What a Packaging Quote Needs From You
An incomplete brief buys a round of questions before it buys a price. This page lists what a quote is built from, in the order it moves the price.
Written for brand and procurement teams about to send the same enquiry to several packaging suppliers. It names the six inputs that decide whether the first reply is a price or a list of questions: quantity, board, print and finishing, structure and dimensions, artwork state, and delivery term.
The Six Inputs That Change a Packaging Price
In the order they move the price: quantity first, then board, then print and finishing, then structure and dimensions. Artwork state and delivery term do not change how the box is made, but a quote cannot be issued without them. Leave any one open and the reply comes back as a question.
| Quantity. | The project-level minimum is 200 pcs.Give the quantity you actually plan to order; the minimum is a floor, not a target. Unit price falls as volume rises, and it is quoted per project rather than from a public tier table. Stock items carry a printing surcharge of about USD 0.7 per printed side and start at 50 pcs. |
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| Board. | The paper family, and the gsm if you know it. White card 200–450 gsm or coated art paper up to about 375 gsm for folding cartons; kraft board 250–450 gsm in E, B or EB flute for mailers; greyboard 1.0–3.0 mm with a 128–157 gsm printed wrap for rigid boxes; kraft 80–200 gsm or white card 210–300 gsm for bags; paper tubes with a 1.0–3.0 mm wall and 30–150 mm diameter; printed tissue at 17–30 gsm on sheets about 500 x 700 mm. If you do not know, say what the pack has to carry and how it will be handled. |
| Print and finishing. | CMYK offset for photographic artwork, a Pantone spot colour when a brand colour has to match across runs. Then the finishing: matte, gloss or soft-touch lamination, spot UV, gold or silver foil, embossing or debossing, a window, a special die-cut. Each finish is named on the quote. |
| Structure and dimensions. | Which box or bag, how it opens or closes, and the finished length, width and height in mm. If you are not sure of the structure name, send a photo of something close and say what is wrong with it. Give the product size if the pack has to fit something. Die-cut tolerance on folding cartons is about ±0.5–1.0 mm, so an inside dimension given to the millimetre is enough. For bags, name the handle: flat paper, folded die-cut, ribbon or twisted paper. |
| Artwork state. | Final print-ready file, a rough layout, or nothing yet. All three are workable; only one of them is quotable without assumptions. |
| Delivery term. | EXW, FOB, CFR, CIF or DDP, and the destination port or address. The same box is a different price under each. Payment by T/T. |
Complete Versus Incomplete, Input by Input
The difference is not length. It is whether the sentence can be priced without a follow-up. An incomplete line does not produce a wrong price so much as a delay, because the quote waits while somebody asks.
Quantity, board, print and dimensions can be described in words. Artwork needs a file: a screenshot of a design is not a print file.
Quantity.
Incomplete: “a few thousand”. Complete: “3,000 pcs, with a repeat of the same quantity in Q2.”
Board and dimensions.
Incomplete: “a sturdy box about this big”. Complete: “350 gsm white card, 120 x 80 x 40 mm inside, product weight 90 g.”
Print.
Incomplete: “full colour with our logo”. Complete: “CMYK throughout, plus Pantone 186 C for the logo, on white board.”
Finishing.
Incomplete: “premium finish”. Complete: “matte lamination all over, spot UV on the logo only.”
Artwork.
Incomplete: “we’ll send artwork later”. Complete: “final Illustrator (.ai) file with the dieline on a separate layer, sent with this enquiry.”
Delivery.
Incomplete: “shipped to us”. Complete: “FOB Xiamen, or DDP to Rotterdam, quote both.”
What an Incomplete Brief Actually Costs
The sample clock, typically 7 days, starts once structure and specification are confirmed, so an open line in the brief delays the sample before it delays the price. A sample built from an assumption spends that time proving the assumption was wrong.
A quote you cannot compare.
Two suppliers filling different gaps with different assumptions produce two prices for two different products.
A sample built to a guess.
Sampling is USD 4 to 20 per sample depending on structure and finish, and typically turns around in 7 days once structure and specification are confirmed.
A tooling charge that arrives late.
A die, a foil plate, an emboss die or a printing plate starts at about USD 50 each, and a job can carry several. Found after the price is agreed, it reads as a surprise; listed up front, it is a one-off you can plan around.
What Happens Here With a Complete Brief
Zhypacking returns a unit price plus one-off tooling: each cutting die, foil plate, emboss die or printing plate from about USD 50, charged once per design. Sampling typically in 7 days once structure and specification are confirmed. Standard production in 15 to 30 working days once specifications, artwork and sample requirements are confirmed, with the window stated in each quote.
Spot UV, foil, embossing, debossing and lamination are quoted on the same printing-surcharge basis as print itself, about USD 0.7 per printed side, with exact finish pricing set per enquiry.
Where a line depends on a finished dimension, send it in mm with the enquiry. A quote against an assumed size is re-priced once the real size arrives. The board ranges above are the ones our product range runs; the quote names the exact grade for your job.
Where to Go Next
Sample and lead time covers the two clocks a quote will reference. Read it before you commit to a launch date, because the production clock starts only once specifications, artwork and sample requirements are confirmed.
Print proof approval covers what happens after the quote is accepted and before bulk runs – what to check on the proof, in what order, and what your signature commits both sides to.
MOQ by product covers the 200 pcs minimum and what moves the price per piece above it. The packaging glossary explains any term on this list you do not use daily; a term read wrong at quoting stage surfaces as a cost at proofing stage.
When the brief is settled, custom packaging services is the page that shows how a brief becomes a structure, a checked artwork file and an approval sample.
Send Us a Draft Brief
Send the brief you are about to give several suppliers. Checked against the six inputs above, the reply is a price rather than a list of questions.
What comes back is a unit price, one-off tooling charged once per design so a reorder is easy to compare, and the sample and production lead times.
Mark any line you cannot fill as open rather than guessing it. An open line comes back as a question inside the quote; a guessed line is priced as written.