# How to read a crankbait price band

> Our own three-listing crankbait sample has the narrowest band in the catalog, and that narrowness is a sampling artefact. What a band can and cannot tell you.

Source: https://luressource.com/sourcing-playbook/how-to-read-a-crankbait-price-band/

Direct answer. Our crankbait sample has the narrowest price band in this catalog, running US$0.30 to US$0.85 across three listings, and the narrowness is a property of a three-listing sample rather than a fact about the market. All three are unpainted ABS bodies between 42 mm and 100 mm, so the sample covers one construction rather than the category. A crankbait is specified by diving depth class before size, and the lip sets depth and deflection together against the internal weighting, which makes depth a tooling decision rather than a buying preference. Key facts. 1) Our crankbait sample holds 3 listings from US$0.30 to US$0.85 at MOQ 200 to 500, the narrowest band in the catalog. 2) All three are unpainted or plainly finished ABS bodies from 42 mm to 100 mm, so the sample covers one construction, not the category. 3) The three weights are 6 g, 13 g and 14 g; no deep-diving and no lipless crankbait appears in the sample. 4) One listing prices per pack at MOQ 200 packs without stating how many pieces a pack holds, so that row cannot be compared with the per-piece quotes. 5) A crankbait is specified by diving depth class before its size, and the lip is set against the internal weighting rather than on its own. Frequently asked questions. Q: Why is your crankbait price band so narrow? A: Because three listings is a small sample and all three happen to be plain ABS bodies of similar construction. The band describes those three products, not the crankbait market. We publish it and say so rather than presenting a three-listing range as though it were a market range. Q: What is missing from the sample? A: Deep-diving crankbaits and lipless crankbaits, which are where much of the US demand sits. The three weights recorded are 6 g, 13 g and 14 g, a narrow set. A buyer whose programme is built around deep divers is not served by this sample at all, and we would rather say that than let the band imply otherwise. Q: Why is diving depth the first field rather than size? A: Because two baits of the same length that run at different depths are different products to an angler and different toolings to a factory. Length is the field a listing leads with because it is easy to measure. Depth is the field that decides what the bait is for. Q: How are depth and deflection related? A: The lip sets both, and it does so against the internal weighting rather than on its own. Change either the lip or the ballast and you change both the depth and the way the bait deflects off cover. That is why depth cannot be tuned after tooling in the same way a color can. Q: What should a crankbait order state? A: Five fields: the diving depth class, the lip geometry, the body length and the internal weighting, the hook hanger construction, and the finish. The hook hanger is the field no listing in our sample names, and it is the one most likely to fail under load. Sources (3). 1) The three-listing crankbait sample behind every figure on this page — /opportunities/crankbait-suppliers-china/ 2) The companion guide on why hard lure is a category rather than a specification — /sourcing-playbook/hard-lure-is-a-category-not-a-specification/ 3) Our rule for separating a claim from its evidence — /opportunities/editorial-rules/ This page is about a price band that does not mean what it looks like it means, including the one we publish ourselves. The narrowest band in the catalog Our crankbait sample holds three listings, priced from US$0.30 to US$0.85 per piece, at MOQ 200 to 500. That is the narrowest spread of any type on this site. It would be easy to present that as evidence of a stable, commoditised category. It is not. A narrow band across three listings is mostly a statement about the sample: all three are unpainted or plainly finished ABS bodies between 42 mm and 100 mm, so what we sampled is one construction rather than the category. We publish the figure and the caveat together. A buyer who needs a deep-diving crankbait is not served by this sample at all, and the honest version of that is a sentence rather than a range. What the sample does not contain The three weights recorded are 6 g, 13 g and 14 g. There is no deep diver and no lipless crankbait in the sample, which is where a large part of US demand sits. That matters because the two ends of the crankbait market are different products. A shallow square-bill deflects off cover and is fished around structure. A deep diver runs on a long bill and is fished on the bottom contour. A lipless bait has no lip at all and is fished on the fall. Three behaviours, three toolings. The unit problem, again One of the three listings prices per pack at MOQ 200 packs and does not state how many pieces a pack holds. That row cannot be compared with the per-piece quotations on the other two until the pack count is known. It is the same failure we record in every type in this catalog, and it is worth repeating in a page about narrow bands because a unit error in a three-listing sample can create or destroy the entire apparent spread. Same body, same length, different depth. Depth is set by the lip against the internal weighting, and both are committed when the tool is cut. Depth before size A crankbait is specified by its diving depth class before its size. Length is the field listings lead with because it is easy to measure; depth is the field that decides what the bait is for. Depth and deflection are set by the same part. The lip determines both, and it does so against the internal weighting rather than on its own. Change the lip or the ballast and both the running depth and the way the bait comes off cover change together. That is why depth is committed at tooling while a color is not. The field no listing names Body material is stated as ABS across the sample. No listing names the hook hanger construction - moulded-in, through-wire or screw-eye - which is the field most likely to fail under load and the one a buyer is least likely to ask about. It belongs in the order for the same reason it belongs in the hard-lure order: it is structural, invisible, and decided at tooling. What the order has to state Diving depth class. Named before the size, because it determines the tooling. Lip geometry. Fixed with the mould and set against the weighting. Body length and internal weighting. The two together produce the depth and the attitude. Hook hanger construction. The field our own sample does not name. Finish. Two of our three listings quote a range rather than a figure, which normally indicates a color or finish tier rather than a negotiable band. Send a specification See the crankbait record