As a service to our customers we try to avoid minimum order quantities. Due to the high cost of shipping, that often means we lose money on small orders. We could increase our prices, but then we would be charging too much on all but the smallest orders.
The solution we favor is quantity based pricing. We think it's the fairest approach, everything considered, as it allows you to order in smaller quantities, while at the same time recognizing that larger orders cost much less per item to ship. Only items with a Quantity Based Pricing order drop down are subject to quantity based pricing. Thanks for understanding!