Through partner factories already tooled for small runs, an undecorated stock glass or PP jar starts at about 500 pieces, a screen-printed stock jar at about 2,000, a sprayed custom colour at 2,000–5,000 per shape, and a jar in your own shape at 3,000–10,000 pieces plus RMB 25,000–70,000 (≈USD 3,500–9,700) tooling; made-to-order glass keeps a 30,000–200,000 furnace floor. Factory-gate lead time is 7–25 days for stock plastic, 30–60 days for glass, 30–40 days for sprayed colour and 90–120 days for a private-mould programme; multiply by 1.3 and add 15 days across Chinese New Year. The published industry floor is 5,000–10,000 pieces per item.
Why the MOQ is a table, not a number
A cream jar is not one component. It is a jar body, an inner lid, usually a disc liner or foil seal, an outer lid and sometimes a spatula, and each part is made on a different machine, often in a different plant. The minimum attaches to each part, and it is set by how much of the part is made for you alone. A stock shape in a stock colour needs no set-up, so the floor is low.
The published industry floor is 5,000–10,000 pieces per item; the lower figures below are reachable only where a partner factory is already tooled for small runs, and they are indicative, not a promise.
MOQ by route: stock, decorated, moulded
| Route | Indicative minimum | Tooling | What sets the floor |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stock glass or PP jar, undecorated, stock colour | From about 500 pcs (sometimes lower, by the carton) | None | Warehouse stock or a short public-mould run |
| Stock acrylic double-wall jar with PP inner cup | 500–3,000 stock; 2,000–5,000 sprayed (typical partner-factory range) | None | Shell and cup are two parts from two lines |
| Stock jar + screen print or hot stamp | About 2,000 pcs | Screen ≈USD 0.014 per colour; foil die ≈USD 0.055 per design | The decorating line, not the artwork |
| Stock jar or lid + sprayed custom colour | 2,000–5,000 pcs per shape; jar and lid are two set-ups | Colour matching and fixtures | Spray line configured for your tone alone; ≈USD 0.07–0.15 per piece |
| Moulded-in custom colour (PP) | 5,000–10,000 pcs | Material changeover and purge | Only where a factory already runs the item that way |
| Electroplated, metallised or custom-tone lid | Around 10,000 pcs — this floor does not move | Racking only | Plating line configured per tone; exterior parts only |
| Private mould (your own jar shape) | 3,000–10,000 pcs plus tooling | RMB 25,000–70,000 ≈ USD 3,500–9,700 per tool; 4–8 cavities; paid 30/40/30; brand-owned | Amortising the steel; quotes vary ~3× between toolmakers |
| Made-to-order glass jar | 30,000–200,000 pcs | ≈RMB 4,000 ≈ USD 555 per cavity; 4–8 cavity set USD 2,200–4,450 | A glass furnace runs continuously and must justify a changeover |
| Full-wrap label or shrink sleeve on a stock jar | About 100–500 | None beyond the file | Digital press; the lowest route of all |
Material changes the route, not just the price
Glass, PP and acrylic sit on different industrial processes, so the same brief lands on different floors and different calendars.
- Glass is press-formed and inert, the best barrier and 2–3× the weight of plastic. Stock shapes from about 500 pieces; a run on a public mould is 30–60 days because the furnace works to campaign schedules; your own shape means the 30,000–200,000 furnace floor. Glass usually travels from a forming plant to a separate decoration plant, so a sprayed glass jar has two lead times inside one quote.
- PP is chemically robust, the default for acids and oils, and injection-moulded from public tools: about 500 stock, 2,000 printed, 5,000–10,000 in a moulded-in colour. Stock PP ships in 7–10 days if on the shelf, 15–25 if a run is required.
- Acrylic (PMMA) is an outer shell only. Every acrylic jar is specified with a PP inner cup, because oils and alcohol craze and cloud PMMA. The shell and cup are two components with two minimums, and the shell carries the sprayed or metallised finish that moves the floor. See acrylic vs glass vs PP for the material decision itself.
Lead time by route, factory gate
All figures are days at the factory gate under normal load, after order review and with a signed golden sample. Sampling comes first and is not inside the production figure: stock samples 7–10 days, decorated samples 2–4 weeks on an existing mould, and the 48°C / 30-day compatibility test with your actual cream runs in parallel.
| Route | Quoted cycle | Buffered (×1.3) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stock PP or acrylic jar, in stock | 7–10 days | 9–13 days | Pick, pack, QC |
| Stock PP or acrylic jar, run required | 15–25 days | 20–33 days | Cup, inner lid and outer lid in parallel |
| Stock jar + screen print / hot stamp | +5–7 days on the base | 21–27 quoted → 27–35 buffered | The most common indie route |
| Sprayed custom colour on jar or lid | 30–40 days after sprayed-sample approval | 39–52 days | Samples 10–14 days first; spray is the node most exposed to winter environmental stoppages |
| Electroplated or metallised lid | 25–40 days including plating queue | 33–52 days | Sub-contractor queue in peak season |
| Stock glass jar | 7–10 days if in stock; 30–60 days if a furnace run is needed | 9–13 / 39–78 days | Sprayed glass ≈60 quoted, ≈78 buffered |
| Private mould | Mould 45–60 days; full programme 90–120 days | Plan on the programme figure | First sample 4–6 weeks, then 1–2 weeks per revision; three trial mouldings included |
| Chinese New Year | +15 days on any order touching 6 February 2027 | — | Confirm pre-holiday orders by early December |
Then add transit. Sea freight runs 18–25 days port to port to the US West Coast, 30–40 to the US East Coast, 30–35 to the UK and Northern Europe, 20–25 to Australia, plus 5–10 days of clearance at each end. A 21-day stock-plus-print order is 50–62 days door to door on the US West Coast. The ten production nodes behind these figures are on lead time and the China production calendar.
A worked example: 50 ml face cream, 3,000 units
A founder wants 3,000 fifty-millilitre jars in a custom matte colour with a printed logo, for a Q1 launch. Read per component: the PP jar body at 3,000 clears the 2,000–5,000 sprayed floor if the partner factory's line runs the shape; the lid in the same tone is a second spray set-up at the same floor; the inner lid and foil seal are stock at about 500. Print adds a screen. Calendar: 10–14 days for sprayed samples, 30–40 days for the sprayed run, +5–7 for print, ×1.3, so about 60–75 days at the factory gate; if it touches Chinese New Year, add 15. For goods in the US or Europe before the end of March, the golden sample must be signed and the deposit paid by the first week of December. A plated lid instead would sit at the 10,000 floor that no supplier moves.
How to read a jar MOQ quote
- Per component or per finished unit? Ask for the jar, inner lid, seal and outer lid separately.
- Stock mould or your mould? If new, the tool should be itemised (RMB 25,000–70,000 for a jar body), paid 30/40/30, and owned by the brand under a written clause. The eight cost lines are on mould cost and ownership.
The pass thresholds a jar order is signed against — colour-water seal at −0.06 MPa, torque 0.2–0.7 N·m, 3M 810 cross-hatch on sprayed finishes — are on the QC standards page; the same floors for all sixteen packaging types are on the MOQ index and lead time index. Before any deposit, run the twelve questions in how to evaluate a China packaging supplier.
Vella is a Guangzhou-based beauty packaging solutions provider — a sourcing partner working with vetted partner factories operating to ISO 22716 / GMP, not the moulder or the glassworks. The figures above are what those factories run for small orders; the number you can hold us to is the one in your Quote + Supplier Options, per component, with the route stated. Jar formats are on cosmetic jars; a full cream, serum and oil range is planned on skincare packaging solutions.
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