After your Kickstarter: six things to decide before you pick a factory

Before you pick a factory after a Kickstarter or Indiegogo campaign, decide six things: how many units you need in each version, which design you are building, where you will ship and what each country requires, what you want the factory to do, what each unit can cost delivered and when you will pay for it, and when backers can realistically get their units. Factories quote and plan from these answers. Without them, quotes can't be compared, and the delivery date you gave backers rests on guesses. Most of these are easier to settle before the campaign ends, and some, like the price and the quantities to quote, before it launches.

A funded campaign gives you something most hardware teams don't have at this stage: a known quantity and cash. It also gives you a delivery date you have announced, and backers who will hear about every delay. The six decisions below turn that into an order a factory can quote and build.

The six decisions

Decision	Why the factory needs it	What to have written down
1. How many, in which versions	Quantity sets the process, the tooling and the price; each version adds parts and minimums	Units per version, plus spares, replacements and any retail stock
2. Which design you're building	A factory can't firmly quote or tool a design that is still changing	A design redesigned for production, tested and frozen, with stretch-goal changes in or out
3. Where you'll ship	Each market sets certifications, labels and battery shipping rules	The countries for the first run and what each one requires
4. What you want the factory to do	Partners differ: build to your files, build on their own design, redesign and hand off, or manage the whole build	Who does engineering, buying parts, test, packing and inspection
5. What each unit can cost, and when you pay	Quotes only compare on the same basis, and tooling and parts are paid for before units ship	A target landed cost per unit and a payment plan that fits your cash
6. When backers get their units	The real schedule comes from tooling, long-lead parts, the pilot run, certification and freight	A delivery date worked back from the factory's schedule, with slack

1. How many units, in which versions

Start from the backer count, then add what the count doesn't show: late pledges and add-ons from your pledge manager or backer survey, replacements for units lost or damaged in shipping, spares for warranty returns, and any stock for your own store or retailers.

Then count the versions. Every color, size or bundle is a version, and each one can carry its own parts, packaging and minimum order quantity (MOQ), the smallest order a supplier will take. Two colors of a molded case mean two batches of colored plastic and two sets of packaging. Close the survey before you order, so you know how many of each version to build.

Some parts take months to arrive or are sold only in minimum quantities, and orders for them often can't be canceled. The factory may ask you to approve buying them before the survey closes, and any left over are yours to pay for.

If the campaign did much better than planned, the quantity may now justify a different process, such as steel molds instead of aluminum. If it did worse, An ODM quoted a 2,000-unit MOQ, but we need 500 covers ways to make a smaller run work.

2. Which design you're building

Campaigns often run on a working prototype that hasn't yet been redesigned for production, and stretch goals can add features after the design looked done. Before you pick a factory, decide what's in: which stretch goals change the hardware, and which can wait for a second version.

Then finish the redesign for production, often called DFM (design for manufacturing): each part redesigned for the process that will make it, a bill of materials (BOM) with real part numbers, and a few units built and tested. Freeze the design once those units pass. A 3D-printed case, for example, almost always needs changes before it can be injection molded; Moving from a 3D-printed prototype to injection molding lists them. A factory can give you an early quote on a prototype, but that number tends to move once the design changes, and changes after the mold is cut cost the most.

Test the packed product, too. Backer units travel as single parcels, so drop-test the boxed unit before the run, to a standard such as ISTA 3A or at least with repeated drops. Units damaged in shipping use up the spares.

3. Where you'll ship, and what each country requires

Backers can come from dozens of countries, and each market has its own rules for electronics:

US. Almost every electronic product has to meet FCC rules.
Canada. The regulator is ISED (Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada).
EU. Products need CE marking.
Great Britain. It has its own UKCA mark, but it also accepts CE marking for most electronics, including radio equipment.

A product with a radio needs radio approval in each market. A radio module that already holds those approvals saves most of the radio testing, but the finished product still needs its own: emissions testing in the US and Canada (FCC Part 15B and ICES-003) and, in the EU, an assessment of the whole product under the Radio Equipment Directive, covering radio, electromagnetic compatibility, safety and, for internet-connected products, cybersecurity (since August 2025). The product also has to follow the module's conditions, such as which antenna it uses and a "Contains FCC ID" label.

A product sold to consumers in the EU also needs a responsible person based in the EU, named with an address on the product, its packaging or the papers that come with it. This has applied to CE-marked electronics since July 2021, and to all consumer products since December 2024 under the General Product Safety Regulation. Sellers of electronics, batteries and packaging generally also have to register for the recycling schemes of each EU country they sell into. A product with a lithium battery needs its UN 38.3 transport test before carriers will ship it.

Each of these affects the labels, the packaging, the manual and sometimes the design, so the factory needs the list before it quotes. Decide which countries the first run ships to. Shipping the first run to a few markets and adding others later is a common way to keep certification manageable.

Also decide who pays import duties and VAT for backers outside the US, so no one gets a bill at the door. For parcels to the EU worth €150 or less, a seller registered for the EU's Import One-Stop Shop (IOSS) can collect the VAT when backers pay, and since July 2026 these parcels also owe a flat €3 customs duty per type of item. For parcels to the UK worth £135 or less, the seller has to register for UK VAT and charge it at the sale. Many pledge managers can collect these amounts along with the survey. Above those amounts, VAT and full duty are paid on import, for example by shipping delivered duty paid (DDP) through your fulfillment partner.

4. What you want the factory to do

"Factory" can mean several kinds of partner. They do different jobs, and each has a trade-off:

A contract manufacturer (CM) builds your design from your files. You need production-ready files, and you, or someone you hire, handle design changes, decisions on parts and any other suppliers.
An ODM (original design manufacturer) builds on its own design or platform. That can be faster, but it can tie the product to that factory and come with higher minimums. Check who owns the design, the firmware and the files; on an ODM's own platform, you often don't.
A product development firm redesigns the product for production, then hands it to a factory. You still have to find and manage the factory, and problems tend to surface at the hand-off.
A partner that manages the whole build places the work with several factories, such as a molder, a board assembly house and final assembly, and coordinates them. You deal with one company instead of several, but you pay for the coordination, so check that you own the files and the molds and could work with the factories directly later.

Whichever you choose, write down who does each job. The ones that most often fall between partners:

late design changes and buying parts;
serial numbers, labels and unique IDs such as Bluetooth addresses and QR pairing codes;
the firmware version frozen for the line, and how updates reach units in the field;
the test fixture and its pass/fail limits;
checking parts from one supplier when they reach another, and who pays for rejects;
packaging, and a final inspection before shipping, often by a third party sampling to an acceptance quality limit (AQL);
shipping to your warehouse or fulfillment partner.

Jobs nobody owns are a common cause of delays.

5. What each unit can cost, and when you pay

Work out the budget from what the campaign actually brings in: the total raised, minus the platform's fee, payment processing, pledges that fail to collect, and what you will spend shipping rewards to backers. What's left pays for tooling, certification, parts, assembly and freight.

Then set a target for each unit's landed cost: the factory's price plus freight, duties and tariffs to your warehouse. US duties depend on where the product is made and have changed often since 2025, so get the tariff code (HTS) and the duty rate each quote assumes. Since August 2025, parcels shipped from abroad straight to US backers no longer enter duty-free under the $800 de minimis rule, so sending each backer's unit from an overseas warehouse doesn't avoid duty.

Ask every factory for quotes at the same quantities, with one-time costs such as molds and fixtures listed separately from the unit price, and with the delivery terms, so you can compare landed costs on the same basis.

Then look at when the money goes out. Factories commonly ask for part of the tooling cost when tooling starts, and a deposit on production before they buy parts, with the rest due before shipping. Map those payments against the cash you have, with room for a second round of mold changes or a failed certification test. Before you pay for tooling, confirm in writing who owns the molds and fixtures and where they are kept.

6. When backers get their units

The delivery date on a campaign page is often set before anyone has a factory schedule. Work it out the other way: from the design freeze, through tooling and mold adjustments, certification testing, a pilot run, production, inspection, freight and fulfillment.

Tooling, parts with long lead times and the fixes after the pilot run usually take the longest. Certification testing itself is shorter, but it needs units built from production parts, so it comes late, and a failed test lands just before shipping. If any supplier is in China, plan around the Lunar New Year shutdown. From working prototype to first production run walks through each step.

Ask each factory for its lead times for tooling, first samples, the pilot run and production, and add slack. If the honest date is later than the one you announced, tell backers early, with the new plan.

What to ask the factories you're comparing

Unit prices at your quantities, with one-time costs listed separately.
Delivery terms: at their door (ex-works), loaded at their port (FOB), or delivered with duties paid (DDP), so you can work out landed cost.
The tariff code (HTS) and duty rate a delivered quote assumes, and who pays if the rate changes before the goods land.
Lead times for tooling, first samples, the pilot run and production.
The payment schedule.
Who owns the molds and fixtures, where they are kept, and whether they will release them on request.
Which tests they run on each unit, how lots are inspected, and what counts as a defect.
What they need from you: files, firmware, packaging artwork, and any parts you supply.

Put your six answers on one page and send it with your files, so every factory quotes the same thing.

If you haven't launched yet

Most of these decisions are cheaper to make before the campaign. Ask for quotes at three quantities: the fewest you could deliver, what you expect, and what a strong campaign would bring. A pledge price set from a single quote can turn out too low if the campaign lands at a lower quantity than the one quoted. Put certification and shipping into the pledge price, and decide which countries you will ship to before backers there pledge.

In the US, you can take pre-orders before the FCC authorization is done only with a clear notice that the product can't be delivered until it is authorized, and nothing can ship before then. Put that notice on the campaign page.

Example: a funded smart planter

This is an illustration, not a customer project.

A team's campaign for a smart planter, with a sensor board, a small pump and a molded case in two colors, has closed with backers in about 20 countries.

How many. The backer count, plus add-ons and late pledges from the survey, plus spares for replacements, split by color. The survey closes before the order.
Which design. One stretch goal added a second sensor. It fits on the board, which isn't final yet, and it needs no new opening in the case and no change to the radio layout, so it goes into the first run. Another stretch goal is an app feature with no hardware change, so it doesn't hold up the factory. The printed case is redesigned for molding.
Where. The first run ships to the US, Canada, the EU and the UK. Backers in other countries hear that their units come with a second run, and get the choice of waiting or a refund. The team lists FCC, ISED and CE, which Great Britain also accepts, names an EU responsible person, and uses a Bluetooth module that already holds radio approvals, which cuts the radio testing but not the planter's own emissions and safety tests, or the EU cybersecurity requirements that come with its app connection.
What the factory does. A contract manufacturer handles board assembly, final assembly, test and packing, and a separate molder makes the case. The team writes down who handles each step, including who ships finished units to its fulfillment partner.
Cost and cash. A target landed cost per unit, set from the pledge price after fees, shipping to backers and some slack. Quotes at the campaign quantity and at double it, for a second run or retail, compared on landed cost. The tooling deposit and the production deposit are mapped against the cash in the bank.
When. The team works back from tooling, certification and the pilot run, finds the announced date was too early, and tells backers the new date with the plan behind it.

Where we come in

This is one of the situations Anamor takes on. Whether your campaign has funded or you're still planning it, we start from your target unit cost and quantities, redesign the product for production, and quote it at the quantities you're planning, delivered to your US address with shipping and duties included, with a week-by-week production timeline you can check against the date you gave backers. We don't test or certify products ourselves; if you need FCC, UL or CE testing, we arrange it with an accredited lab, and the cost is itemized in your quote.

Anamor takes US hardware teams with a working prototype into their first production run: we redesign the product for production, line up partner factories and suppliers in the US and overseas, price it at your quantities, and run the build through to shipping.

Send what you have: photos of the prototype, CAD if you have it, the parts list, your campaign page, and how many you plan to make. Need an NDA? We'll send our mutual NDA, or review yours, before you send files. Within two business days, a real person on our team will reply with a free first look at your production run and a few times to talk.

Frequently asked questions

What should I decide before choosing a manufacturer after Kickstarter?

Six things: how many units you need in each version, which design you are building, where you will ship and what each country requires, what you want the factory to do, what each unit can cost delivered and when you pay for it, and when backers can realistically get their units. Factories quote and plan from these answers.

How many units should I order after a crowdfunding campaign?

Start from the backer count, then add late pledges and add-ons from your pledge manager or survey, replacements for units lost or damaged in shipping, spares for warranty returns, and any stock for your own store or retailers. Split the total by version, since each color, size or bundle can carry its own parts, packaging and minimum order.

What kind of manufacturing partner do I need after Kickstarter?

It depends on what you want the partner to do. A contract manufacturer builds your design from your files. An ODM builds on its own design or platform, which can be faster but can tie the product to that factory. A product development firm redesigns, then hands off to a factory. A partner that manages the whole build coordinates several factories.

How do I set a realistic delivery date for Kickstarter backers?

Work back from the factory's schedule: design freeze, tooling and mold adjustments, certification testing, a pilot run, production, inspection, freight and fulfillment. Tooling, long-lead parts and the fixes after the pilot run usually take the longest. Ask each factory for its lead times, add slack, and if the honest date is later, tell backers early.