PVC display boxes: gauge, print, and hang-tab retail

Three catalog cases, one material family

Printed supplement boxes, clear hang-tab boxes, and printed accessory boxes are converting cases in the catalog. They share a PVC family. They do not share one locked size or one hang-tab. Treat them as structures, not barcodes.

A paper tube canister and an SBS window carton are other lines. If the buyer actually wants a patched paper window, they are not in PVC. If they want five-face visibility on a peg, they probably are.

Gauge and hang-tab stay on separate RFQ lines even when the catalog photo shows both. Merging them into “clear display” is how samples get quoted twice.

Gauge is a purchase-order line

Write millimetres or a buyer code. “Thick clear plastic” is not a purchase-order line. Gauge changes fold memory, crack risk at the score, and how the box feels on a hook.

We will not invent a stock gauge list as fake SKUs in this article. If you have a previous Taishan job, return that spec. If not, give a target feel or a sample chip and we will propose on the structure sample.

• PVC gauge on its own line.
• Hang-tab required or not — second line.
• Print versus clear as a catalog split.

Hang-tab is a second line

Euro hole, butterfly, or none. Position relative to the header. A hang-tab on a food carton may be the wrong line — that is often SBS, not PVC. Write hole type and which panel.

Retail hook size matters if the pack must hang without tearing. Gauge and hang-tab are separate facts: a heavy gauge with no tab is a counter box; a light gauge with a euro hole is a peg pack. Do not merge them into “display box.”

Printed versus clear

Printed versus clear is a catalog split. Artwork on PVC must account for overlap, dust flaps, and see-through registration. Send a dieline. A JPEG of a lipstick in a cube is not a knife.

Print method belongs on the RFQ. A digital mock-up of a branded PVC sleeve is not a production sheet. Spot colour on clear film is a different conversation from process on a white underprint — write which.

Not a window carton

A patched PET or PP window on SBS is still a carton. Full PVC is formed plastic with its own scores. Mixing them on one PO without saying so is two samples in the Longgang plant.

If only the front should be clear and the rest is paperboard, you likely want a window carton. See the PET versus PP article. Do not ask PVC converting to fake a paper wrap.

Dieline, insert, and destination

Inner millimetres of the product, not only the outer cube. If an insert sits inside the PVC, that is another tool. Food or toy claims need the destination market and current documents — we do not invent certificate numbers here.

Sleeve versus formed box is a structure choice. A sleeve slides; a formed box tucks or buttons. Write which, plus whether it ships flat.

Scores, cracks, and how it hangs

PVC remembers a fold. Gauge that is too light can crack at the score; gauge that is too heavy can fight the hang-tab. Those trade-offs belong on the structure sample, not as a fake stock SKU.

If the pack must hang for a full retail week, say so. A counter cube with no tab is a different converting job even at the same millimetre gauge.

Print on a scored face will stretch differently than print on a flat panel. Send a dieline with fold arrows. A digital mock-up of a cube is not a production sheet.

What to put on the RFQ

Gauge, hang-tab yes/no and hole type, printed versus clear, inner size, sleeve versus formed, quantity band, destination. Catalog photos of hang-tab cubes are families.

No prices, MOQ, or guaranteed lead times in this article. Structure sample before a printed lot when fold and tab are the unknown.

If the hang-tab must match a named retail hook, put that hook on the RFQ. We will not invent a standard euro-hole millimetre as a fake SKU.