A Figurine Maker’s Journey Through China

Boing Boing recently published a great feature from Jared Zichek, an avid entrepreneur who manufactures and sells classic-comics action figures. In the feature, Jared talks about his prototyping, manufacturing and sales process – part of it happen in the US, part of it in Hong Kong and part of it in China.

Here’s a juicy excerpt:

Finding a factory. The safest route is going through a trading company; reputable ones I’m aware of are Lucky Group International Ltd. and Point East Ltd., which act as middlemen between you and the factories. You will not be scammed, though they will pressure you to order a minimum of 500 pieces; you will also pay more than dealing directly with a factory. To cut out the middleman, go to Alibaba.com and search for “resin character statue” or the like and start contacting companies which look promising; I don’t deal with anyone that hasn’t been a Gold Member for at least three years due to the many incidents of fraud that have occurred on the site. I email them my production guide and wait for a few days to receive all the quotes; several will not respond if you are not ordering at least 500 pieces. The quotes you receive will be all over the map, though you shouldn’t necessarily pick the cheapest one without first doing a lot of online research. Be advised that the quotes never include shipping, which is a substantial additional expense to consider.

Read the full article on Boing Boing, or buy Jared’s action figures from GoldenAgeFigurines.com.