The honest answer is that custom packaging is priced per job, and pricing starts from about $0.48 per unit at bulk volumes. That figure is confirmed on your written quote once the spec is fixed. Anyone quoting you a firm per unit price before knowing the size, the board and the quantity is guessing, so what follows is what actually determines where your job lands.
What is already in the price
A lot of suppliers unbundle these, which makes a headline price look lower than it is. On a custom iBox order they are included:
- The cutting die, so a box built to your exact internal dimensions costs no more to tool than one near a common size.
- The printing plates.
- Design support, including help turning your artwork into a production ready dieline.
- US shipping.
- A digital proof before anything prints, so you approve what you are paying for.
The six variables that move a per unit price
| Variable | Direction | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Quantity | The largest single lever | Setup is spread across the run, so per unit cost falls as volume rises. The minimum is 100 boxes |
| Size | Bigger costs more | You are buying board area. A box twice the size uses roughly twice the material |
| Board | Heavier costs more | Double wall corrugated against a light folding carton is a material difference you can feel in the hand |
| Print colours | More colours, more cost | Coverage and colour count affect ink and press setup, though plates themselves are included |
| Finishing | Adds a step | Foil stamping, embossing, spot gloss, soft touch lamination and window film each add a pass |
| Insert or partition | Adds a component | A foam insert or a corrugated partition is effectively a second item in the box |
The shipping lane is part of the cost too
Turnaround is quoted per product in three lanes, and the lane you choose changes your landed cost as much as some spec decisions do. Rush pairs expedited production with air freight and carries a premium of about 7 to 25% depending on the job. Standard moves by air. Cost saver moves by sea, which is the cheapest of the three and the right choice when your date allows for it. The floor is from about 7 business days, plus 2 to 5 days for delivery, and specialty imported items can run up to about 12 weeks. Production runs from West Chicago in the US and from Guangzhou in China.
How to get a real number quickly
- Send internal dimensions as length x width x depth, and say the word internal.
- Say what goes in the box and roughly what it weighs, because that drives the board recommendation.
- Give a quantity, or two quantities if you want to see how volume moves the price.
- List the finishing you want, and flag anything you are unsure about so we can price it both ways.
- Say when you need it delivered, which selects the lane.
With those five things we can put a firm per unit price in writing rather than a range.
Why we will not publish a price table
Because a table would be fiction. A 100 unit run of a small tuck end carton and a 100 unit run of a foil stamped rigid box with a foam insert are not the same product, and a table that suggested otherwise would mislead you at the exact moment you are trying to budget. The floor of about $0.48 per unit at bulk volumes is real, and the rest is your specification.
Send your dimensions and a quantity and you will get a written per unit price back rather than an estimate. Start at /quote/. If print colour count is the part you are still deciding, how many colors can you print on a box covers that, and what is a tooling charge explains the line item you will not see on our quote.
