numbers kit and you put your name on the packaging; private label means you also shape the product itself — the artwork, colours, brushes, cards and box construction. The practical difference is entry cost, control and how defensible the result is against competitors.

Suppliers use these terms loosely, which causes real problems for buyers. We have had customers arrive expecting a fully bespoke product at white-label pricing, and others who paid for private label development they did not need. Here is the honest breakdown, including what each route costs per unit and where the crossover point is.

The four models, defined precisely

	White label	Private label	OEM	ODM
Artwork	Ours, from the ready library	Ours or yours, with your brand applied	Entirely yours	Developed by us for you
Components	Standard	Your choices within our catalogue	To your specification	To a brief you set
Packaging	Your label or sleeve on our box	Fully printed custom box	Bespoke structure	Bespoke, designed by us
Exclusivity	None — others can buy the same design	Design not resold if bespoke	Full	Full
MOQ	100 sets	100–500 sets	300–1,000 sets	500–1,000 sets
Setup cost	None	$60–$120 per box dieline	$100–$400	Waived above 3,000 sets
Lead time	10–12 days	15–20 days	15–25 days	25–35 days
Time to launch	3–4 weeks	5–7 weeks	6–9 weeks	10–14 weeks

What each route costs per kit

For a 40 × 50 cm kit at 500 sets, FOB Tianjin, here is what the branding layer adds to a $1.42 base:

Branding element	Adds per unit	One-off setup	Customer-visible impact
Thank-you card with QR and discount code	$0.03–$0.06	None	High — drives reviews and repeat purchase
Logo on canvas corner	$0.00	None	Medium — visible while painting and in photos
Printed box label or belly band	$0.05–$0.09	None	Medium-high — carries the shelf impression
Fully printed colour box	$0.18–$0.35	$60–$120	High — the main unboxing and thumbnail asset
Custom-matched paint colours	$0.09–$0.15	$45 per colour	Low visually, high in finish quality
Engraved brush handles	$0.10–$0.18	$80	Medium — a premium tactile signal
Printed instruction card, multilingual	$0.04–$0.08	$30–$60 per language	Medium — reduces support queries
Rigid magnetic gift box	$0.55–$1.20	$150–$300	Very high — supports a $59–$120 retail price

A sensible white label launch — thank-you card, canvas corner mark and a printed sleeve on a kraft box — adds roughly $0.12 per unit and nothing in setup. A full private label build with a printed colour box, custom colours and an instruction card adds roughly $0.45 per unit and about $200 of setup. Against a $29.99 retail price, that difference is not what should decide your route.

The real deciding factor: exclusivity

Price is rarely the issue. The issue is whether a competitor can sell the identical product.

With white label you choose from a shared design library. We will not sell your specific branded packaging to anyone else, but the artwork itself remains available to other buyers in their own packaging. If you search that design on a marketplace you may find three other sellers. That is acceptable when you compete on brand voice, audience and service rather than on the image — and it is genuinely fine for many gift and hobby stores.

With private label on custom artwork, nobody else can buy your design. It becomes an asset. That matters if you are running paid advertising, because a unique product cannot be undercut by an identical listing, and it matters if you plan to sell the brand, because a proprietary range is worth more than a reseller catalogue.

Which one should you choose?

The route we recommend most often is neither one exclusively: start white label at 100 sets to find your three winners, then take those three to full private label at 500 sets. Because your artwork and paint recipes stay on file, the second order runs in 8–10 days with no re-proofing. Total elapsed time is barely longer than going straight to private label, and the capital at risk is far smaller.

A note on custom photo kits

Personalised kits break the white label / private label distinction entirely, because every unit is unique by definition. There is no shared design to compete on. That is why custom photo paint by numbers carries the highest margin in the category — around 86% gross before advertising — and why it is the route we point new brands towards when they have the technical setup for per-order fulfilment. The economics are in custom photo paint by numbers.

What we need from you for each route

Route	To get a quote	To start production
White label	Design item codes or a mood board, sizes, quantities, destination country	Your logo files in vector (AI, EPS, SVG or PDF) and brand colours
Private label	The above plus packaging intent and target retail price	Vector logo, Pantone references, box copy, barcode numbers, compliance market
OEM	Your artwork files and full component specification	Approved Proof, print-ready packaging artwork, barcode and label files
ODM	A written brief: audience, price point, aesthetic, quantity	Approval of our developed range and packaging concepts

Vector artwork matters more than buyers expect. A logo supplied as a low-resolution JPEG cannot be reproduced crisply on a litho-printed box, and re-drawing it costs time. If you only have a raster logo, tell us — our designers can often rebuild it, free of charge, as part of the design service.

Full component options, MOQ by customisation level and the eight-stage development process are on the OEM and private label page.

Frequently asked questions

Is white label lower quality than private label?

No. White label kits use exactly the same canvas, paints, brushes and QC as private label ones — the difference is who chose the artwork and what the packaging looks like. If a supplier implies their white label product is a lesser grade, that is a warning sign; ask them to specify both in writing and compare.

Can I move from white label to private label later without starting over?

Yes, and this is the normal progression. Your approved artwork, paint recipes and packaging files stay on record, so a later custom run needs no re-proofing and ships in 8–10 days. Nothing about the first order is wasted.

Will you sell my private label design to another customer?

No. Bespoke artwork, packaging design and colour recipes commissioned by you are not reused, resold or shown to other buyers. We can sign an NDA before files move, and the position is written into section 5.4 of our terms of service.

Which is more profitable?

Private label, per unit, because a unique product resists price competition and supports a higher retail price. White label, in the short term, because it needs less capital and launches faster. Over two years, private label wins — but only if the underlying demand was validated first, which is the argument for starting white label.

Do I need a registered company or trade mark to private label?

Neither is required by us. A trade mark is nonetheless worth registering in your main markets once a design sells, because it protects the brand equity you are building. We can apply your registered or unregistered mark to packaging either way.

Related reading

• How to start a paint by numbers brand: the complete 2026 playbook
• Paint by numbers MOQ explained: real numbers for new brands
• Custom photo paint by numbers: the highest-margin kit you can sell
• All sourcing guides and industry analysis →

Paint by Numbers MOQ Explained: Real Numbers for New Brands

Written by the export team at Art Painting by Numbers, Tianjin · Updated October 2026 · 11 min read

Minimum order quantity is the number a supplier will not go below on a given specification, and in paint by numbers it ranges from zero for dropshipping to 1,000 sets for a rigid gift box. It is not an arbitrary number the factory chose to be difficult — every MOQ traces back to a fixed setup cost that has to be spread across the run. Understand that and you can negotiate intelligently, or engineer your way around it.

Buyers ask us about MOQ more than any other commercial term, and the confusion usually comes from suppliers quoting one number without saying what it applies to. A factory might tell you "MOQ 500" and mean 500 units total, or 500 per design, or 500 if you want a printed box but 100 if you do not. This article gives the actual numbers behind each component and each service we offer.

Why MOQ exists at all

Every customised component carries a setup cost that is incurred once regardless of quantity. The MOQ is simply the quantity at which that setup cost becomes small enough per unit that the price stays saleable.

Component	Setup cost	Cost per unit at 100 sets	Cost per unit at 500 sets	Cost per unit at 2,000 sets
Printed colour box (new dieline)	$90	$0.90	$0.18	$0.05
Custom Pantone paint colour	$45	$0.45	$0.09	$0.02
Laser-engraved brush handle	$80	$0.80	$0.16	$0.04
Rigid magnetic gift box	$220	$2.20	$0.44	$0.11
New canvas size (tooling)	$120	$1.20	$0.24	$0.06

Read that first row: a $90 box plate adds $0.90 per kit at 100 units — which would more than double the product cost — but only $0.05 at 2,000. That is the entire logic of MOQ. It is not a policy, it is arithmetic.

Our MOQ by service and specification

What you are ordering	MOQ	Setup cost	Lead time
Dropshipping — single kits to your customers	None	None	24–48 h dispatch
Ready design, our standard packaging	50 sets per design	None	8–10 days
Assorted ready designs in one order	300 sets total	None	10–15 days
Ready design + your thank-you card or insert	100 sets per design	None	10–12 days
Your custom artwork, standard box with your label	100 sets per design	None	12–15 days
Custom artwork + fully printed custom box	500 sets per design	$60–$120 per dieline	15–20 days
Custom Pantone-matched paint colours	300 sets	$45 per colour	15–20 days
Engraved or lacquered brush handles	500 sets	$80	18–22 days
Rigid magnetic gift box	1,000 sets	$150–$300 per dieline	20–28 days
Non-standard canvas size	500 sets	Quoted per size	18–25 days
Fully bespoke ODM range developed by us	1,000 sets	Waived above 3,000 sets	25–35 days

Setup costs are one-off, are never charged twice on a repeat run, and are refunded against orders above the stated volume.

Three legitimate ways to work below a stated MOQ

You do not always have to accept the number you are quoted. These three approaches work, and we use them with new brands regularly.

1. Substitute the component that carries the setup cost

The 500-set MOQ on printed boxes exists because of the plate. Remove the plate and the MOQ drops to 100. A kraft or white box with a printed sleeve, a full-wrap label or a belly band delivers 85% of the shelf impact of a litho-printed box at a fraction of the entry cost. Many successful brands ran this for two years and never changed it — customers read the sleeve, not the board.

2. Share a dieline across designs

One box structure can serve an entire range if the artwork panel is a separate insert or label. Build one dieline, then produce ten designs against it. The plate cost is amortised across the whole range rather than per design, which can bring a 500-per-design requirement down to 500 total.

3. Stage the order

Order 100 sets on standard packaging to test, then commit to 500 on printed boxes once you know which design sells. We hold your approved artwork and paint recipes on file, so the second order runs in 8–10 days with no re-proofing. The only cost of staging is a slightly higher unit price on the first tranche.

How MOQ changes your landed cost

This is the number that actually matters, and it is not the unit price. Freight, duty and setup all behave differently across quantities. For a 40 × 50 cm kit shipped by sea LCL to a US west coast port:

Order size	Unit price FOB	Setup allocated	Freight allocated	Landed per kit
100 sets	$2.15	$0.00	$1.55	$3.70
300 sets assorted	$1.85	$0.00	$0.72	$2.57
500 sets, printed box	$1.60	$0.18	$0.48	$2.26
1,000 sets, printed box	$1.42	$0.09	$0.31	$1.82
2,000 sets, printed box	$1.25	$0.05	$0.19	$1.49

Notice where the curve flattens. Going from 100 to 500 sets cuts landed cost by 39%. Going from 1,000 to 2,000 cuts it by 18%. Going from 2,000 to 5,000 cuts it by around 11% and ties up another $5,000 of cash for months. The efficient first order for most new brands sits between 300 and 1,000 sets; beyond that, the gain is real but it is bought with working capital and storage.

Freight allocation falls so sharply because paint by numbers ships on volume, not weight. The cube maths behind those figures is set out in FOB Tianjin explained.

MOQ by sales channel: what to actually order

• New Shopify or Etsy store, untested concept. Dropshipping, MOQ zero. You pay $5.40 per kit instead of $1.42, and you buy information instead of inventory.
• Store with proven demand, first stock order. 300 sets assorted across ten designs. Roughly $560 of goods plus $120–$180 sea freight.
• Amazon FBA seller. 500–1,000 sets per ASIN. FBA storage fees and long-term storage charges punish over-ordering, and Amazon's restock limits reward steady reorders over one large shipment.
• Physical retail or gift shop. 50–100 sets per design in peg-hook packaging. Retail shelves need breadth, and a shop that stocks four designs will not outsell one that stocks twenty.
• Subscription box or corporate gifting. 500–1,000 sets on a single design, custom-branded. Volume here is predictable, so committing is lower risk.
• Distributor. Full container, 20ft or 40ft HQ. See the carton planning table on our wholesale page for how many sets fit.

Red flags in how a supplier quotes MOQ

Before you compare quotes, make sure you are comparing the same thing. Ask each supplier these four questions and watch which ones cannot answer clearly:

1. Is your MOQ per design or per order?
2. Does the MOQ change if I use your standard packaging instead of a printed box?
3. Is there a setup or plate cost, and is it refunded or amortised at a stated volume?
4. What is the quantity tolerance on the final shipment — will you ship 485 or 520 against an order of 500?

That last question catches more surprises than any other. Made-to-order manufacturing normally ships within ±3% of the ordered quantity, and the invoice follows the actual count. If a supplier cannot tell you their tolerance, they have not thought about their own production planning. Our position is stated in section 6.2 of the terms of service.

The rest of the questions we would ask are in how to vet a paint by numbers supplier in China.

Frequently asked questions

What is the lowest MOQ for custom paint by numbers kits?

100 sets per design for custom artwork with standard packaging and your own label or thank-you card. Below that we offer dropshipping with no minimum, where we ship single kits directly to your customers — the practical answer for anyone who cannot yet commit to inventory.

Why do printed boxes require a higher MOQ than the kits themselves?

Lithographic box printing requires a plate and a die, costing $60–$300 per dieline depending on structure. Spread across 100 kits that adds up to $3.00 per unit, which is more than the kit costs. Spread across 2,000 it adds $0.05. The MOQ is where those two curves cross into something commercially sensible.

Can I order fewer units and pay the setup cost myself?

Sometimes, yes. If you are willing to absorb a plate cost outright, we can run smaller quantities at a higher unit price — for example 200 sets with a printed box at roughly $2.30 per set instead of 500 at $1.60. Send your target quantity and we will quote both options so you can compare properly.

Does MOQ apply per design or per order?

Per design for custom artwork, and per order for assorted ready designs. An assorted order starts at 300 sets total with no minimum on any individual design, so ten designs at thirty sets each is a valid first order.

How does MOQ affect my cash flow planning?

Model the whole cycle, not just the goods: 30% deposit at order, 70% before shipment, then 25–45 days of sea transit, then however long it takes you to sell. A 1,000-set order at $1.42 ties up $1,420 plus roughly $400 freight for three to five months before revenue arrives. That is why a 300-set assorted test is usually the better first move even though its unit cost is higher.

Related reading

• How to start a paint by numbers brand: the complete 2026 playbook
• FOB Tianjin explained: shipping paint by numbers from China
• Private label vs white label paint by numbers
• Wholesale price list, MOQ tiers and carton planning
• All sourcing guides and industry analysis →

How to Start a Paint by Numbers Brand: The Complete 2026 Playbook

Written by the production and export team at Art Painting by Numbers, Tianjin · Updated October 2026 · 14 min read

You can start a paint by numbers brand with about $600 of inventory and no warehouse, or with $40,000 and a container — and the second route is the wrong one for almost everybody beginning in 2026. This playbook walks through what we see work when a new brand places its first order with our factory in Tianjin, what goes wrong, and the order in which to make the expensive decisions.

We manufacture kits for brands at every stage, from a first-time Shopify seller testing three designs to distributors ordering full containers. The pattern that separates the ones still trading two years later from the ones who quietly disappeared is not marketing skill. It is the sequencing of capital commitment. Get that right and everything else is recoverable.

Why paint by numbers is still a viable category

Three structural reasons, none of them fashion-dependent:

• The product is physically easy to ship. Flat, light, non-fragile, no sizing, no expiry, no batteries, no liquids over 3 ml per container. A 40 × 50 cm kit weighs about 380 g and posts in a rigid mailer. Compare that with almost any other gift category and the logistics advantage is enormous.
• The margin structure supports paid acquisition. Factory cost of $1.42–$2.15 against a $24.99–$34.99 retail gives you room to spend $12–$18 acquiring a customer and still clear a profit. Categories with 3× markup cannot survive Meta or TikTok auction prices in 2026; this one can.
• Demand is habitual rather than trend-driven. The core buyer — women aged 35–65 buying for relaxation, or as a gift — repurchases. This is a consumable hobby, not a one-off novelty, and consumables build customer lifetime value.

The caution: the generic-design market is saturated and price-led. If your plan is "sell 40 × 50 cm landscape kits like everyone else", you will compete against sellers with five years of review velocity and a lower cost base. The viable entry points are personalisation, a defined aesthetic niche, or a gift positioning — all covered below.

Stage one: validate before you buy stock

The cheapest information you can buy is a real transaction from a real customer. Get one before committing capital to inventory.

Route	Upfront cost	What it proves	Time to first sale
Dropship 5–10 designs	$0 inventory; only your store and ads	Which designs convert, at what price, to which audience	1–3 weeks
Sample-and-sell locally	$150–$400 for samples and market stall fees	Whether people physically pick it up and pay cash	2–6 weeks
Pre-order landing page	$0–$200 plus ad spend	Whether a specific concept generates intent before it exists	2–4 weeks
Small wholesale test, 100 sets	$215–$600 plus freight	Whether you can sell 100 units in a reasonable window	4–8 weeks

Most new brands should begin with dropshipping, because the failure cost is one advertising budget rather than a garage full of unsold stock. Our dropshipping programme has no minimum order and no monthly fee, and the dropshipping playbook for Shopify sellers sets out the exact store setup we recommend.

The mistake to avoid is treating validation as a formality. If you sell 40 units across three designs in six weeks with a $15 cost per acquisition, that is real signal — much more useful than 300 likes on a concept post.

Stage two: choose your positioning

Positioning determines your specification, your packaging budget and your margin. Pick one and build everything around it.

• Personalisation. Custom photo kits from the buyer's own image. Highest margin in the category — $8.50 cost against $59.99 retail — because there is no identical listing to price against. Requires an automated per-order design pipeline. See custom photo paint by numbers.
• Aesthetic niche. A recognisable visual world — botanical line art, dark academia, coastal minimalism, Japanese woodblock, retro travel posters. Buyers come for the style and purchase three or four. Lower acquisition cost because the audience finds you.
• Premium gift. Rigid magnetic box, framed canvas, better brushes, letterpress-style insert. Sells at $59–$120 and competes on presentation rather than price. Q4-heavy but very high value per order.
• Wellness and mindfulness. Positioned around stress reduction, screen-free evenings, art therapy and digital detox. Copy-led, community-led, strong subscription potential.
• Accessibility. Larger printed numbers, high-contrast outlines, ergonomic brush handles, lower colour counts. An underserved segment with an audience of older painters who are loyal and underserved by generic kits.

Whichever you choose, we can build the specification — including the accessibility variant, which is mostly a design decision about number size and colour count rather than a cost decision. Details on the OEM and private label page.

Stage three: specify the kit properly

This is where new brands lose money invisibly. A kit that looks correct in a photograph can fail in use, and the failure shows up as a three-star review six weeks after delivery when the order is already paid for.

The four specifications that matter most, in order of impact on customer satisfaction:

1. Paint pigment load and opacity. Cheap acrylic will not cover a printed dark outline in one coat. The painter applies three coats, the paint runs out, the kit is abandoned. Specify pigment-loaded acrylic with confirmed single-coat coverage over the printed line.
2. Brush filament elasticity. Low-grade nylon splays permanently after ten minutes and cannot hold a fine line. High-elasticity filament springs back to a point. The difference is roughly $0.08 per brush and it is the single most-reviewed component.
3. Canvas coating and weight. An under-coated canvas lets the printed number bleed when wet paint touches it, which ruins the reference the painter depends on. Specify a properly primed cotton-blend of at least 280 gsm for rolled kits.
4. Colour count matched to canvas size. More colours is not better. A 40 × 50 cm canvas with 40 colours produces segments too small to paint and pots that dry out before they are used. 20–28 colours is the sweet spot for that size.

Full specifications, with what each one costs and which are safe to economise on, are in our paint by numbers quality guide.

Stage four: place a first order that will not sink you

Work backwards from the cash you can afford to lose entirely, because you should assume the first order teaches you something expensive.

A sensible first wholesale order for a new brand looks like this: 300 sets total across ten designs at thirty sets each, 40 × 50 cm, from our ready library, in kraft mailers with your branded thank-you card. At roughly $1.42–$1.76 per set that is $430–$530 of goods. Sea LCL freight to a US west coast port runs $120–$180 for that volume. Add $60 for printed thank-you cards and about $80 for a physical sample and courier. Total committed: roughly $700–$850, and you have ten data points instead of one.

Assorted orders start at 300 sets total with no per-design minimum, which is exactly what makes this possible — see the wholesale page for the tier table. The reasoning behind those numbers, and how they change at scale, is in paint by numbers MOQ explained.

Stage five: build the brand layer

Once three designs are demonstrably selling, upgrade them to private label. The order of investment should follow the order of customer impact:

1. Thank-you card and insert — $0.03–$0.06 per unit, available from 100 sets. Carries your review request, discount code and QR route back to your store. Do this first; it pays for itself in repeat purchase rate.
2. Logo on the canvas corner and box label — no setup cost, from 100 sets.
3. Fully printed colour box — $0.18–$0.35 per unit, from 500 sets, plus $60–$120 one-off dieline setup. This is the step that makes your product look like a brand on a shelf or in an unboxing video.
4. Custom-matched paint colours and engraved brushes — from 300 and 500 sets respectively. Do this only once you have a visual identity worth protecting.
5. Rigid magnetic gift box — from 1,000 sets, $0.55–$1.20 per unit. Reserve for a premium line where the retail price supports it.

Choosing between white label and full private label is a cost-versus-control decision, and we have broken the numbers down line by line in private label vs white label paint by numbers.

The unit economics, honestly

For a 40 × 50 cm kit sold at $29.99 with free shipping to the United States, ordered 1,000 at a time:

Line	Per unit
Retail price	$29.99
Product, FOB Tianjin (1,000 sets)	–$1.42
Sea freight and inland, allocated	–$0.38
Import duty and brokerage, allocated	–$0.22
Domestic fulfilment and last mile	–$6.40
Payment processing (2.9% + $0.30)	–$1.17
Advertising, at a 2.2 blended ROAS	–$13.63
Contribution before overheads	$6.77 (22.6%)

Two things stand out. Fulfilment and advertising together consume two thirds of revenue, which is normal and is why product cost is the least valuable place to squeeze. And a 2.2 ROAS is the difference between a business and a hobby — improving it through creative, email and repeat purchase matters far more than negotiating $0.10 off the kit.

Also note that shipping is volumetric, not weight-based, for this product. Getting carton dimensions right is worth more than most people expect, and FOB Tianjin explained shows how to do the cube maths before you book.

The mistakes we see most often

• Ordering depth before testing breadth. 1,000 units of one design is a bet on a single creative decision. Ten designs at thirty each is ten cheap experiments.
• Skipping the physical sample. A supplier's photograph tells you nothing about whether the paint covers in one coat. Paint the sample. It costs two evenings and occasionally saves an order.
• Ignoring seasonal lead times. Ordering Q4 stock in October means it arrives in December. Our Q4 planning guide has the calendar.
• Designing for the seller, not the painter. A 40-colour artwork looks impressive in a listing thumbnail and is miserable to paint. Fewer colours, larger segments, better coverage.
• Building a brand on artwork you do not own the rights to. It works until it does not, and a marketplace takedown or customs seizure ends the account. Use your own artwork, licensed art, or public-domain works.

Our 14-point supplier vetting checklist is the list we would use if we were buying from someone else, and it covers most of these before money moves.

Frequently asked questions

How much money do I need to start a paint by numbers brand?

Between $500 and $1,000 to test properly: a domain and Shopify subscription, a sample kit, and either a dropshipping advertising budget or a 300-set assorted first order with sea freight. Anything above $5,000 at the start is money committed before you have information. The brands that fail usually fail from over-ordering, not from under-spending on marketing.

Do I need to design my own artwork?

Not to start. You can launch from a ready design library of 500+ production-tested layouts and add your branding to the packaging and inserts. Designing your own artwork becomes worth doing once you have a visual identity, and our design service converts your files at no charge when you order production.

Is the market too saturated in 2026?

Generic landscapes and famous-art reproductions sold on price are saturated. Personalised photo kits, defined aesthetic niches, premium gift packaging and accessibility-focused ranges are not. The category keeps growing because the underlying driver — affordable, screen-free, finishable creative time — has strengthened, not weakened.

Should I sell on Amazon or my own store?

Both, in that order of priority for a beginner: Amazon gives you traffic and trust immediately at the cost of margin and no customer data; your own store gives you the customer relationship and email list that makes a brand worth something in year three. Most successful sellers run their own store as the primary channel and use Amazon for volume on proven designs.

How long until a first order arrives?

Design proof in 2–3 working days, sample in 3–5 working days, production in 8–15 days from approved artwork, then transit: 4–8 days by express courier, 6–12 days by air, 25–45 days by sea. From first email to stock on your shelf, plan six to eight weeks for a sea shipment and three to four weeks if you pay for air.

Related reading

• Paint by numbers MOQ explained: real numbers for new brands
• Private label vs white label paint by numbers: which fits you?
• Paint by numbers quality guide: canvas, acrylic paint and brush specs
• How to vet a paint by numbers supplier in China: 14-point checklist
• All sourcing guides and industry analysis →