Can you make a box from a physical sample instead of a dieline?

Yes. Send the sample and we reverse-engineer the dieline, then send you the drawing for approval before quoting. A photo is not enough — the tolerances live in the fold lines.

What is the minimum order for custom paper boxes?

5,000 pieces per design. Below that, plate-making and die cost dominate the per-piece price.

How tight should the lid fit be?

On a lid-and-base box, 1–2 mm of clearance depending on board thickness and lamination. Tighter and the lid will not go on after lamination swells the board.

Paper boxes

Custom paper boxes, built to your dieline

No catalogue, no stock sizes. Send the drawing — or the physical box — and we build the die, print it offset and glue it on the same line in Yongkang. From 5,000 pieces, FOB Ningbo.

250–400 gsm card Your dieline or ours From 5,000 pcs Card only — no plastic

Styles we build

Tuck-top	Lid over base with a lock-in bottom. The workhorse for tools, drinkware and small appliances.
Lid and base	Two pieces, card or laminated card. The fit is the whole job — see the tolerance note below.
Sleeve and drawer	Printed sleeve over a tray, or a tray that slides. Good for premium sets where a hinged carton looks cheap.
One-piece mailer	Folds at packing, no glue. Covered in more detail on the mailer page.
Shaped / die-cut	Any closed outline: stepped, curved, window-patched. Built from your artwork, not from a template.

What decides the price

1. How many fit on a sheet. The single biggest lever. A box that wastes 40% of the press sheet costs more in paper than in labour, and no amount of negotiation fixes that. We tell you when a size is expensive to lay out.

2. Board and lamination. Lamination roughly doubles the board cost and adds a pass through the laminator, but it is what makes a cheap box read expensive. On kraft, ink goes dull — proofing decides.

3. Glue versus lock. A glued carton needs a gluer and cannot be shipped flat-and-open. A lock box has no glue line to fail but costs more board in the corners. We will tell you which one your product actually needs.

The tolerance nobody mentions

On a lid-and-base box, the lid clearance is usually 1–2 mm depending on board thickness, lamination and grain direction. Draw it to zero and the lid will not go on once the board has been laminated, because lamination adds roughly 0.1–0.2 mm per side and the board moves. We adjust for this in the dieline review; if you send a finished dieline we will tell you before we cut, not after.

How ordering works

1 · Send	Dieline (PDF/AI), or the physical sample, plus quantity per design and destination port.
2 · Dieline check	Same day. Folds, lock tabs, glue flaps, sheet fit and the lid tolerance.
3 · Quote	USD, FOB Ningbo. CIF and DDP on request.
4 · Proof	Printed, cut and glued sample, photographed in daylight, before the run. Credited back against the order.
5 · Production	7–10 working days after proof approval, packed flat or pre-glued per SKU.

Try the instant estimator for a ballpark — it covers tuck-top, flat-top, double-end and mailer boxes from the same engine we quote from.

Frequently asked

From a physical sample?	Yes — we reverse-engineer the dieline and send it for approval first.
Minimum?	5,000 pieces per design.
Lid tolerance?	1–2 mm on lid-and-base, depending on board and lamination.
Plastic / blister?	No. Card-based boxes only.
Lead time?	7–10 working days after proof approval.

Send a dieline Estimate a price