Wholesale Asian altar supplies, bought direct

If you already import altar goods, you are not starting from zero — you are deciding whether one line is worth buying from the workshop that casts it rather than from a trader who consolidates it. The honest answer is that you give up speed and gain control. This is written for a distributor with an existing range, not for a shop placing a first order, and it says plainly which items are worth moving and which are not.

What is different about buying from the foundry?

Three things change. You specify instead of select: metal, wall thickness, finish and lettering become lines in your purchase order rather than whatever the trader's catalogue offers. You carry the stock risk that the trader was carrying for you. And you talk to the people who cast the piece, which matters the day a customer breaks one and wants a match.

Which items are worth buying direct, and which are not?

• Worth it: the models you reorder every year, anything you would like to carry your own mark, oversized or unusual sizes a trader will not stock, and sets where your customers complain about proportions.
• Worth it: replacement and matching pieces, which a consolidator generally cannot source at all once a set is discontinued.
• Not worth it: fast-moving small goods you sell on a two-week cycle, one-off lines you are testing, and anything where your trader's warehouse in the United States is the actual product you are buying.

What do I give up in speed, and what do I gain?

Read that table as a division of labour rather than a ranking. Most distributors we deal with keep both: the trader for replenishment, the foundry for the range they want to own.

How does a direct line sit next to my existing imported range?

Badly, if you put them on the same shelf without a story. A hand-cast Vietnamese altar set has visible variation between pieces — 1–3 cm between two castings of the same model is normal, and we call anything over 5 cm a defect and recast it. Next to machine-finished stock that reads as inconsistency unless your listing says why.

It works when the direct line is positioned as the upper tier: heavier metal, cast proportions, made to order. A five-piece set in size 65 runs about 36 kg, with the cranes standing 5–7 cm above the censer and the candlesticks 12–15 cm below it — proportions a customer who grew up with these sets notices immediately. Our guide for US altar shops covers how that reads on a retail floor.

What minimum and lead time should I plan for?

Casting runs 21–30 days after drawing or sample approval, and the approval round comes before that clock starts, not inside it. Add sea freight and clearance. For a distributor, the practical planning unit is two orders a year with a repeat window in between, not monthly replenishment.

Our minimum is set by order value rather than by piece, which means you may mix sizes, models and finishes across one pallet to reach it. Send the list and we will tell you whether it clears. Quotations come back within two working days of a complete enquiry; the full conditions are on trade terms.

How do I keep the same models in stock year after year?

1. Keep one piece from the first batch as your physical reference and have us photograph it before it ships.
2. Put the finish name, the wall thickness and the measuring points in the purchase order, not in an email thread.
3. Reorder against the model number we assign, not against a photograph.
4. Expect a colour conversation on every repeat — patina is hand work and matching it is the part that needs your sign-off.

What does a first direct order look like?

One sample, then one pallet. The sample is a catalogue piece from stock or a piece cast to your drawing, and its cost is credited against the first production order. The pallet is a mixed list — two or three models across sizes — sized to clear the minimum and to tell you how the goods sell before you commit a container. We quote unit weight, packed weight and pieces per carton as standard, so your forwarder needs no second email. Browse altar bronzeware or the catalogue to build that first list.