Packaging from China, from spec to lot

Inner and outer size, board weight, whether the box folds, finish, colour with a physical reference, logo place, barcode and label language. Without that the printer gives a generic box you could find locally, only costlier once you pay sea.

On the drawing split face, side and base. Write what is printed and what is embossed. Write whether the insert holds the product or only looks good in a photo. An insert that does not hold the product in transit is a costlier claim than costlier board.

Product and box often come from different factories. Dates are written backwards from load date. The printer must not print the lot before an approved product. The product factory must not finish a week before the box if you fill in China.

If you fill locally, empty boxes may leave earlier, but they still must be in the warehouse before the goods. Otherwise goods wait on a pallet, and the buyer waits for a brand. For a first product from your drawing, packaging goes in the same plan as OEM product development. Sample, tool and lot sequence is in a separate article.

In the quote split three numbers: mould, first print, repeat print. A mould for a special shape stays even after the first print leaves. Repeat print without a new mould is a second, usually lower, threshold.

Five box shades in a small print run the printer either refuses or prices so they eat margin. Fewer variants at the start, more pieces of one, is cheaper than a full brand on paper. The same holds for sizes: if the product has three dimensions, the box has three moulds. Say that before you promise three sizes on the site.

The sample must arrive before the lot. On it you look at colour in daylight, the edge, how it opens, and whether the product sits without scratching. A screen lies about shade. A second board lot changes shade even when the spec is the same. That is why the approved sample stays with you and with the printer.

An English label when the market needs Serbian or another language is a common fall. Label text is checked by someone who knows what the product may claim. We check that print matches the approved file and that the barcode can be read. We do not invent health or safety claims on the box.

Empty boxes can go LCL with other goods or FCL when volume grows. Duty depends on the HS of board and label. Price landed cost for goods and box together, before retail price. If the box raises volume per piece, cheap print makes sea costlier.

If you are still on shipping without stock, do not promise a box the platform does not send. Branded packing makes sense when you have volume and a warehouse. Until then a white box and an honest description is fairer than a logo the buyer never gets.

Packaging from China is late more often than the product when the box is ordered as an afterthought. Before the print deposit sit size, material, colour count, finish, barcode, mark language and how many pieces go in the shipper. A logo that is not yet approved does not go into a mould.

Print minimum is not the same as product MOQ. The box may need more pieces than the first goods lot. Then you either pay a higher box price, or wait until the lot covers print. That is said before the order, not when the product already sits unpacked.

A box sample is physical, with the real paper and the real print. A WeChat photo is not a sample. Approval is written. A second change after approval is a new date, not a small thing at the printer.

The box must be ready before the lot is packed. If print is late, the product waits and sea of 35–52 days starts later. Printer research sits in the same frame as other sourcing, 1–3 weeks, and a print sample another 2–5, depending on the mould.

Volume (CBM) is calculated on the packed box, not the bare product. LCL and FCL are compared on that volume. Pre-shipment inspection opens an agreed number of boxes: size, print, glue, corner protector. On sourcing execution above 2,000 USD independent inspection is standard.

Landed cost adds product, box, freight, duty and VAT. A cheap product in a costly box that breaks is not a cheap lot. COO and HS follow the goods. The agreement from 1 July 2024 does not apply because the word packaging was said.