How the Packtory handles your order

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The processes behind the Packtory might sometimes seem complicated. But if they are complicated on our side, we made everything to ensure a simple and smooth path to success for our customers.

What does the Packtory do?

In a few words, we design and produce your packaging items in our Chinese factories and send them to your Chinese product suppliers. You don’t care about anything else other than having your products nicely branded when they are delivered by your supplier.

Here is an overview of the process of ordering with The Packtory and of what’s going on behind. 

I – Passing the order:

You can pass the order in two ways:

– If one of our boxes or products corresponds to your needs, you can order it directly from our website and pay upfront. You may want to consider our packaging design offer that includes full packaging design operated by our graphic team. It is the best way to get the job done as they know exactly the way we print and produce boxes behind. 

– If you would like more information or aren’t sure about where to go, ask for a quote. Our sales team is dedicated to help you define your needs and start off a project that will work-out at a great price. Feel free to share detailed information in the quote form, we NEVER share it with anyone, neither use it for any means. It is part of the game. The Packtory sales team will come back with a quote for your packaging, and you are free to accept it or not.

II – Designing & producing your packaging items

Once you accept and pay the quote, the designing session starts. Our team of western designers will know how to rightly create a packaging that fits your expectations while handling the production side as well. Once you approve the design, our print factories in China will produce your packaging items .

You are also free to design your box by yourself if you wish so and have the necessary skills, we don’t take it personally.

III – Shipping

We are used to working with suppliers in China. You’ll have to let your supplier or fulfillment center know that we will deliver boxes for your product, and we will take care of sending them. Depending on the region of your supplier, you may benefit from free shipping cost.

IV – Delivery 

Whether you are a drop shipper, e-commerce seller or amazon seller, you will get your products shipped by your suppliers according to your needs, we don’t intervene here – except you now have nicely branded products!

Should you import packaging from China?

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A lot of entrepreneurs who source their products in their country tend to think they should import their packaging in China because it will be cheaper than in western countries. Since lowering costs is a staple in improving margin, they naturally seek for Chinese packaging providers. Things are -unfortunately- not that simple. It is a truth to say that if you do source your products in China, sourcing packaging in China and getting your products packed there is definitely the right way to go. But sourcing packaging alone from China is often not the right option. 

At the packtory, we like to be transparent. If our offer isn’t competitive, we’ll let you know right away. Many local packaging producers are able to compete on the total cost of goods. Indeed, when sourcing packaging in bulk from China and get it delivered to yours, here is a number of things that you need to take into account before considering going with us:

Customs taxes

Dropshipping and e-commerce beginners tend to forget about customs. It may be fine to send one item to another country and be exonerated from customs tax because it goes below the allowed threshold. 

Additional fees

As an example, you are sourcing 1000 boxes from China to be delivered to -let’s say- California, at a price of USD 0.90 per box. The whole order value represents USD 900. You’ll have to pay about between 5% and 30% of custom taxes on this. Other fees may apply like Merchandise Processing Fee. This means an additional cost of hundreds of usd added to your command. 

Shipping cost

There are mostly two options to ship your boxes: plane and ships. The first one is relatively expensive. IF you consider that a 20cmx20cm10cm mailer box weighs 100g, having 500 of them will weigh 50 kilograms (110 pounds). Depending on the carrier you choose to fulfill the logistics, you may get a price of USD 2 / kilogram when sending from China to California by air. That means adding 100 USD.

In most cases, additional processing costs from a shipping agent need to be added up.

It is much cheaper to send packages by seas, however it is also much longer. Sending the same package can take 2 months by ship, and this bring us to our last point:

Lead-time

Sourcing away from your country might also -as we saw with shipping- imply additional lead-time. You’re far from your supplier and it’s harder to reach out and follow up on the production. The Packtory has an international team partially located in China that ensures a good drum beat, but it is often not the case of Chinese suppliers. You may end up spending time trying to get understood and get the things done. Mistakes are common and lead to extraordinary additional lead time.

Taking this into account, sourcing packaging in China may still be interesting for you. If you are looking for poly mailers for example, they are quite lightweight. You should choose a provider that knows how to handle logistics, customs, as it is not a simple thing. The Packtory offers such services for large commands, depending on your needs. 

First, compare prices to your home country suppliers’ offers, and forecast the associated costs with importing it by going through the list above. You’ll quickly know the way you should go.

Why packaging matters for your Amazon FBA products

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Amazon sellers often underweight the power of packaging. When they source products in China, they send it as-is to Amazon fulfillment centers. As customers buying Amazon FBA, we all had this experience of receiving a nice shirt in a Chinese written plastic bag, and while we liked it, we had this impression that we could have bought it for cheaper on Aliexpress. This is the kind of impression that we want to avoid. 

Overlooking the packaging aspects can actually negatively impact you amazon sales, and here is why:

Better ranking

Amazon prefers original products than unbranded ones. Products with a branded and smart packaging are proven to rank up in the listings, this is also due to higher customer comment rate and rating, especially if you use your packaging to engage with them. As part of your sales growth strategy, packaging matters for about 25% of success.

Quality perception

Studies show products with branded packaging are better welcomed by clients. The quality perception differentiate your products from the Chinese competition and unbranded competitors. It is okay for customers to buy products that are made in China, but it doesn’t mean marketing should be Chinese too. They can be greatly disappointed by a Chinese packaging, as it is widely associated with bad quality (sometimes wrongly).

Customers retention

People want to interact with a brand, not a product. When receiving Amazon FBA products that are not packaged, they can’t do much else than interacting with Amazon customer service. Insert cards and packaging that the Packtory produces makes it a whole different world. Customers can interact with your brand, are engaged to reach your website, and that makes a whole difference.

Another point to consider when dealing with Amazon is packaging optimization. Amazon dislikes the useless and seeks optimisation in everything. This said, packaging should efficiently protect your product without taking useless size and improve your product perception and marketing power. This is the role of packaging when running Amazon FBA businesses.

At the Packtory, we are experts in designing Amazon FBA product boxes and packaging. With thousands of Amazon sellers served, our graphic design and logistic teams contributed to the success of top Amazon seller entrepreneurs worldwide by working together and delivering quality packaging to their Chinese suppliers and fulfillment centers.