Frequently asked questions
Cheery Supply Chain is a sourcing data publisher for Chinese fishing tackle factories, and this page answers the questions buyers and factories ask most often, before a first order and after one.
- Categories covered: fishing tackle only. No other category is listed, by design.
- No listing fee for factories during the pilot; no membership fee for buyers.
- Records are re-checked every 90 days and every profile shows its review date.
Reference
5 further sections, kept collapsed because they are looked up rather than read through: the detail, the wording and the checks behind everything above. Open one and the page stays where it is.
The questions buyers and factories actually ask, answered with the same rules the site is built on. If an answer here and the site disagree, the site is wrong — the build enforces the rules.
How to use this page
19 questions cover most of what buyers ask before an order, and each answer links to the page where it is worked out in full. The short version below is the one-paragraph summary; the sections underneath are the ones that need a number, a date or a source to be useful.
Two conventions run through every answer on this site, and they are worth stating once here. A price is only comparable when the unit, the order quantity and the basis (FOB port or EXW factory) are stated — a number without those three is not a price. And a verification claim is dated: every published record carries the date it was last checked, and a record past its 90-day cycle is due for re-check rather than current.
Where an answer depends on a rule set that differs by market, the page says which market it is describing rather than generalising. Where a figure comes from an outside source, the source and the retrieval date travel with it. And where a value is unknown, the answer says so instead of filling the gap with an estimate that would be indistinguishable from a measurement once it is written down.
The short version
Where to go next
Buyers
Send a specification, or apply for a trade account to unlock full price ranges.
Process
What happens after a specification arrives, step by step and including the awkward parts.
Where each answer lives in full
| Topic | Full page |
|---|---|
| How suppliers are verified | The 4 verification gates |
| What a price should be | Reference price bands and MOQ tiers |
| Which factories are published | Verified supplier directory |
| Terms that decide an order | Sourcing glossary |
| Reading the data directly | Open supply data |
What are the most common answers in numbers?
| Question | Answer | Where the records are |
|---|---|---|
| How many verification gates must a factory pass? | 4 —registration, main business, export records, interview | Verification standard |
| How often are records re-checked? | Every 90 days | Supplier directory |
| How fast is a buyer enquiry answered? | 1 business day | Contact |
| How many production clusters are covered? | 3 —Weihai, Guan, Xianxian | Tackle sourcing |
| How many terms are defined? | 14, from FOB to AQL | Glossary |
| 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?
| 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.
Frequently asked questions
What does "verified" actually mean on your site?
The record passed 4 verification gates: business registration, main-business evidence, customs export records, and a direct interview confirming capacity, MOQ, lead time and price basis. The date of the check is shown on every profile, and records are re-checked on a 90-day cycle.
Why do some prices say "on request" instead of a number?
Because a price without a stated basis (FOB port or EXW) and a quantity is not comparable with anything. When a factory cannot state the basis, we publish "on request" rather than an invented figure.
Do you charge factories to be listed?
No listing fee during the pilot. We earn when an enquiry becomes an order we manage, so a listing that produces no serious buyers is worth nothing to us either.
Can an AI agent use your data?
Yes, and that is intentional. The records are published as JSON at /api/v1/factories.json, and /llms.txt states what each field means, what the data must not be used for, and how to cite it. Robots.txt explicitly allows AI crawlers.
What is not published?
Unverified records (they are absent, not marked pending), prices without a basis, invented figures, personal data, and any rating or review we have not measured.
How do you handle my enquiry data?
We use it to answer the enquiry and prepare a quotation. We do not sell it, we do not send marketing without a separate opt-in, and you can ask for a copy or deletion at any time. See the privacy notice.
What happens if a factory fails verification?
The record stays in our internal database with the failure reason, and the build refuses to publish it. Keeping the reason matters, because the next buyer who asks about that factory deserves the answer.
How long does it take to source fishing tackle from China?
Allow about 7 to 9 weeks from order to goods landed when the tooling already exists, and 10 to 14 weeks when a new mould or print plate has to be made and approved. Sea transit to Europe or the US east coast is roughly 30 to 40 days of that. Tackle demand peaks in spring, so a programme intended for a spring season normally has to be confirmed towards the end of the previous year.
Do I have to pay to see supplier details?
No. The directory, the reference price bands and the glossary are free, and a trade account costs nothing. What the account unlocks is factory identity with business contacts, capacity detail for the specification you buy, and a written quotation against your specification.
Why do two Chinese factories quote different prices for the same lure?
Usually because the two quotes cover different scopes. An EXW number excludes the inland freight, export clearance and terminal handling that an FOB number includes, and a lower unit price often assumes a far larger run. Normalise the unit, the order quantity and the price basis before comparing anything.
Who owns the tooling if I pay for it?
The paperwork decides, not the practice. State in writing whether the mould or the plates are owned by you or by the factory, and whether they transfer or are bought out if you move the programme to another supplier.
Can you verify a factory that is not in your directory?
Yes. Many buyers arrive with a factory name from a trade show or a previous order. We run the same 4 verification gates against it and tell you what we find, including when the answer is that we cannot verify it.
Which Chinese regions make fishing tackle?
Three clusters carry most tackle production. Weihai in Shandong makes rods, hard lures and metal jigs, and accounts for roughly 60% of global rod output. Guan in Hebei makes rods and accessories on a lower inland cost base. Xianxian in Hebei is a newer lure and rod chain, useful as a price benchmark. The cluster a factory sits in changes landed cost more than its quoted unit price does.
What fishing tackle can you source, and what is out of scope?
The scope is fishing tackle only: lures (soft, hard, metal jigs), rods, hooks, reels, line and terminal tackle. Packaging, electronics and non-tackle categories are out of scope, and supplier records for them are not published. No other category is listed, by design: packaging, electronics and non-tackle records are simply absent. If a specification falls outside tackle, we say so rather than quote it.
What is the minimum order quantity for custom fishing tackle?
MOQ is a setup-cost calculation rather than a factory trait, so it is not a single number. For moulded or printed tackle the MOQ is set by the injection mould, die or print plate; for assembled products it follows component minimums. Four levers move it: sharing an existing mould, accepting a stock colorway, consolidating families into one order, and paying tooling separately instead of amortising it.
Can I stop after the quotation or the sample?
Yes. You can stop after the written quotation or after the sample without committing to production. Nothing is charged beyond the sample and its courier cost, and no order exists until you accept a quotation in writing. That is why the quotation states the price basis, MOQ, lead time, tooling and validity period.
How do I compare two quotations for the same product?
Normalise three fields before comparing anything: the unit, the order quantity and the price basis. An EXW number excludes the inland freight, export clearance and terminal handling that an FOB number includes. A lower unit price usually assumes a far larger run. Compare like for like, and treat any quotation missing one of the three fields as not yet comparable.
What is product intelligence, and why publish it at all?
A catalog tells a buyer what a factory can make. It does not tell them whether the product suits the water they sell into, how it is fished, or which shop will stock it. Those questions decide whether an order repeats, so they belong on the site rather than in a sales conversation.
Who is this section written for?
Two readers. Buyers use it to specify a product that fits a real fishing situation and a real retail channel. Factories use it to understand what the overseas market is asking for before they quote, which is what turns a price list into an offer.