Check both minimums first: each item's own run and the order as a whole. If the order is short, fill the gap with the units that will sell soonest. Start with another channel's need for the same product, then the next order that is due soonest. Padding a slow SKU meets the minimum and leaves cash waiting longest.
Every unit added to reach a minimum is bought early, and the cheapest are the ones that sell soonest.
Two minimums, checked separately
A factory can set a minimum per item, a minimum for the whole order, or both. They fail in different ways. Clearing the order minimum does not lift an item that is under its own run, and every item clearing its run does not make the order big enough.
Count them in the unit the supplier counts. If the factory counts the units it makes and you list some of them as twin packs, 300 twin packs are 600 units toward a minimum. A thousand units made can become 400 singles and 300 twin packs, and a minimum measured in packs would read 700.
An order 500 units short
The factory's terms: 500 units per item, 2,000 units per order, $6 a unit. This order has two items, both above their own minimum:
| Item | Needed now | Sells a week |
|---|---|---|
| A | 900 | 150 |
| B | 600 | 50 |
| Order | 1,500 |
Both items pass the per-item check. The order fails the total by 500 units. Every way of adding those 500 meets the minimum. They differ in how long the extra units wait.
Four ways to add 500, priced in weeks
An extra unit of an item you already stock is a unit you would have bought on a later order. The weeks it waits are the extra units divided by that item's weekly sales. For an order pulled forward, they are the weeks until that order was due. Multiply the cash by the weeks to compare options of different sizes:
| Option | Units added | Cash | Weeks early | Cash × weeks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pad B, the slow seller | 500 | $3,000 | 10 | $30,000 |
| Pad A, the fast seller | 500 | $3,000 | 3⅓ | $10,000 |
| Bring forward item C's next order, due in 2 weeks | 600 | $3,600 | 2 | $7,200 |
| Add another channel's need for A, due now | 500 | $3,000 | 0 | $0 |
Padding B is the reflex, because B is the item that looks small on the order, and it is the most expensive way through: 500 units at 50 a week is ten weeks of B's sales bought ahead. The same 500 units of A sell in about three and a third weeks. Pulling C's next order forward adds more units but makes them wait only two weeks, and C's 600 also clears C's own 500 minimum.
The last row costs nothing in waiting. If Walmart or TikTok needs A at the same time, that demand already exists. One factory order serving two channels' shipments is the order you were going to place twice, and placing it once is what reaches the minimum. Each channel's shipment still has to be planned on its own: one run, two destinations.
Cash × weeks is a rough yardstick. Your own cost of holding stock, storage included, turns it into money. It is enough to rank the options, and the ranking is usually the decision.
An item under its own minimum
The per-item check is harder, because adding other items does not help it. Say item D needs 200, sells 25 a week and has a 500-unit minimum. Ordering 500 buys 300 extra, twelve weeks of D's sales, $1,800 for twelve weeks at $6 a unit. The other choice is to leave D out of this run, if its stock lasts until the next one and the next need clears 500 on its own. Check D's cover against the date of the next run before deciding, and weigh the sales a stockout on D would lose against twelve weeks of $1,800.
Where this still needs a person
Which units to add is a judgment the arithmetic only ranks. Vendlen checks both minimums when a shipment plan becomes a purchase order, and a plan that falls short can roll another plan into the same order. PO quantities are also rounded up to whole cartons, and the extra units stay in Processed Stock. Which plan to roll in is still your call. More on the chain is on the Inventory and Supply page.
Pulling an order forward assumes its need will still be there. Two weeks ahead is close to a promise; twelve weeks ahead is a forecast. The further forward, the more the choice rests on theselling rate holding.
The minimum itself may be negotiable. A higher unit price for a smaller run, or a run split into two deliveries, can cost less than the extra stock. That is a conversation with the supplier, and the cash × weeks figure is what you take into it.
What to do with this
- Ask the supplier which minimums apply: per item, per order, or both, and in which unit.
- Size the need first, without the minimum. The reorder quantity formula gives it per SKU.
- Check each item against its own minimum, then the order against the total.
- For each way to close the gap, work out extra units ÷ weekly sales for the weeks early, and multiply by the cash.
- Start with demand that already exists: another channel's need for the same product, then the next order due soonest. Pad a slow seller last.
Questions sellers ask
What does MOQ mean for Amazon sellers?
MOQ is the minimum order quantity a supplier will accept. It can apply per item, to the whole order, or both, and it can be counted in units made or in packs. Ask which before you plan an order around it.
Can I combine different products to meet a supplier's MOQ?
Often, when the minimum applies to the whole order and the supplier accepts mixed items. Any per-item minimum still applies to each product on its own. Combining the same product for two sales channels can reach the minimum without buying units only to fill it, when both needs already exist.
Is it worth ordering more to get a lower unit price?
Multiply the saving per unit by the units you buy, then compare it with what the extra units cost to hold for the weeks they wait to sell, storage included. The slower the product sells, the longer the extra units wait and the less a discount is worth.
What if I cannot reach the MOQ at all?
Ask the supplier for a smaller run at a higher unit price, or a run split into two deliveries, and compare both with the cost of the extra stock. If neither works, check whether the product's stock lasts until a later order that does reach the minimum.