Your First Product Order Doesn't Have to Be Huge
"How do I know how much to order the first time?"
This is one of the most common questions I hear from people who are close to placing their first product order. And underneath it is usually a bigger, quieter question: what if I order too much and it doesn't sell?
That fear is sooooo valid. But it's also often based on assumptions about minimums and commitment levels that aren't as fixed as people think.
The Minimum Order Has Changed
When I started making washi tape, the minimum order was 100 rolls per design. That felt manageable to me at the time, and it was. But it still meant committing to 100 units of something I had never sold before.
The landscape has shifted. You can now start a washi tape run at 50 rolls per design. That is a really different entry point, and it matters because it means your first run carries less financial weight than it used to. You're testing with a smaller commitment, which is exactly what a first run should be.
This isn't unique to washi tape. Across many product categories, minimum order quantities have become more accessible for small businesses, and that's worth knowing before you talk yourself out of starting. If high minimums are still a concern for the product you have in mind, How Do You Handle High Minimums? is worth a read.
Why Restraint Is Smart, Not Timid
One of the things I've learned over years of making products is that the first run is almost never the definitive run. It's the one that teaches you what to do differently the second time.
Maybe the color reads slightly different in person than it did on screen. Maybe one design sells out in two weeks and another sits for six months. Maybe you discover that your customers want a size you didn't offer. None of that is failure. It's information, and it's information you can only get by actually having product in hand.
Starting with a smaller quantity gives you room to learn without overcommitting. I have a tea towel manufacturer I work with where there's no set minimum order at all. That kind of relationship lets me test a new design, see how it moves, and decide whether to reorder before I've tied up a significant amount of money. Not every manufacturer works this way, but it's worth looking for, especially when you're starting out.
The Fear Is Usually About Missing Information
Here's what I've noticed about the fear that comes up around first orders: it's almost never really about the quantity. It's about not feeling informed enough to make the call confidently.
When I'm feeling uncertain about a product decision, the first thing I do is try to identify exactly what I don't know. Most of the time, the fear shrinks when I can name it. I don't know if this price is competitive. I don't know if this quantity will sell in my first season. I don't know if the quality will be what I'm expecting.
Those are answerable questions. Not always completely, and not always before you have to decide. But the more informed you can get before you place an order, the less the decision feels like a leap and the more it feels like a reasonable next step. If the cost side of things is still fuzzy, How Much It Really Costs to Start Making Products will help you get clearer before you commit to anything.
You will never have every answer before you start. That's just the reality of building a product business. But starting informed is different from starting blind, and it changes how the whole process feels.
What a Smart First Run Actually Looks Like
A first run that feels reasonable usually has a few things in common:
The quantity is the lowest available minimum, not what you think you should order to look serious
The design or product has already been tested in some form, whether through feedback, pre-orders, or existing sales of similar items
The pricing accounts for the full landed cost, not just the factory quote (this means it includes shipping and taxes)
There's a clear plan for where it will sell before it arrives, not after.
That last one matters more than most people realize. Knowing where your product is going before you place the order, whether that's your own shop, a wholesale account, a market, or a combination, makes the quantity decision much more grounded. And if you're still working out what product to start with in the first place, The Myth of the Perfect First Product is a good place to read before this one.
The Next Step
If you're trying to figure out your first run and you want to go through that process with real guidance and factory access, Manufacture: Awesome is built for exactly this stage. Inside I walk you through sourcing overseas from start to finish, including how to evaluate quantities, understand your costs, and make your first order feel like a decision instead of a guess.
If this is the year you want to actually move forward, the waitlist is where to start.