MOQ and what actually drives the cost of a tin
Custom-printed tins run 5 000–25 000 pieces per design, and the exact figure depends mostly on size: the largest tin in our stock range uses roughly 28 times as much tinplate per unit as the smallest, so a small tin sits toward the upper end of that range and a large one toward the lower. The minimum exists because printing plates, press setup and colour matching are paid once per design no matter how many tins follow — below a few thousand pieces that fixed cost dominates the unit price and the tin stops making commercial sense. After quantity, the things that actually move the price are size, shape, the number of print passes, finishing, the lid format and whether a new die has to be cut. Artwork complexity is not one of them. The tables below set out each driver, what you control on it, and the indicative minimum by size band.
- MOQ per design
- 5 000–25 000
- Lead time
- 4–6 weeks
- Stock sizes, no tooling
- 141
- Metal, largest vs smallest
- 28×
What moves the unit price
| Driver | Why it moves the price | What you control |
|---|---|---|
| Quantity | Printing plates, press setup and colour matching are paid once per design, whatever follows them. That fixed cost is divided by the run. | Order a season in one run instead of three. The second thousand always costs less than the first. |
| Tin size | A larger tin uses more tinplate per unit and fewer blanks fit on a sheet. Across our stock range the metal per tin varies by about 28 times end to end. | Choose the smallest size the product genuinely needs. Fill weight, not appearance, should set it. |
| Shape | A round body is rolled and closed with one seam. Corners, deep draws and custom silhouettes need more forming, more tooling and more control. | Pick a shape we already hold tooling for unless the silhouette is doing the selling. |
| Print colours | Offset process printing covers most artwork in one pass set. Extra spot Pantones, metallics and opaque whites are additional passes on the press. | Design within the process set where colour accuracy allows, and spend the extra pass where the brand needs it. |
| Finishing | Matte, gloss or soft-touch varnish, embossing and spot effects each add a pass or a tool. They are what make a tin feel expensive, and they are priced accordingly. | Put the effect where it is seen and touched — usually the lid — rather than over the whole body. |
| Lid format | A fitted lid is part of the standard build. Hinged lids and inner plug lids are extra pressed parts and an extra assembly step. | Choose the closure the product actually needs, not the most protective one on the list. |
| Tinplate gauge | Large, deep or heavily loaded bodies need thicker plate to stay rigid; shallow formats do not. Thickness is metal, and metal is the raw material cost. | Let the format and the fill weight decide it. Underspecifying to save a little shows up as damage in transit. |
| Tooling | A shape or size we do not already hold needs its own die set, cut in our own studio — roughly eight weeks the first time, and nothing at all on repeat orders. | Check the stock size chart first. A size within a few millimetres of yours usually removes the question entirely. |
| Inserts and extras | Trays, dividers, ribbons, shrink bands and individual boxing are separate components with their own minimums and their own handling time. | Specify only what protects the product or closes the sale. Each addition is a line on the quotation. |
| Packing and freight | Carton count, pallet configuration, freight mode and destination decide what the goods cost by the time they reach you — sometimes more than the tin does. | Ask for a delivered price to your door, and compare suppliers on that number rather than on the unit price. |
Indicative minimum by size band
| Size band | Stock sizes | Metal per tin | Indicative minimum |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small | 21 | 107–278 cm² | Toward 25,000 |
| Medium | 45 | 307–577 cm² | Upper half of the range |
| Large | 46 | 621–1192 cm² | Lower half of the range |
| Extra large | 29 | 1204–3035 cm² | Toward 5,000 |
Bands are calculated from the developed blank area of every live stock size — base, lid and wall — as an approximation that ignores seam allowance and draw. It is a guide to why the minimum moves, not a quotation. The exact figure for your size, shape and finish is confirmed when we quote.
Below 5,000? There is one route open to you.
Everything on this page describes offset-printed runs on your own artwork, which is why the minimum is 5,000. There is a second route: existing moulds, ready colours and digital print, from 1,000 pieces in 1–2 weeks. The design freedom is narrower and we say plainly where the limits are.
Small-batch tins from 1,000 pieces →Why there is a minimum at all
A minimum order is not a commercial preference, it is arithmetic. Before a single printed sheet is usable, the artwork has to be separated and plates made for it, the press has to be set up, and the first sheets through the machine are run and adjusted until the colour matches the approved proof. That work costs the same whether a thousand tins follow it or fifty thousand. At a few thousand pieces the setup is already a modest share of the unit price; below that it becomes most of it, and you would be paying mainly for the preparation rather than for tins. The minimum is simply the point where the number stops being absurd — which is also why it is lower for a large tin, where the metal cost per unit is high enough that setup matters less.
What does not change the price
Artwork complexity does not. Offset printing lays down a fixed set of process colours in one pass set, so a photographic design with a hundred shades in it costs no more to print than a flat two-colour logo in the same set. What costs extra is not detail but additional passes: a spot Pantone your brand colour cannot be reproduced from process inks, a metallic, an opaque white under a dark ground, a varnish, an embossing tool. Designers often simplify artwork to save money and save nothing. If you are trying to bring a quotation down, count the passes rather than the colours in the picture — and ask us which of your Pantones actually needs its own.
Five ways to bring the cost down without losing anything
- Use a stock shape and size. Everything we already hold tooling for carries no tooling cost and the shortest lead time. A size within a few millimetres of the one you had in mind almost always exists.
- Run one body across several SKUs. The same tin with rotating artwork gives you a range on the shelf while the tooling, the handling and much of the setup stay shared.
- Combine the year into fewer runs. Two orders of ten thousand cost more than one of twenty thousand, because the setup happens twice.
- Spend the finishing where it is touched. A soft-touch lid on a plain gloss body reads as a premium pack for a fraction of the cost of finishing everything.
- Fix the size against the real fill weight. Tins are quite often specified a step larger than the product needs, and that step is paid for in metal on every single unit.
Questions buyers ask about cost
What is the minimum order for custom-printed tins?
Between 5,000 and 25,000 pieces per design, depending mainly on the size. A large tin sits toward the lower end because the metal cost per unit is already high, and a small one toward the upper end because the setup has to be spread over more pieces to make sense. Tell us the size, the shape and the finish you have in mind and we will give you the exact figure rather than the range.
Why is the minimum higher for small tins than for large ones?
Because the fixed costs — plates, press setup, colour matching — are the same for both, while the material cost per tin is not. Across our stock range the largest tin uses roughly 28 times the tinplate of the smallest. On a large tin the material dominates the unit price, so a shorter run still produces a sensible number. On a small one the setup dominates until the quantity is high enough to dilute it.
Does a more detailed design cost more to print?
No. Offset printing puts down the same set of process colours regardless of how much detail is in the image, so a photographic design costs the same as a simple one printed in the same set. What adds cost is an additional pass — a spot Pantone that cannot be built from process inks, a metallic, an opaque white, a varnish or an embossing tool. Send the artwork and we will tell you which of those it actually requires.
Can I split the minimum across two designs?
Partly, and it is worth asking. The plates and press setup are per design, so two designs mean two setups and the minimum applies to each. But if both designs sit on the same body and run in the same production window, the tooling, the forming and much of the handling are shared, and the quotation reflects that. Send both designs and the quantities you want for each rather than assuming either answer.