What to include in a packaging RFQ (with a free builder)

What a packaging RFQ is — and what it's for

An RFQ — request for quote — is the document you send to one or more packaging suppliers describing exactly what you want made, so they can price it. It is not an order and it does not commit you to buy anything. It is the step before that: the way you gather comparable quotes so you can choose a supplier, a spec, and a run size with your eyes open. Writing a good one is the first real move in sourcing and buying packaging well.

The entire value of an RFQ is comparability. When every supplier receives the same complete picture, the numbers that come back describe the same job, and you can lay them side by side. When the picture is vague, each supplier fills the gaps with different assumptions — a heavier board here, a different color count there — and you end up comparing quotes that were never for the same thing. A tight RFQ is the cheapest way to get faster, more accurate quotes. It is the difference between a decision and a guess.

An RFQ is not the same as a spec sheet, though it contains one. The spec describes the package; the RFQ wraps that spec in everything a supplier needs to price and schedule it — quantities, artwork status, compliance, delivery, and timing. Think of the spec as the what, and the RFQ as the what, how many, and by when.

The fields every packaging RFQ needs

A complete RFQ answers, up front, every question a supplier would otherwise have to email you about. Here are the fields, in the order they belong, and what each one is for.

1. Product & format. Say what the product is and the package structure that holds it: a folding carton, a stand-up pouch, a pressure-sensitive label, a rigid bottle or jar. This one line sets the entire manufacturing route and the machinery involved, so it comes first.
2. Exact spec & dimensions. Give real dimensions and the material or substrate — board grade for a carton, film structure for a pouch, face stock for a label — plus construction details like panel layout, gussets, closures, and neck finish. If you already have a dieline, say who owns it and whether the supplier can have it. The spec is the single biggest driver of material and tooling, so precision here tightens every number that follows.
3. Decoration — colors & finishes. State the print method if you know it, the number of colors, whether they are spot or process, and any finishes: matte or gloss varnish, soft-touch, foil, spot UV, an opaque white behind clear film. Colors and finishes drive plates, screens, and press passes, which is why a change here moves the number. If you are still deciding, our notes on spot color versus CMYK help.
4. Quantities & tiers. Ask for a price at a few quantities, not one. Per-unit cost usually falls as quantity rises because one-time setup and tooling spread over more units, so quoting several tiers shows you where the price breaks fall and lets you choose a run size that fits real demand. Add an annual estimate if you have one. Our guide to minimum order quantities explains why the floor exists.
5. Artwork status. Tell the supplier whether artwork is final, in progress, or not started, and who is producing it. It does not have to be finished to get a price — saying "art is still in design" is far more useful than going quiet. Artwork status shapes proofing and the front of the schedule.
6. Compliance & certifications. Name any requirements the package has to meet: food-contact, child-resistant, tamper-evident, a target market or retailer standard, a sustainability claim. Some of these change the material, the process, or even which suppliers can bid, so they belong in the RFQ, not in a surprise later.
7. Delivery. Give the destination, your preferred Incoterms, and how you want the goods cased and palletized — the case pack. Freight and case configuration affect landed cost as much as the unit price does, and a supplier can only quote freight when they know where it is going and how it ships.
8. Target in-market date. Say when you need the packaging on the shelf or in the warehouse, and flag any hard deadline. This lets a supplier tell you honestly whether the run is feasible on your timeline before anyone invests in tooling.
9. Contact & format. Note who should receive the quote, in what format, and by when you would like it. Small thing; it removes a round-trip.

The same fields, as a quick reference you can copy into your own template:

Why comparability makes or breaks your quotes

A vague RFQ produces vague quotes, and vague quotes cannot be compared. If you tell one supplier "full color" and another sees your file and counts the spots, they are pricing different jobs — and the cheaper-looking one may simply have assumed less. When you hold the spec, quantities, decoration, and delivery constant across every bidder, the differences that remain are the ones actually worth understanding.

And there are honest reasons quotes differ even on an identical spec. A supplier whose press and process are a natural fit for your run will quote differently from one who would have to force it; a plant that already buys your material in volume amortizes differently than one who does not. That is real information, not noise — we unpack it in why packaging quotes vary. What you do not want is variation caused by your own RFQ: suppliers pricing different color counts because you never named one. Once the quotes are in, read each of them the same way, line by line — our guide to how to read a packaging quote walks through what every line means and what to check is excluded.

RFQ mistakes that make quotes impossible to compare

Most uncomparable quote sets trace back to a handful of avoidable gaps. Watch for these before you send:

• Only one quantity. Without tiers you cannot see the price breaks, and you may miss the run size that actually fits your demand.
• No material or grade. "A box" leaves the board choice to the supplier, and each will pick a different one.
• "Full color" with no count. Spot versus process and the number of colors change the tooling — name them.
• Artwork status omitted. Suppliers cannot schedule proofing around an unknown, so they either pad the timeline or leave it out.
• No destination or Incoterms. Freight is unquotable without them, so it silently disappears from the number.
• No deadline. A feasible-looking price is worthless if the run cannot land when you need it.
• Different specs to different suppliers. The most common mistake of all — you end up comparing apples to oranges and never realize it.

Build your RFQ in minutes

You do not have to assemble all of this by hand. Our free packaging RFQ builder walks you through each field and outputs a clean, complete request you can send to every supplier unchanged — which is exactly what makes the quotes comparable. It pairs with the spec sheet builder, which captures the dimensions, material, and construction the RFQ points to; build the spec once and the RFQ inherits it. If you are weighing a bespoke structure against something off the shelf, our comparison of custom versus stock packaging is a useful stop before you write the spec.

The goal is not a longer document — it is a complete one. A tight, well-structured RFQ signals that you know what you are buying, and it tends to earn a faster, more considered quote in return.

Hand off cleanly and plan a realistic timeline

A quote is the start, not the finish. Once you have chosen a supplier, the next thing that protects your schedule is a clean artwork handoff: the correct dieline on its own layer, bleed and safety in place, color built to intent, fonts and links sorted, and a filled spec — all covered in our guide to handing off packaging artwork to a printer cleanly. Running your file through a preflight checklist before it leaves your hands is the cheapest insurance you can buy against a delay.

Plan the calendar backward from your in-market date. Every stage — design, proofing and approval, tooling and plates, the production run, quality checks, and transit — takes time that varies by product, supplier, and season, so treat any single number you read online with suspicion. As a rule of thumb, tooling and proofing tend to dominate the front of the schedule, and revisions are what most often stretch it. For how the stages fit together and how to plan them with editable ranges rather than borrowed guesses, see packaging lead times explained.

How PackOS turns an RFQ into a quote

PackOS was built to collapse the RFQ-to-quote loop. Instead of filling a form and waiting, you can hand it the thing you already have — artwork, a die file, or a previous quote — and it detects the structure, dimensions the package, and prices it, returning a photoreal 3D proof alongside the number. The spec, quantities, and delivery inputs that make a good RFQ are the same inputs it reasons over, so the quote reflects the real job rather than an assumption. You can see how the spec and logistics come together on the technology page, or send a real file straight through Quick Quote and skip the round-trips entirely.