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Home › Custom Boxes › Custom Folding Boxes
Custom Folding
and Product Boxes
Also known as: Folding Carton · Product Box · Reverse Tuck End (RTE)
Boost your brand with high-quality custom folding boxes and product boxes. Ten stock sizes or any custom size, designed online with instant pricing.
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Available in 500, 1,000, 1,500, 2,000 and 3,000 units
Starting at
$1.28/unit
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What is a Folding Box?
A folding box, or folding carton, is the printed paperboard box a product sits in on the shelf: the box around a serum, a candle, a pair of earbuds or a phone accessory. It is cut and creased from a single sheet of board, glued along one side seam, and arrives flat. Pop it open, tuck the bottom closed, fill it and tuck the top, with no tape and no glue. The style is a reverse tuck end, RTE for short, so called because the top tucks in from the back and the bottom from the front.
Packwire folding boxes are made from 16 to 18 pt SBS paperboard with a smooth white print side, printed in full color directly on the board. They come in ten stock sizes or any custom size, from 500 boxes up.
| Box style | Reverse tuck end (RTE) folding carton |
|---|---|
| Board | 16 pt SBS paperboard on smaller sizes, 18 pt on larger ones, about 0.4 mm thick, no flutes |
| Surface | Smooth white print side with a finish between gloss and matte that resists fingerprints |
| Holds | Light retail products. Ships inside an outer carton |
| Closure | Tuck flaps top and bottom, no tape or glue |
| Printing | Full color, printed directly on the board. Inside printing, foil and other finishes by quote |
| Sizes | 10 stock sizes from 2¼" × 2¼" × 3¼" to 7" × 5" × 3½" (inside dimensions), custom sizes by quote |
| Minimum order | 500 boxes |
| Production | 10 to 20 calendar days after proof approval, plus transit |
| Arrives | Flat, with the side seam glued |
| Made in | North America, primarily in the USA, within the USMCA zone |
Why brands choose custom Folding Boxes
On a shelf, in a gift bag or inside a subscription box, the folding carton is the packaging people actually hold. It is the face of the product: the first thing a shopper picks up, the surface your brand name, your story and the details that sell live on, and the box that ends up in an unboxing video when the mailer comes off.
Printed paperboard does that job better than anything else for small, light products. It is crisp and colorful, light enough that it adds almost nothing to shipping, and it stacks neatly on a shelf, a counter display or inside a larger box. For cosmetics, skincare, accessories, candles and small electronics, a custom folding box turns a product into a brand.
Custom Folding Box sizes and prices
Ten stock sizes run from a 2¼ × 2¼ × 3¼ inch carton for a lip balm or a small vial to 7 × 5 × 3½ inches for a candle, a skincare set or an electronics accessory. Pick the closest one and the quote card prices it on the spot. Need a different shape? We make custom sizes to order. Choose Custom size in the quote card, tell us the inside dimensions and the quantity, and our team quotes it as soon as possible.
Sizes are inside dimensions, written length × width × depth. Length and width are the footprint of the box, the front and the side, and depth is how tall it stands. The board adds very little outside, and we hold a tolerance of 1/16 inch.
Custom folding boxes cost from $1.28 per box at the largest quantities to between about $2 and $3 per box at the 500-box minimum, depending on size. A 5 × 5 × 2 inch folding box is $2.66 each for 500 and $1.33 each for 3,000. The table shows all ten stock sizes at those two quantities, priced with full-color print, whatever your artwork covers. Click a size to open it in the designer.
| Size (L × W × D, inside) | 500 boxes | 3,000 boxes | Open in the designer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.25" × 2.25" × 3.25" | $2.58 each | $1.28 each | Design this size |
| 2.25" × 2.25" × 6" | $2.60 each | $1.30 each | Design this size |
| 3" × 3" × 3.5" | $2.63 each | $1.31 each | Design this size |
| 3.5" × 3.5" × 6" | $2.66 each | $1.33 each | Design this size |
| 4" × 4" × 4" | $2.66 each | $1.33 each | Design this size |
| 5" × 5" × 2" | $2.66 each | $1.33 each | Design this size |
| 5.5" × 5.5" × 3" | $2.72 each | $1.36 each | Design this size |
| 6" × 5" × 3.5" | $2.76 each | $1.39 each | Design this size |
| 7" × 5" × 2.5" | $2.82 each | $1.42 each | Design this size |
| 7" × 5" × 3.5" | $2.88 each | $1.45 each | Design this size |
Need a size that is not on the list? Choose Custom size in the quote card above, or request a quote with the inside dimensions and the quantity. Custom sizes are made to order.
How custom Folding Box pricing works
Folding box pricing is simple. The size makes little difference, and the artwork none: full-color print is included whether you print a small logo or cover every face. What moves the price is the quantity: the price per box comes down quickly as the run grows, as the table above shows.
There are no printing plates to buy and no tooling, so you can change the artwork from one order to the next at no extra charge.
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Quantity. Order 500, 1,000, 1,500, 2,000 or 3,000 boxes in the designer. Above 3,000, request a quote.
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Size. Larger boxes take a larger sheet, but across our stock sizes the difference is small.
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Finishes. Coatings, selective varnish and foil stamping on runs above 3,000 boxes are quoted on request.
Folding Box materials
Every Packwire folding box is made from SBS, solid bleached sulfate paperboard: a dense, bright white board with a smooth coated print side. We use 16 pt board, about 0.4 mm thick, on the smaller sizes and 18 pt on the larger ones, so bigger cartons get the stiffer board. With no flutes under the surface, print sits flat and sharp, and the finish lands between gloss and matte and shrugs off fingerprints.
Paperboard is light and made for the shelf rather than the parcel network, so a folding box ships inside an outer carton, a shipping box sized to the order. Need a heavier board or a different stock? Ask when you request a quote.
Custom printed Folding Boxes, edge to edge
We print directly on the board, on digital presses with UV-cured inks, edge to edge and on every outside face. There are no labels, no plates and no setup charges for color, so a photograph, a gradient or a dense pattern costs the same as a single logo. The ink cures under UV light the moment it lands, dry and scuff resistant before the sheet is cut and creased.
The bright white SBS surface is made for this. Colors print clean and saturated, small type stays sharp, and your brand reads the same from the first carton in the run to the last.
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Artwork. Vector files (PDF, AI or EPS) or raster files at 300+ dpi, in CMYK, with a quarter-inch bleed. See the artwork guidelines.
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Color. Full CMYK on digital presses lands close to Pantone® references, and your account manager emails a proof before anything prints.
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Inside printing. A message under the lid, care instructions or a pattern inside the carton, printed on the reverse of the board. Quoted on request.
Folding Box dieline and parts
A folding box arrives flat with its side seam already glued at the factory. Pop it open into a tube, fold the two bottom dust flaps in, then fold the bottom closure over and tuck it in. Put the product in, fold the top dust flaps, close the lid and tuck it. No glue, no tape, and a practiced packer does it in seconds. The tucks hold the box shut and open again cleanly, so the carton can be closed and reopened at the counter.
The blank
The sheet a folding box is cut from, the blank, runs around the four walls plus the glue flap one way, and the depth plus the two closures and their tucks the other. For a box of length L, width W and depth D that is about 2 × (L + W) + ½ inch by D + 2W + 1 inch. The 3½ × 4½ × 5 inch carton drawn here comes from a blank about 16½ by 15 inches. Need the production file for a size? Request a dieline and we will email it to you.
Where the print goes
Everything you design prints on the outside of the sheet, which is the view shown here. The front, back and sides read upright. The lid's artwork is printed upside down on the sheet so that, once the lid folds over from the back, it reads the right way when you look at the box from the front, and the bottom closure reads toward the front for the same reason. The dust flaps and tucks fold inside, and the glue flap stays bare for the factory seam.
| Part | In the 3D designer | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Front and back | Front, Back | The two broad faces, length by depth. The lid hinges off the back and the bottom closure off the front. |
| Sides | Left, Right | The two narrow faces, width by depth. Their top and bottom edges carry the dust flaps. |
| Lid | Top | Folds over from the back and covers the top, length by width. |
| Bottom closure | Bottom | Folds under from the front and covers the bottom. |
| Tucks | No face of their own | The narrow flap on the edge of the lid and of the bottom closure. It slides inside the box and holds the closure shut. |
| Dust flaps | No face of their own | Fold in under each closure from the sides, square up the box and keep the contents in. |
| Glue flap | Not printable | Glued to the inside of the last side at the factory to make the side seam, so it is left bare. |
Design custom Folding Boxes online in minutes
Pick a stock size, upload your logo and artwork, and the 3D designer shows the finished carton from every angle while the price updates beside it. Save the design to your account, and when it is right, order the run. Inside printing and finishes are added by our team when you ask for a quote.
- Step 1DesignPick a stock size and quantity, then build the artwork in the 3D tool or upload your own. The price updates as you go, and it does not change with how much you print.
- Step 2ProofYour account manager emails a 2D proof once our prepress team has checked resolution, bleed and color. Revisions are free until you approve.
- Step 3ProductionTen to twenty calendar days after approval for printing, cutting, creasing and gluing the side seam. Confirm dates with us before you plan a launch.
- Step 4DeliveryBoxes ship flat in cartons, with about one to seven days in transit. Enter your ZIP code in the quote card for the shipping cost and an estimated delivery date.
Eco-friendly Folding Boxes, made close to home
A folding box is paper and nothing else, so it goes into the recycling with the rest of the paper and cardboard when the product is used up. Because a carton is light and ships flat, it adds very little weight or volume to every order you send.
We make folding boxes close to home, in North America and primarily in the USA, with people you can reach on the phone. That keeps lead times and freight down, and it keeps the color and quality the same from one run to the next.
Custom Folding Box questions
The minimum order for custom folding boxes is 500 boxes, priced live in the quote card at the top of this page at 500, 1,000, 1,500, 2,000 and 3,000. Above 3,000, request a quote.
Custom folding boxes take 10 to 20 calendar days to produce, depending on quantity, and production starts when you approve your online proof. Transit adds roughly one day to a week, so plan on about 2 to 4 weeks door to door. Enter your ZIP code in the quote card to see an estimated delivery date, and confirm exact dates with us before you plan a launch.
Need it sooner? Contact us with your timeline and we will tell you what is possible.
Our folding boxes are made in North America, primarily in the USA and always within the USMCA zone, which covers the US, Canada and Mexico. Keeping production on this side of the ocean means shorter lead times, fewer supply chain surprises and the same quality from one order to the next.
Not on their own. A folding box is retail packaging made for the shelf, and paperboard dents and scuffs in a parcel network. Ship it inside an outer carton, plain or printed, with a little void fill, and it arrives looking the way it left you.
Yes. Folding boxes can be printed on the inside as well, with a message under the lid, care instructions or a pattern, on the reverse of the board. Inside printing isn't in the online designer, so ask for a quote with your size, quantity and artwork.
Yes, on folding boxes at quantities above 3,000. Foil stamping is a separate process from the digital print, so it is quoted rather than priced in the designer. Contact us with your artwork and quantity.
Folding box samples are made case by case. Contact us with your size and artwork and we will tell you what we can do and what it costs.
Your folding boxes arrive flat with the side seam glued. Pop each one open, fold the bottom dust flaps in, fold the bottom closure over and tuck it in. Fill the box, fold the top dust flaps, close the lid and tuck it. No glue or tape needed.
What customers say about our Folding Boxes
Folding boxes we made, in the words of the people who ordered them. Packwire is rated 4.8 out of 5 on Google. More reviews.
WS
Amazing Customer Service. Super quick turn around. Zaher was awesome helping us putting our custom design together.
MA
The custom boxes they delivered were high quality, durable and had quick shipping times! Would def recommend for any small to mid sized business.
KM
Wonderful service and attention to detail! Customer service is also very helpful and responds promptly.
GK
I use Packwire for my work. They are always efficient and so personal! Will continue to use them in the future!
RF
Great work! boxes came out perfect definitely will use this company again! God bless you!
Ready to put your brand on the shelf?
Pick a stock size, upload your artwork and watch your custom folding box take shape in the 3D designer with the price beside it, printed in full color on bright white SBS board and made close to home in North America. Order five hundred or three thousand with no plates or tooling to pay for, and ask us about inside printing and foil. A few weeks from now your product is sitting on the shelf in a box that is unmistakably yours.
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