Cheapest source for these and similar? Need just a few custom words, and I'm looking to buy 25-50 of anything and sell for profit. Trying to keep my profit margin as wide as possible...
The cheapest source will be China, but you won't be able to buy 25 - 50 pcs of most promotional items. Try 300 and you'll have success. If you buy from an importer's stock you will pay 10 - 20 times what they would cost you China where an MOQ of 300 will cost you less than 25 - 50 sourced locally. To learn more about safe sourcing and importing, see my thread: Ask Me Anything About Product Sourcing and Importing where you can your questions answered by someone who has been there done that. Walter Hay
It would really depend where you live. Where I am, I find it reasonably cheap to have buttons, pens, etc. made by shops here. But then my country is quite cheap with such things. YMMV so try to look around your area to see if you can find a shop there. If not, then try to see online for any services that offer it for a cheap price.
If you check prices on ebay and china e-auction sites then price difference is not much. If you want solid profit then start own ecommerce website.