Buy Bearings Direct From Factory
Compare buying bearings direct in container lots with buying from local stock over five years: unit price, freight, lead time, stock holding. Your figures.
This is a framework for comparing two ways of buying bearings over a five-year horizon, using your own figures. It does not assume factory-direct wins — fill in both columns and compare the totals.
Cost model: fill in both columns
| Cost item | Factory-direct (container lots) | Local stock |
|---|---|---|
| Unit price per piece | _____ | _____ |
| Freight and duty per piece (landed cost — see the landed cost calculator) | _____ | Usually included in local price |
| Smallest order quantity per shipment | _____ | Usually none, or much smaller |
| Lead time per order | _____ (weeks, factory + sea freight) | _____ (days, from local stock) |
| Stock carrying cost (capital tied up between shipments) | _____ | Lower — you hold less |
| Stockout risk (cost of a size being unavailable when needed) | Lower once stocked | _____ |
| Annual order volume this applies to | _____ | _____ |
Working out the five-year total
- Multiply unit price plus landed cost per piece by your annual volume, for each side, to get an annual materials cost.
- Add an estimate of stock carrying cost: average stock value held x your cost of capital (or opportunity cost) per year.
- Add an estimate of stockout cost on the side where it applies — lost production time or expedited freight, if a size runs out.
- Multiply the annual total by five, and compare the two columns.
The crossover point is usually annual volume: a small, irregular order volume often favours local stock despite the higher unit price, because it avoids tying up capital in a container’s worth of stock; a steady, larger volume usually favours factory-direct once freight and duty are spread across enough pieces.
Assumptions to check before trusting the result
- Freight and duty rates change — use current figures from the landed cost calculator, not old quotations.
- Smallest order quantities and lead times vary by factory; confirm current figures before building a five-year plan around them.
- Local distributor pricing and stock availability vary by region and are not something a factory can quote on your behalf.
Send your model list, volumes and current local price (if you want a direct comparison) to sales@fuli-bearings.com or use the request a quote form for current factory-direct figures to put into this model.
FAQ
Is factory-direct always cheaper than local stock over five years?
Usually on unit price once freight and duty are spread across a full container, but not always on total cost — it depends on your order volume, how much capital you can tie up in stock, and how much a stockout actually costs your operation. The model below is for working out which side wins with your own numbers, not a universal answer.
What is the main hidden cost on the factory-direct side?
Carrying cost on the stock you hold between container shipments. A container landed once a quarter means holding, on average, roughly half a quarter's worth of stock at any time, tying up capital and warehouse space that a local-stock buyer does not carry.
What is the main hidden cost on the local-stock side?
The price premium the local distributor charges for holding stock and breaking it into smaller quantities, plus the risk of a size being out of stock when you need it, which a container order avoids by committing to specific sizes and quantities up front.