How to Read a Chinese Furniture Quote: What Importers Need to Know

What a Complete Quotation Should Include

A Chinese furniture quotation is not a standardized document. Some factories produce detailed PDFs broken out by component; others send a one-line email with a unit price. Neither format is inherently dishonest, but the depth of a quote tells you a great deal about how the factory will manage your order when things get complicated.

A quotation that gives you enough to make a real decision will always include: the exact product name and model reference, all material specifications broken down by component, the unit price with the Incoterms basis clearly stated, packaging details including carton type and dimensions, a realistic lead time from deposit or confirmed purchase order, and the payment terms. If any of these six elements is missing, ask for it before comparing prices with another supplier.

Material Specifications: What the Quote Says vs. What It Means

The material specification section is where the most consequential differences between competing quotes live. It is also the section buyers are most likely to read quickly and move past.

Foam density is one of the most commonly downgraded specs in upholstered furniture. A quotation might say “high-density foam” without stating the density in kg/m³. Standard commercial grade for hotel and contract furniture runs from D28 to D35. D18 foam — which appears in many budget quotes — compresses and deforms within eighteen months under regular use. The number matters; the label does not.

Board material presents the same problem. “E1 board” and “MFC board” and “moisture-resistant board” can all refer to different products, and the same factory can use different grades depending on order value. If a quotation specifies board without naming a thickness (typically 18mm for structural panels, 12mm for backs and smaller components), or without stating moisture resistance, you are comparing against an unknown.

Fabric and leather grades in Chinese factory quotations are almost always quoted against internal systems — “grade A fabric” at one factory is not the same product as “grade A fabric” at another. The only reliable comparison is to specify a fabric by its composition (polyester content, weight in g/m², and Martindale abrasion rating) before requesting quotes, rather than asking factories to quote their standard grade.

Hardware, Packaging, and Line Items Buyers Often Overlook

Hardware is a small percentage of total unit cost and a disproportionately large source of post-arrival complaints. Hinges and drawer slides from different manufacturers perform very differently over time, and cheaper hardware is rarely disclosed in a quotation — it is substituted quietly when the factory is under cost pressure.

For casegoods — wardrobes, cabinets, sideboards — specify soft-close hinges and drawer slides by load rating and cycle count rather than by brand name alone. Soft-close drawer slides rated for 50kg load and 80,000 open/close cycles are a reasonable minimum for contract applications. A quotation that says “soft-close hardware” without a load rating is giving you a label, not a specification.

Packaging is the line item most buyers skip entirely. Factories treat packaging as a cost to minimize unless you specify otherwise. For ocean freight, furniture should be packed in double-wall corrugated cartons with internal corner foam or expanded polystyrene protection for legs and protruding elements. If a quotation says “standard carton” without further detail, assume single-wall until confirmed otherwise. Damaged goods on arrival trace back to underspecified packaging far more often than rough handling at sea.

Packing dimensions and weight also affect your freight calculation directly. A CBM figure should appear on every line item in a quotation. Without it, you cannot accurately estimate your shipping cost — which means you cannot confirm whether a lower unit price remains competitive once landed.

How to Compare Two Quotes for the Same Piece

Comparing quotes from two factories is straightforward when both are complete. It is rarely straightforward in practice because most quotes are not complete. The correct approach is to write a specification sheet before approaching any factory — a document listing every material component, hardware spec, and packaging requirement — and ask each factory to quote against that document rather than their own assumptions.

When factories quote against an identical specification, price gaps will still appear. Those gaps become genuinely explainable: one factory has lower labor costs, better purchasing power on raw materials, or is quoting at a thinner margin to win a new client. These are legitimate competitive differences. The problem arises only when specifications are left open and different factories fill the gaps differently.

A Step-by-Step Process for Evaluating Any Quotation

1. Confirm the Incoterms basis first. An EXW quote and a FOB quote are not directly comparable — FOB includes inland trucking and export clearance that EXW does not, and that difference can be USD 80–200 per cubic meter depending on the origin city and factory location.
2. Check that every material component has a specific, measurable specification. “High quality” and “premium grade” are not specifications. “18mm E1 MFC board, moisture-resistant” is a specification.
3. Verify the unit definition. If the quote is priced per set, confirm exactly what the set contains. A bedroom set can mean a bed frame alone or a bed frame plus two bedside tables and a dresser — the ambiguity is common and expensive to discover after paying a deposit.
4. Extract the packing CBM and calculate the rough freight cost to your destination port. A lower unit price with a larger CBM per carton can cost more landed than a higher unit price packed more efficiently.
5. Confirm the lead time trigger. A 45-day lead time from deposit and a 45-day lead time from confirmed purchase order are not the same. The difference is the time between deposit payment and PO confirmation, which can add several weeks depending on your internal approval process.
6. Ask explicitly about anything not in the quotation: product compliance testing fees, third-party inspection access, and what the factory’s process is if a pre-production sample fails approval and requires revision rounds.

Red Flags in a Quotation

Most factories producing incomplete quotations are not trying to mislead you. They are responding to how quickly buyers typically request prices, and they have learned that detailed follow-up questions rarely come before orders are confirmed. That said, certain patterns in a quotation are worth investigating before proceeding to deposit.

A quotation that uses vague language throughout is not automatically a bad supplier. It may simply be a factory that has not been trained to produce formal documentation. In that case, request a sample before placing volume, and write your own purchase order specification to replace the quotation as the governing document once you are satisfied with the product quality.

Using the Specification Sheet as Your Reference Document

The most effective way to protect yourself across the entire sourcing process — not just at the quote stage — is to write a specification sheet for every item you are ordering and treat that document as the binding reference, regardless of what the quotation says.

A specification sheet lists every material, every dimension, every hardware component, and every finish requirement in measurable terms. It becomes the document your pre-shipment inspection is conducted against. It removes ambiguity from the order confirmation, the production process, and the payment trigger. Factories that do good work welcome specification documents because they mean fewer revision rounds and clearer approval benchmarks on both sides.

Many buyers rely entirely on photos and samples without writing a specification. That works for simple items in small quantities. For hotel projects, villa contracts, or commercial orders involving multiple items across a single container, a specification sheet is the only reliable way to ensure that what arrives matches what was agreed — because the details agreed verbally or over WeChat do not survive the six-week gap between order confirmation and goods arriving on a truck.