Most Chinese footwear factories work on a 30/70 split: 30% deposit by T/T when the order is confirmed, and the remaining 70% before the goods leave the factory. That is the answer for the majority of first orders, and it is what Keytop runs.
The number itself is the easy part. What decides whether the terms are safe for you is what each payment buys and what has to be true before you release it, and that is where quotations differ far more than the percentage does.
What the deposit actually pays for
A deposit is not a good-faith gesture. It funds work the factory has to commit to before a single pair exists:
Materials get bought first. Uppers, linings, outsoles, laces, and packaging are ordered against your approved specification, and most of them are cut to your colorway and cannot be resold to another buyer. If a mold is involved, tooling is cut during this window as well.
Line time gets reserved second. A production slot on a footwear line is a scheduling commitment. The factory turns down other work to hold it.
This is why the deposit tends to sit at 30% rather than 10%: below roughly a third, the factory is financing your material purchase on its own balance sheet, and most will either decline or price the risk back into the unit cost. It is also why a factory asking for 40% on a first order with expensive custom tooling is not necessarily a red flag. It is telling you the tooling is the risk.
A factory asking for 100% up front is a red flag. So is a factory willing to ship on credit to a buyer it has never worked with. Both mean the commercial risk is sitting entirely on one side, and that is not a stable arrangement for either party.
What the balance should be tied to
The 70% is where buyers gain or lose leverage, and the wording matters more than the number.
The weakest version is “balance before shipment” with nothing attached. It means you pay when the factory says the goods are ready.
The stronger version ties the balance to evidence: balance released after inspection passes. You or a third-party inspector (SGS, Bureau Veritas, or an agent you appoint) checks the finished goods against the approved sample and the agreed defect standard. Once it passes, you pay, and the goods ship.
Ask for this in writing at quotation stage, not after production starts. A factory that has planned for inspection will already have a checkpoint in its schedule. One that has not will treat your inspection as a delay.
Sample charges are a separate transaction
Sampling is quoted and paid on its own, before any bulk deposit exists. Two things need to be explicit:
Who pays the courier. International courier on a footwear sample is not trivial, and it is usually the buyer’s cost in both directions.
Whether the sample charge comes back. At Keytop the sample charge is refundable against a bulk order. That is common but not universal, and the conditions vary more than the policy: some factories credit it only if the order lands within a stated window, some deduct it from the deposit invoice, some from the final balance. If it matters to your budget, get the mechanism in the quotation, not just the word “refundable”.
Sample orders themselves are paid in full before dispatch. There is no deposit structure on a sample, because there is no production slot to protect.
Keytop’s terms, stated plainly
| Method | T/T |
| Deposit | At least 30% on order confirmation |
| Balance | Before shipment |
| Sample orders | Paid in full before dispatch |
| Sample charge | Refundable against a bulk order |
| Courier on samples | Buyer’s cost |
| Usual ports | Xiamen or Shenzhen, FOB or CIF confirmed at quotation |
Anything beyond this (a different deposit percentage, an inspection-linked balance, a specific Incoterm or destination) is confirmed in the quotation for the actual order, because it depends on quantity, tooling, and destination. It is not something a website should promise in advance, and you should be careful with any supplier whose site does.
What to confirm before you accept a quotation
Five questions, all of which a real factory can answer in one reply:
- What percentage is the deposit, and does it change for a first order or for custom tooling?
- What exactly triggers the balance, a ready notice, a shipping document, or a passed inspection?
- Who pays the sample charge and the courier, and under what condition does the sample charge come back?
- Which Incoterm and which port is the quotation based on?
- What happens to the deposit if the approved sample cannot be reproduced in bulk?
The fifth one is the question most buyers skip and most regret. Ask it while you still have leverage.
Keytop is a footwear manufacturer in Jinjiang, Fujian, producing casual sneakers, casual shoes, boots, outdoor footwear, sandals, slippers and slides for brand owners, importers and retail programs. Standard manufacturing orders start at 1,000 pairs per style per color.
If you want these terms confirmed against a real order rather than in the abstract, send the product family, quantity, colorways and destination market, and ask for the payment schedule in writing with the quotation. Send a footwear brief, or compare the OEM and ODM routes first if you are not sure which one fits.