# How to Use the Sourcing Guide | Bands and Limits

> What the sourcing guide contains, how to use it before contacting a supplier, what a price band actually contains, and what the guide deliberately leaves o

Source: https://luressource.com/catalogue/guide/

Direct answer. A guide is useful in proportion to what it refuses to contain. This page states what is inside, how to use it in the right order, and the four things it deliberately does not do. Key facts. 1) A guide is useful in proportion to what it refuses to contain. 2) A band is a range for a sub-category, with the unit stated and the order quantity it applies to. 3) Three things a band is not. It is not binding, because a price depends on the specification, material, hardware and quantity in front of the factory. 4) The order matters more than the content, because each step narrows the next one. 5) Start with the product families to place your product in a sub-category rather than a category — "lures" is too broad to quote and "soft plastic, 75 mm, salt-loaded, paddle tail" is not. Using the sourcing guide Direct answer A guide is useful in proportion to what it refuses to contain. This page states what is inside, how to use it in the right order, and the four things it deliberately does not do. Key facts A guide is useful in proportion to what it refuses to contain. A band is a range for a sub-category, with the unit stated and the order quantity it applies to. Three things a band is not. It is not binding, because a price depends on the specification, material, hardware and quantity in front of the factory. The order matters more than the content, because each step narrows the next one. Start with the product families to place your product in a sub-category rather than a category — "lures" is too broad to quote and "soft plastic, 75 mm, salt-loaded, paddle tail" is not. A guide is useful in proportion to what it refuses to contain. This page states what is inside, the order to use it in, and the four things it deliberately does not do — because a sourcing guide that fills those gaps is less useful than one that leaves them visible. What is inside, in detail What the guide covers, and the question each part answers. Part Question it answers Product families What can be made in each sub-category, and where Reference price bands What a sub-category normally trades at, with the unit stated MOQ ranges What quantity a factory will actually run, by sub-category Specification fields Which fields change the price, and which are cosmetic Cluster comparison Which supply base fits which product, and why Quotation checklist What has to be on a quote before it can be compared Verification standard The four gates a factory passes before it is published here Everything in the guide is drawn from the same records behind the rest of this site, which is also why the numbers move: bands are restated on the 90-day re-check cycle rather than reprinted annually. A price band, and what it is not A band is a range for a sub-category, with the unit stated and the order quantity it applies to. That is the whole of it. It is a plausibility check rather than an offer: it tells you whether a corrected quotation sits inside the normal range for that product, which is the question a buyer actually has before committing to a supplier. Three things a band is not. It is not binding, because a price depends on the specification, material, hardware and quantity in front of the factory. It is not a quote for your product — it is a range for the sub-category, and a specification with a named hook and ring can sit well above it. And it is not a market size, because a range per unit says nothing about volume. How to use the guide, in order The order matters more than the content, because each step narrows the next one. Start with the product families to place your product in a sub-category rather than a category — "lures" is too broad to quote and "soft plastic, 75 mm, salt-loaded, paddle tail" is not. Then use the specification fields to build the line items a factory needs, since these are what make two quotes comparable. Then read the band for your sub-category to get a plausibility range before you talk to anyone, which is what stops an anchoring problem later. Then compare clusters on the product rather than on price. Only then send a requirement, and send it with the quotation checklist attached. Used in that order the guide takes an hour and saves a fortnight. Used backwards — band first, supplier second — it produces a shortlist chosen on the least informative number in the document. What the guide deliberately does not contain Four things, and each absence is a decision. No supplier rankings. There is no order that means "better", because the factories published here all passed the same four gates and the differences between them are in the fields rather than in a grade. No invented market sizes. Where a figure is published it carries a source, and where none exists the guide says the value is unknown. A market size nobody measured is worse than no number, because it cannot be checked. No prices without a basis. A number that does not state FOB or EXW, and the quantity it applies to, is not a price and is not printed as one. No product test data presented as a verdict. A test report states what was tested and under what method; it does not say a product is safe or compliant for your market, and the guide is explicit about that gap rather than letting a certificate imply it. Before you contact anyone Three things worth having in hand: your specification written out with the material, the named hardware and the packaging; the quantity and destination market you are buying into; and the quotations checklist so that the first reply is comparable rather than a conversation. A first enquiry carrying those three gets a usable answer, and one that does not produces a reply asking for them. What is inside Verification, without the guesswork The 4 verification gates, and what evidence passes each one How to spot a trading desk posing as a factory Why insured employee count is a better size signal than a claimed capacity What we refuse to publish, and why that protects buyers Specification that produces comparable quotes Soft lures: length, weight, plasticiser feel, salt or scent load, colourway reference Hard lures and jigs: body material, hardware by name, finish and durability testing Rods: blank material and action, guide and reel-seat specification, sample source The packaging decisions that quietly change MOQ and lead time Prefer the raw data? If you would rather work from structured records than a document, the supplier data is published as JSON and refreshed with every build. Open data (JSON) llms.txt for AI agents Browse the directory What is inside the guide A short PDF, no registration. Each section settles one decision. Section The decision it settles Four-gate verification standard Which factories to remove before spending time on quotes Specification checklists Soft lures, hard lures, jigs and rods —what to lock before asking for a price MOQ and tooling economics Why the floor moves, and when tooling pays back FOB versus EXW What the two numbers include, so quotes become comparable Inspection points The checks that stop a batch arriving in the wrong colourway How should you use the guide? Work through the specification checklist for your sub-category before you ask anyone for a price. Put the reference bands beside the quotes you receive, and normalise the basis and the quantity first. Check the tooling and MOQ question before you fall in love with a unit price. Agree the inspection points before production starts, not after the first batch lands. Re-run the 4 verification gates on any factory that is new to you, even one a competitor recommends. What does a price band actually contain? Reference price bands by sub-category, aggregated from 62 sampled listings. Basis must be confirmed per quotation (FOB port or EXW factory). Sub-category Sample size Reference price band (US$ / unit) Median low MOQ band (pcs) Category Fishhook 9 0.07 – 2.40 / piece 0.65 100 – 2,000 Fishing Accessories Spoon & Spinner 6 0.31 – 6.00 / piece 1.25 50 – 500 Fishing Lures Other Hard Lure 6 0.56 – 12.04 / piece 2.95 20 – 500 Fishing Lures Soft Lure 6 0.20 – 3.85 / piece 1.55 50 – 1,000 Fishing Lures Hard Lure 6 1.85 – 3.20 / piece 2.60 100 – 100 Fishing Lures VIB 6 0.24 – 2.50 / piece 1.39 100 – 500 Fishing Lures Minnow 6 0.37 – 3.17 / piece 1.40 50 – 500 Fishing Lures Metal Jig 5 0.97 – 2.01 / piece 1.39 100 – 200 Fishing Lures Fishing Rod 3 9.15 – 132.55 / piece 28.05 20 – 100 Fishing Rods Crankbait 3 0.30 – 0.85 / piece 0.66 200 – 500 Fishing Lures Octopus Skirt 3 0.08 – 2.80 / piece 0.98 100 – 2,000 Fishing Lures Fishing Accessory 3 0.62 – 60.00 / pack 9.62 5 – 200 Fishing Accessories What should you do with the guide before you contact anyone? Run the specification checklist for your sub-category first. Put the reference bands beside every quote you receive. Normalise unit, order quantity and basis before comparing anything. Check the tooling and MOQ question before falling for a unit price. Agree inspection points before production, not after the first batch. Re-run the 4 verification gates on any factory that is new to you. What the guide deliberately does not contain? Supplier names or contacts —that is what a trade account is for. Prices presented as offers, because bands are not quotations. Certifications we have not seen evidence for. Ratings, because we do not collect them. How big is the Chinese fishing tackle export market? China exports under HS heading 9507 — fishing rods, hooks, reels and artificial bait. Source: UN Comtrade reporter data for China, retrieved via the official API. Measure 2024 2023 Change All fishing tackle (HS 9507) US$1.93 bn US$1.77 bn +9.0% Fishing rods (HS 950710) US$0.66 bn US$0.62 bn +6.5% Fish hooks (HS 950720) US$0.11 bn US$0.11 bn flat Destination countries served 196 197 -1 Largest single destination US$546 M US$445 M +23% Rods account for about 34% of the total and hooks about 6%. The largest single destination takes roughly 28% of the 2024 total — which is why the export markets already on a supplier record are worth reading before you ask for a price. Who supplies the United States? US imports under HS heading 9507 in 2024, by source country. Source: UN Comtrade reporter data for the United States, retrieved via the official API. Source 2024 import value Share of total China US$538 M 59% Japan US$74 M 8% Malaysia US$53 M 6% Viet Nam US$42 M 5% All other sources (65 countries) US$199 M 22% Total US imports US$906 M 100% The United States bought US$906 M of fishing tackle under HS 9507 in 2024 from 69 source countries. China supplied US$538 M of it — 59% of the total, and roughly 7 times the next largest source. That concentration is why specification discipline matters more than factory discovery: the factories are not hard to find, the comparable quotation is. Figures retrieved from UN Comtrade (reporter China and United States, HS 9507, 2024) and aggregated across partner countries. They are historical customs values, not offers. Where this sits in the process This page is one topic out of the verification standard. The overview is Download the sourcing guide . Where to next Product catalogue Sample listings with price per unit Verified directory Factories that passed 4 verification gates How sourcing works Six steps, timing, failure modes Price benchmark Reference bands and MOQ tiers Updated 2026-09-12 Scope Fishing tackle sourcing Sources 1 cited Was this page useful? Yes, useful Not really Sources Content summarises the method actually published at /how-it-works/ and /verification/; nothing beyond those pages is promised