How to get one quote for a whole packaging order

Most packaging orders we quote cover more than one product. A pre-roll launch might need tubes, cones, labels and an exit bag. Asking about each one separately means four email threads, so the storefront has a cart that sends everything to us as one request.

Building the cart

Every product page has a box that asks how many you need. Type a number, press Add to cart, and the product goes in with that quantity. You can also press Add on a product card in the catalog. If you've typed a number in the Quantity box above the grid, the product goes in at that quantity, and every card with a published price shows its price at that number. If the box is empty, the product goes in blank and you fill in the quantity on the cart page.

A few details that trip people up:

• The cart holds 20 products, which is as many as one request carries. If you need more, send the first 20 and start a second cart.
• Each product sits on one line. Want two sizes of the same bag? Pick one on the line and put the other in the note.
• If a product comes in sizes, the size you picked on its page travels with the line, and you can change it on the cart page too.

The cart is kept in your browser, not on our server, for 30 days after you last touch it. So you can build half a list on Tuesday, go get sign-off, and finish it Friday. It's tied to that browser, though, so on your phone the cart will be empty. If a colleague needs to look, send them the cart page's link. It names the products but not your quantities, sizes or note. If they've already got a cart going, your products are added to theirs rather than replacing it.

What the cart page works out for you

Any line with a published price gets priced at the quantity you typed, and the page adds those lines up into an estimated total at published prices, before customization and shipping. If there's a cheaper price break above your quantity, the line says how many more units it takes and, when the bigger order would cost less overall, by how much. We go through that arithmetic in reading a volume price table.

Lines that can't be priced on the page tell you why. Custom work is usually priced per project. Some products are priced by size, so the line waits until you pick one (see choosing sizes before you ask for a quote). Those lines still go in the request and get priced on the quote. A quantity under the usual minimum gets a note beside it, but we don't block the line, since a supplier may still run it.

Signed in? The cart still shows the storefront's published prices, the same for every visitor. If your business has its own pricing with us, it's on each product in your catalog.

Sending it

While you build the cart, your quantities, sizes, notes and contact details stay in your browser. The one thing our server does see is which products are in it when you open the cart page, because they're in the page address. The rest reaches us when you press Send.

You don't need an account. As a guest you give a name and an email, and company, phone and state are optional. The box for anything else we should know is worth a minute: timing, artwork, where it ships and whether everything has to land together all move the quote. If you're signed in, we'll reply to the address on your account.

If a line has no quantity or no size, the page asks once whether to send anyway. You can, and we'll ask about it in our reply.

Sending asks for a quote. It doesn't place an order, and nothing gets charged. You get a confirmation email right away with a reference starting EL- and the list you sent, quantities and sizes included. Have it handy if you call. A real quote, with volume breaks and a lead time, usually follows within one business day, and the products you sent come out of your cart.

Before you press Send

Put a quantity on every line you can, even a rough one. A line with no quantity usually gets a question back from us instead of a price, and that costs you a day. If you're torn between two numbers, say so in the note and ask for both. When the quote arrives, compare it on landed cost, freight included, as we explain in what a quote leaves out.