Skip to content
Independent sourcing partner · share specifications, quantity and destination US buyer desk · no published street or phone

Prepress and sample path

custom folding carton box

Resolve the artwork and sample choices that still block a comparable custom folding carton box quote. This page is a prepress path, not a sustainability scorecard and not a factory we own.

Request Factory Quotes

Artwork path from open files to a quoteable blank

  1. Die line first

    A PDF or CAD die line with glue flaps, dust flaps and grain direction is the first gate. A flattened retail photo is not a converting file. If no die line exists, the quote must carry a tooling line and say who owns the die after the first run.

  2. Print file and color target

    Place graphics on the named die line. Write Pantone or a physical drawdown. A screen hex is recorded as unconfirmed. Soft-touch, foil, emboss and window patching are separate operations, not a “finish” adjective.

  3. Structure sample

    An unprinted blank checks tuck, lock and fit. Sample freight stays outside the piece price. A printed carton that fails fit still burns the print run.

  4. Printed proof

    Digital proof, wet proof or press proof must be named. Digital print vs flexo or offset changes what that proof can promise about the production run.

  5. Revision freeze

    Each artwork change can restart plates or a digital setup. Write how many revisions are included and what a later change costs before factories guess.

Checks that sit next to each sample type

Die line readiness

3 files

CAD or PDF die line, grain note, and a named style. Missing any one of those three keeps the quote incomparable.

Proof depth

2 layers

Structure sample plus printed proof. Combining them into one “sample” hides which failure belongs to converting and which belongs to ink.

Revision budget

1 freeze

One named freeze date. Open-ended “we will tweak later” is how plate charges reappear after the piece price looked low.

What you verify before accepting an alternative construction

A factory may offer CCNB instead of SBS, or digital instead of offset. Those are alternatives, not upgrades, until the buyer checks the same list.

Board swap

Print face, paperboard caliper and whether the fill still matches the migration testing file.

Process swap

Digital vs offset color hold, plate cost, and reprint price after the first run.

Finish drop

Foil, window patch or UV removed from the line must be named, not buried in a lower unit.

PCR claim

Post-consumer recycled content names the ply and the percentage on the mill sheet, or it stays off the brief.

Limits on this path

  • We do not host file upload. Artwork travels after we reply by email.
  • We do not claim a press we own or a sample room with a street pin.
  • We do not treat a competitor’s “proof in 24 hours” marketing as this site’s capacity.

Open items that still block a comparable quote

4

Must-have fields

Style, caliper, quantity unit, destination.

2

Sample kinds

Unprinted blank and printed proof, listed separately.

0

Published discount

No percentage without same-spec evidence owned here.

Continue on inquiry options or the matching steps.

Send artwork status with the carton brief

Write whether a die line exists, which proof you need, quantity and destination. No published discount percentage without the same evidence.

Request Factory Quotes