How to read a carton spec (and what it costs you when you skip it)
Carton data is the least interesting part of a product page and the one that decides whether your landed cost works. Here is what each field is for.
The five fields, and what each one is for
| Field | What it answers |
|---|---|
| pcs per carton | how many units one carton holds, which sets your per-unit freight cost |
| carton L × W × H | whether the carton stacks and pallets efficiently, and how many fit a container |
| CBM per carton | volume per carton, the number freight is actually charged on for LCL |
| net weight | product only, used for customs value and some duty calculations |
| gross weight | with carton and packing, the number that matters for freight and handling limits |
Why CBM is the one to check first
Freight for a full container is charged per container, so CBM feels irrelevant until you realise it decides how much of that container you can actually use. A 20GP holds roughly 28 CBM of usable space and a 40HQ roughly 68. If a SKU is 0.09 CBM per carton rather than 0.06, you have quietly lost about a third of the cartons you thought you were shipping.
At a few hundred cartons this is a rounding error. At a full 40HQ it is the difference between a good landed cost and a conversation with your finance team.
The trap: flat-packed versus assembled
Ornaments, honeycomb items and anything with a fold are usually shipped flat. A honeycomb lantern goes from a thin slab to a full sphere in seconds, and flat packing can cut its carton volume by more than half. The same product packed assembled can need two or three times the space.
This is why "is it flat-packed" is a better question than "what is the CBM" — the CBM depends on the answer. Retail-ready assembled packing is available on request, but it changes the carton volume and therefore the freight, so it belongs in the enquiry, not in an afterthought.
Net versus gross, and the two places it matters
Customs declarations generally use net weight, which is the product alone. Freight and handling use gross, which includes the carton and any inner packing. On a light, bulky product the gap can be large: a carton of paper decorations might be 3 kg net and 5 kg gross. Quote the wrong one to a forwarder and your freight estimate will be wrong in the direction that costs you money.
Container figures are planning numbers
Product pages here state a rough 20GP and 40HQ load. Those are derived from carton volume against standard container capacity. They are planning estimates, confirmed at booking, because actual load varies with carton shape, stacking pattern and how much the forwarder is willing to push. Use them to sanity-check a quotation, not to write a contract.
The cheap habit that saves the most
Before you ask for a quote, take the CBM, multiply by your target cartons, and see whether the result fits a container at all. If it does, the conversation is about price. If it does not, the conversation is about something more useful: which SKUs to cut, or whether the range should be split across two shipments.
Every product page on this site carries these five fields. It is there so you can do that sum without waiting for a reply.