Which tier in this plastic boxes wholesale guide suits a first order?

Answer: Divide annual volume by order frequency. At 30,000 pieces a year in 5,000-piece lots, the 2,000 tier wins.

Can price factors compare suppliers directly?

Answer: Only within one tier. Convert both to one quantity and align tax and freight, or the lower factor hides the carton.

Why is a 500-piece MOQ counted per colour?

Answer: A colour change costs a screw purge and 3 to 5 kg of scrap, so mixed orders become several work orders.

How do I estimate boxes per pallet?

Answer: Pallet area over carton footprint, times layers: a 1200 x 1000 mm pallet takes four 600 x 400 mm cartons.

Is a clear box always dearer than an opaque one?

Answer: No. PET and PS cost less than ABS, so clear can be 10 percent cheaper, though service stops at 70 °C.

Plastic Boxes Wholesale Guide: Tiers, Specs and Materials

Quick answer: This plastic boxes wholesale guide sets four order tiers with price factors, then ties cost to carton ratio, part weight and quotation fields.

What the Four Order Tiers Mean in a Plastic Boxes Wholesale Guide
Turning Carton Ratios into Pallet Quantities
How Resin and Part Weight Set Unit Cost
Mixed Colours and the Printing Minimum
Six Fields to Check on Every Quotation
FAQ

1. What the Four Order Tiers Mean in a Plastic Boxes Wholesale Guide

Quoting errors begin when a 500-piece price is scaled to 50,000. Same tool, ten times the volume: price drops 30 percent, lead time a month.

The dividing line is who pays for tooling. Under 2,000 pieces you buy off a stock mould; above 10,000 a cavity change is possible and must be amortised.

Tier	Supply route	Price factor	Entry threshold	Lead time
500 pcs	Stock mould, recoloured	1.35	500 per model, 200 per colour	12–15 days
2,000 pcs	Stock mould plus print	1.12	2,000 per model	18–22 days
10,000 pcs	Cavity change	1.00	10,000 per model	25–30 days
50,000 pcs	Dedicated tool	0.84	50,000 per model	35–45 days

A 9 L box at USD 1.78 in the 10,000 tier should sit near USD 2.40 at 500 pieces. A 260-tonne press, two cavities, 38-second cycle: 4,100 boxes a day.

MOQ counts per model, per colour and per size in any plastic boxes wholesale guide.

2. Turning Carton Ratios into Pallet Quantities

Packing ratio moves freight more than unit price does: 48 boxes a carton against 24 doubles freight per box.

Plastic boxes wholesale guide: open black case on a truck tailgate, foam insert beside it, warehouse racking and factory wall behind

Size the carton from the pallet module: on 1200 x 1000 mm, a 620 x 380 mm carton lays eight per layer, a 600 x 400 mm four, a 745 x 520 mm two.

Size mm	Volume	Per carton	Cartons per layer	Layers	Per pallet	Gross weight
180×120×60	0.9 L	100	8	8	6,400	419 kg
260×180×90	3.5 L	48	4	7	1,344	280 kg
350×250×120	9.0 L	24	2	6	288	148 kg
450×330×160	21 L	12	2	5	120	140 kg
600×400×230	48 L	6	4	4	96	246 kg

A 40HQ takes 20 pallets in one layer; under 1.05 m the stack doubles to 40, so quote pallets, the way this plastic boxes wholesale guide does.

3. How Resin and Part Weight Set Unit Cost

In this plastic boxes wholesale guide, two 9 L boxes in PP and ABS differ by 60 g of resin, USD 0.6 a unit, USD 30,000 over 50,000.

Grade	Weight at 9 L	Service range	Clarity	Relative cost
PP	340–380 g	-20 to 100 °C	Translucent, colourable	1.00
ABS	400–450 g	-20 to 80 °C	Opaque, high gloss	1.45
PET	300–340 g	-10 to 70 °C	Clear, 88% transmission	1.20
PS	280–320 g	-10 to 70 °C	Clear, 90% transmission	0.85

Amortise tooling on the order placed: USD 14,000 over 30,000 units adds 0.47, over 10,000 units 1.40.

4. Mixed Colours and the Printing Minimum

Colour mixing is where wholesale orders gain cost. Under 200 pieces per colour the press stops anyway: 40 minutes to purge and 3 to 5 kg of lump.

Plastic boxes wholesale guide: close-up of a case corner, telescopic handle raised, black textured shell against a brushed silver guard

Three sizes maximum on one pallet, each holding a full layer. Dark to light needs an extra purge, so pale small runs cost most.

Screen printing starts at 1,000 pieces with a USD 42 screen charge, hot stamping at 3,000, in-mould labelling at 10,000.

5. Six Fields to Check on Every Quotation

Three quotes for one box can differ by 20 percent, and the gap sits in six fields.

Read in order: does the unit price carry tax and freight, is MOQ counted per colour, is tooling refundable. A refund clause credits fifty percent after 50,000 pieces, and binds only on paper.

Write AQL into the same sheet: 2.5 against 4.0 is 1,000 units of rework at 50,000 pieces.

Conclusion

Lay the three tables side by side and an enquiry turns from who is cheapest into which line differs: set the tier, check freight from the packing ratio, read part weight, then walk the grid. That is the point of this plastic boxes wholesale guide.

This article discusses only the container (case body) side of specifications and design intent, and does not cover any handling, loading or use of the contents.