What a water bottle actually costs to make.

The five line items

Every quotation we send has the same five rows. If a supplier gives you one number, ask them to split it — the split is where the negotiation actually happens.

1. Unit price. Material plus conversion plus overhead plus margin. On a 500 ml 304 bottle this lands around USD 2.40–3.60 depending on wall thickness, lid and colour.
2. Tooling. One-off. Zero if an existing mould fits; USD 1,200–4,500 if it does not.
3. Decoration. Per unit, per colour, per method. Roughly USD 0.10–0.35.
4. Packaging. From USD 0.05 for a polybag to USD 0.80 for a printed retail box.
5. Freight. Not ours to quote, but we will give you the carton dimensions and the gross weight so your forwarder can price it properly.

Why quantity changes everything

Price is not linear. Setup costs — mould changeover, powder batch, print plate, packaging plate — are fixed, so they are divided across the run. That is why the same bottle is USD 4.10 at 500 pieces and USD 2.60 at 5,000.

One caution: quantity per colour matters as much as total quantity. 3,000 pieces split across six colours is six setups, and the price reflects that.

Tooling, and when you need it

We hold moulds for the shapes you see in the catalogue. If your product is a re-skin of one of those, tooling is zero and the calendar is measured in days. A new shoulder, a new handle, a new lid mechanism is where the money goes.

• Simple structure (bottle body, standard lid): USD 1,200–2,500, 18–25 days for T1.
• Handled tumbler or jug: USD 2,500–4,500, tooling split across two moulds.
• Lid mechanism or straw system: often the most expensive part, and the most likely to need three iterations.

Decoration cost

Four methods, four price bands, four different visual results:

• Laser engraving — USD 0.10–0.18. Permanent, single tone, no colour. Best on bare steel.
• Silkscreen — USD 0.12–0.25. Up to four colours, needs a plate per colour, wears on curved surfaces.
• UV printing — USD 0.22–0.35. Full colour, photographic gradients, works on coated bodies.
• Heat transfer — USD 0.18–0.30. Full colour, wraps a cylinder well, most tolerant of complex artwork.

Setup fees are separate and typically USD 60–150 per colour per method. On a 500-piece order that setup can be 8% of the unit price.

Packaging

The gap between the cheapest and the most expensive option here is often bigger than the gap between two steel grades:

Getting to landed cost

Landed cost is unit price plus freight plus duty plus the cost of the money between deposit and sale. Three numbers you should ask us for, because they are not on the invoice:

• Carton dimensions and gross weight — this is what your forwarder prices.
• HS code — 9617.00 for vacuum flasks and insulated vessels, which determines duty in most markets.
• Deposit timing — 30% up front means your capital is out for 8–10 weeks before the goods land.

Four ways to make it cheaper

1. Use an existing mould. The largest single saving available, and it costs nothing to ask.
2. Consolidate colours. One 3,000-piece run in one colour beats three 1,000-piece runs.
3. Move a station, not a standard. Drop from a printed box to a white box before you drop from 316 to 304 or from AQL 2.5 to visual-only inspection.
4. Order in the quiet season. July and August, and the two weeks after Spring Festival, are when a line slot is negotiable.