Mould ownership is the clause buyers read last and argue about first. Who owns the injection mould decides what happens when the programme ends, when the supplier changes, or when a price negotiation goes wrong, and it is settled long before any of that by a sentence in the purchase order that most buyers never write. This guide covers the three positions buyers actually meet, how amortised tooling changes the arithmetic, and the transfer terms worth fixing before the first shot.
The three ownership positions
Almost every tooling arrangement in China sits in one of three positions. The buyer pays for the tool and owns it outright, which is the cleanest and the least common in small programmes. The supplier pays for the tool and owns it, and recovers the cost across piece price, which is why a quoted price can look low and stay low only while the volume holds. Or the buyer pays and the supplier holds, meaning the invoice is the buyer's but the physical asset sits on the supplier's floor, registered to the supplier's name.
The third position is where most disputes come from, because the buyer believes payment settled ownership and the supplier believes possession and the tooling register settle it. Where the tool is written into the supplier's fixed asset list, or into a mould payment certificate the buyer never signed, the supplier has the stronger paperwork even though the buyer paid.
Why tooling ownership must be written, not assumed
Ownership is not implied by payment. It follows the contract, the tooling invoice, and in practice whichever party can produce documents that name the tool and its owner. A tool without a buyer-side record is a tool the buyer cannot reclaim, and reclaiming it is exactly the moment when the relationship has usually already broken down.
| Term to fix | What to write in the PO | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Tool ownership passes to buyer on final tooling payment | Separates payment from possession |
| Identification | Tool number, cavity count, steel grade, weight, photos | Proves which tool is yours |
| Custody | Supplier holds as bailee, insured, no lien without notice | Blocks use as collateral |
| Use | Tool runs buyer's parts only | Stops copy production |
| Transfer | Release within 15 working days of written request | Makes exit executable |
| Costs | Buyer pays actual crating and freight, no release fee | Removes exit ransom |
Amortisation: free tooling is never free
When a supplier offers free or low-cost tooling, the cost is recovered in piece price, usually across an agreed volume. It becomes a problem in three situations: volume falls short and the supplier re-opens the tooling charge; the buyer wants to move the tool before the amortisation volume is met, and the supplier deducts the unrecovered balance; or the price was never amortised in writing, so the deduction is calculated at the moment of exit with no agreed formula.
The fix is arithmetic, not negotiation. Ask for the tooling cost, the amortisation volume, the per-piece recovery, and the buy-out formula in writing, then check that the recovered amount at your forecast volume is roughly the tool cost. A quote that will not state the tool cost is telling you the tool is a lever.
Transfer: what actually moves, and what does not
A tool transfer is more than a crate. What moves is the mould base, the cavity and core inserts, the hot runner system if one exists, the water manifold, the ejector plates, and the spare inserts. What does not move by default, and is worth naming in the contract, is the tool drawing set, the mould flow analysis, the process setup sheet, the tool history log, and any electrode or CNC programme used to cut the cavity. Those files are what make the tool runnable at its next home, and a supplier who keeps them has kept a practical hold on the asset even after the steel leaves.
Physically, expect a tool to leave in a crate with the water lines blown out, the cavity oiled, and a rust preventive applied, with lifting points marked. Ask for pre-shipment photos of the cavity, the markings, and the crate, and for the tool number to be stamped where the photos show it. A transfer that arrives without its history log usually costs a new supplier two to four weeks of re-qualification, which is the real price of a poorly documented exit.
Exit terms worth agreeing before the first shot
Three clauses do most of the work. A release clause that names a deadline and a cost basis, so transfer is a procedure rather than a favour. A records clause that lists the drawing set, setup sheet and tool history as deliverables on final payment. And a no-copy clause that restricts the tool and any derivative tool built from its drawings to the buyer's parts. Negotiate these while the tool is being quoted, when nobody is upset, because a supplier who agrees them at quotation stage is a supplier who expects to keep the business on price, not on leverage.
Buyers sourcing moulded parts can compare moulding service suppliers and their tooling terms through our moulding services directory, where each listing states the processes and tooling scope the factory offers.
Related reading
The injection moulding and mould cost guide breaks down what drives the tooling invoice, the family moulds versus single-cavity tooling note covers when sharing a tool pays off, and the tooling lead time planner covers the schedule from RFQ to first shipment.
