There is a price break at 1000

While investigating future career options, I decided to have a look at alibaba.com For those not aware of alibaba, it is a massive online commerce site, mainly serving Chinese manufacturers. As its main purpose is business to business sales, the bargains often come with conditions.
If you are looking for cheap chess sets, there are a few manufacturers who offer them, at prices down to $2 a set. However you need to order a minimum of 100 sets (in some cases), making the decision to but a non-obvious one. Clocks are even more challenging, with digital clocks going for as cheap as $20, as long as you want 500 of them! And those cheap chess computers you cans till find at Dick Smith or Jaycar. $20 from the factory, assuming you can store 500 in your garage.
So obviously the stuff is a bargain, if you can find a use for it. At this stage I'm looking at smaller quantities for my club, and I assume I can find them if I look hard enough, but the "Shaun's Chess Garage Emporium" is probably some ways off.