Your own brand on a neutral box: sticker, seal, or printed packaging?
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by Verpakkingdeals.nl
5 min reading time
Printed packaging locks you into your sizing, design, and stock all at once. With stickers, seals, and colored boxes, you can make your package recognizable for a few cents per shipment, without a print order.
The quote for custom-printed boxes looks great at the top, until you look at the bottom. A minimum quantity per size, a one-time setup fee for printing, and several weeks delivery time. If you sell three sizes, you order three times that minimum – and your storage space will be full for months with boxes that you don't even know if the size will still be correct in six months.
For most small webshops, stores, and makers, this is the wrong approach. Making your packaging recognizable can also be done without a print order, usually for a few cents per package. Below are the options you have, what they cost per package, and when printing still makes sense.
What a print order entails in practice
Printed packaging is not a bad idea, but it is a different kind of decision than reordering a box. You commit to three things at once: your sizing, your design, and your stock. If one of these three changes, you're stuck with the rest.
Suppliers generally work with minimum quantities per size, one-time costs for setting up the printing, and longer delivery times than for standard stock. What these quantities and amounts are exactly varies greatly per printer and per technique – always request a quote for your exact size before making assumptions. The rule of thumb you can use: the higher the quantity, the lower the price per box, and the greater the risk of being left with leftover stock.
Practical questions to answer in advance: how many packages do you send per month, how many months of stock do you buy with that minimum quantity, and will your product range change in the next two years? If you find yourself sending fewer than a hundred packages per month in the first question, printing is almost always too early.
The sticker: the cheapest alternative
A neutral box with one sticker does ninety percent of the work of a printed box. You buy the boxes you need, when you need them, and you stick something on them that you have made or print yourself.
The advantage is not only in the price. If you change your logo, you throw away a sheet of stickers instead of a pallet of boxes. If you run a promotion or a season, you switch stickers. And you can use a different color per size, which saves time at the packing table.
A seal is a sticker that does two things. It seals the box and shows whether someone has opened it en route. The Security Seal Stickers VOID - 60 pieces cost €9.95, which is about €0.17 per package. If someone removes the seal, a visible pattern remains.
This is especially useful if you are sending something that could lead to dispute: small, expensive items, or shipments where a customer later reports something was missing. For an average package with a box costing a few euros, a seal on every shipment is overkill; in such cases, use it for orders above a self-chosen amount.
For general sealing, tape remains the workhorse. Six rolls of Tape Rolls 6 Pieces 48x66mm cost €21.00, so €3.50 per roll. If you work with a Kinzo Tape Dispenser with 2 Rolls (€9.95), it saves a few seconds and a lot of fiddling per package.
Do pay attention to the math. A colored box of €1.99 versus a Recycled Letterbox Box 180 x 115 x 28 mm (A6) Bundle 100 pieces for €17.95 (about €0.18 per box) with a sticker on it is a difference of more than a euro per shipment. For fifty packages a month, that's fifty euros. Choose consciously where you spend that difference.
Calculate it per package
Approach
Cost per package
When
Neutral letterbox box + sticker
from about €0.18 plus your sticker
Standard for low to medium quantities
Neutral box + VOID seal
about €0.17 extra
Expensive or sensitive shipments
Colored or holographic box
€1.99 to €3.99
Gifts, presentation, small runs
Custom printed box
request quote per size
Fixed size, high volume, stable design
A practical approach that works
Start with neutral boxes in two or three sizes that you actually use.
Stick a sticker on it. For three months, measure how many packages you send per size.
Add a seal for shipments that truly warrant it, not for everything.
Use colored boxes for gift orders or a seasonal promotion, as a test.
If, after three months, it turns out that one size covers the vast majority of your shipments and your product range isn't changing? Only then request a quote for printing that one size.
This way, you'll never order custom printing for a box that you later discover you barely use.
What you can order now
Neutral boxes, letterbox boxes, and envelopes can be found in Packaging & Shipping and Letterbox Packaging. Stickers, seals, and labels are under Stickers & Tapes and Price Guns & Labels; tape and dispensers under Tape. If you're unsure which size and finish suit your products, email info@verpakkingdeals.nl with what you ship and how much per month – we'll help you figure out the most cost-effective combination per package.
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