Two quotations for an eye cream can differ by a wide margin & both can still be honest. The reason is that the unit price of a small pack is built from a handful of lines that move in opposite directions: a lower fill volume reduces the bulk cost but raises the cost per gram of filling, a richer formula raises the bulk cost but may allow a cheaper pack, & a lower order volume raises almost everything per unit. Comparing two quotes without knowing which lines each one contains is comparing two different products.
This article breaks an eye cream quotation into the lines that actually produce the number, explains which ones move most when the fill is small, & sets out what to ask for so that two quotes can be compared on the same basis. It does not quote prices, because those depend on the formula, the volume, the pack & the moment; it shows you where to look when a number comes in higher or lower than expected.
Why an eye cream quotation is the hardest one to compare
Most quotations arrive as a single unit price with a stated quantity, & that number hides the structure underneath it. One quote may include the pack, the print & the testing; another may price the bulk only & leave the components to the buyer. Until the scope is the same, the two numbers say nothing about which supplier is cheaper.
Small formats make this worse because the fixed parts of a project are spread over fewer units. Development, sampling, artwork setup, print tooling & testing do not scale down with the fill volume, so at a small quantity they become a larger share of each unit. A brand comparing an eye cream against a face cream of the same formula will often find the eye cream costs more per gram, & the reason is arithmetic rather than quality.
The practical consequence is to ask for a costed breakdown rather than a price. A supplier who can list the bulk, the component, the filling, the print, the testing & the freight separately is easy to compare with another who does the same. A single number from either side is a conversation, not a comparison. The general shape of a quotation is set out in the quotation breakdown notes.
The bulk formula & what actually moves its cost
The bulk is the cheapest part of most small eye products per unit, & it is also the part buyers over-focus on. Cost per kilogram moves with the ingredient list: a base built from commodity emollients & a standard preservation system sits at one level, & the same base with a peptide blend, an encapsulated active or a specialist sensory modifier sits at another. The gaps are real, but at ten or fifteen millilitres they are measured in fractions of the unit price rather than in multiples of it.
What moves the bulk cost more than any single ingredient is the number of non-standard components. Each speciality raw material brings a minimum purchase quantity, a specification sheet, a certificate per lot & often a longer lead time. A formula with three speciality items is not merely more expensive than one with none; it is also harder to source, harder to substitute & slower to reorder when a lot runs short.
A second cost sits inside the bulk & rarely appears on a quotation: the development work needed to make the formula stable at the fill volume you have chosen. A base that works at fifty millilitres may need adjustment at ten, & the sampling rounds that follow are a real cost whether or not they are billed.
Fill volume, dose per use & cost per gram
Fill volume decides both the bulk cost & the customer's perception of value, & the two pull against each other. A larger fill costs more in bulk but spreads the fixed costs over more grams, so the cost per gram falls. A small fill does the reverse. The unit price a brand sees is therefore a blend of both effects, & changing the volume a little can move the unit price more than changing an ingredient.
Dose per use is the other half of the same question. An eye product is used in very small amounts, so a ten millilitre pack can last a long time, & a brand that increases the fill for marketing reasons may end up with a pack that takes a year to finish. That is a poor outcome for reorder rhythm even when the cost per gram improves.
The sensible approach is to fix the pack size from the intended use period rather than from the cost, then ask the factory to cost that size. A size chosen to hit a price point tends to be revisited within two orders, & each revision carries a new component, a new fill setup & new artwork.
The pack is where a small format saves or loses money
At a small fill the component is usually the largest single line in the unit price. A standard tube with a stock cap sits at one level; an airless mini pump with a bespoke actuator sits far above it, & the difference is often greater than the difference in the bulk. This is the line buyers most often underestimate when they set a target price before costing the pack.
The cost of the pack is not only the part. A bespoke component needs a tool or a mould, a minimum run, a printed decoration step & a longer delivery, & each of those adds to the fixed side of the project. A stock component avoids the tooling but limits the shelf presence, which is a real trade rather than a free saving.
There is also a hidden cost in choosing a pack the filling line cannot run efficiently. A shape that requires slower handling, a component that needs a manual assembly step or a closure that jams at speed all raise the filling cost, & they usually do it after the quote has been accepted rather than before.
Filling efficiency at low volumes & the minimum run
Filling ten millilitres costs more per unit than filling fifty, because the machine still has to index, dose, seal & discharge one unit at a time. The overhead per unit does not shrink with the fill. On a small eye product this is often the second largest line after the component, & it is the one that improves fastest with order size.
The minimum run is the other side of efficiency. Every batch carries a clean-down, a setup, a first-off check & a line clearance, & those are fixed regardless of the quantity. A run below the line's comfortable size either costs more per unit or is refused, & a factory that accepts a very small run at a low unit price is usually making it up somewhere else.
Yield is worth asking about explicitly. Bulk is lost in transfer, in the filling line & in rejected units, & the loss percentage matters more on a small run than on a large one. A brand that asks how much bulk has to be made to fill a stated number of units is asking the right question, & the answer belongs in the quotation.
Tooling, moulds & decoration minimums
Tooling is a one-off cost that only makes sense if the volume supports it. A bespoke cap, a custom applicator or a shaped component needs a mould, & the mould is amortised over the order. At a small first run the amortised cost per unit can be uncomfortable, which is why many brands launch with a stock component & move to a bespoke one at a later order.
Decoration carries its own minimums. Screen printing, hot stamping, labelling & sleeve printing all have a setup & a minimum quantity, & a set of five colours can mean five passes & five minimums. A brand that reduces the number of print colours on a small pack usually saves more than it loses in shelf impact.
The sequencing matters more than the choice. If the brand plans to move from a stock component to a bespoke one at the second order, the artwork should be designed so that it can migrate without being redrawn. That single decision saves a full artwork cycle later, which is a real cost even when the drawing itself is not billed.
Testing, documentation & the cost of evidence
Testing is a fixed cost that does not shrink with the order. A stability programme, a preservative challenge test, a compatibility check & a claim study each consume product, laboratory time & reporting effort, & a small brand that runs all of them on a first order may find the evidence costs more than the goods. Which tests buy what is set out in the testing cost notes.
The documentation set is cheaper but not free. Specification sheets, certificates per lot, a batch record & a safety data sheet all take time to issue, & a request for the full set on every purchase order turns a routine reorder into a project. The practical split is between documents generated once per formula & documents generated once per batch, & the brief should say which the brand expects.
Two items sit outside the ordinary list & are often forgotten until freight asks for them. A fragrance brings an IFRA obligation & a 26-allergen declaration, which has to be obtained & kept current. A formula containing alcohol brings a flash-point classification & its own shipping papers. Both are small line items that become expensive problems when they surface after the goods are packed.
Sampling, development fees & what gets credited back
Most factories charge for samples & for development time, & many credit part of it back against the first production order. The credit is worth asking about at the quotation stage, because the terms differ: some credit the sample fee only, some credit the development fee above a stated order value, & some list the whole amount as a separate service.
The number of sampling rounds is the variable the brand controls. A brief that fixes the wording, the texture target, the pack & the fill volume before the first sample usually needs fewer rounds than a brief that leaves two of them open. Each additional round costs sample fees, courier charges & weeks, & the weeks are usually the more expensive part.
It is also worth confirming what the sample fee covers. A sample that arrives without a specification, without a fill weight & without a note of the pack used is hard to build on, & a factory that issues a short sample report with each round is saving the brand money even if the fee is the same.
Freight, duty & landed cost on a dense small pack
An eye product is heavy for its volume, so freight is charged on weight rather than on space. A dense pack in a heavy component can cost more to move than a larger, lighter product, & the outer packaging chosen for the set or the carton adds to it. The landed cost is therefore a function of the pack decision as much as of the goods.
Duty & tax treatment varies by destination & by how the product is classified, & the classification depends on the product rather than on the brand's preference. That is a question for the freight forwarder & the importer rather than for the factory, but the factory has to supply the information the classification rests on, which is another reason to fix the formula & the pack before the goods are made.
Two operational costs are easy to leave out. Small packs take longer to count & check, so inspection & handling cost more per unit than on a large format. And a small pack with a light fill is easy to damage in a parcel network, which shows up later as returns rather than as freight.
Cost drivers compared
The table below compares the lines that make up an eye cream unit price against the direction each one moves when the fill volume falls, & the point that is easiest to misread. It compares behaviour rather than amounts, because the actual figures depend on the formula, the component & the quantity.
| Cost line | Behaviour as fill falls | What moves it most | What buyers misread |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bulk formula | Falls, but not in proportion | Number of speciality raw materials | Reading the bulk as the main cost |
| Primary component | Rises as a share of the unit | Airless or stock, bespoke or standard | Setting a target price before costing it |
| Filling | Rises per unit at low volumes | Line setup & yield | Assuming filling scales with the fill |
| Decoration & print | Broadly unchanged | Number of colours & minimums | Adding colours on a small pack |
| Tooling & moulds | Amortised over fewer units | Whether the part is bespoke | Amortising over the first order only |
| Testing & evidence | Unchanged, so a larger share | Which studies the market needs | Running every study on the first run |
| Documentation | Unchanged, so a larger share | Whether it is issued per batch | Asking for the full set every order |
| Freight & duty | Higher per unit on a dense pack | Weight, classification & route | Comparing ex-works prices as landed cost |
The rows describe direction rather than magnitude. Two eye creams of the same fill can sit at very different unit prices because the pack differs, & two identical packs can differ because one quotation includes testing that the other leaves to the buyer. Read the table as a checklist for comparing quotes, not as a price guide.
What to put in the brief
Ask for a costed breakdown rather than a unit price, & state the quantity you are likely to order at the second & third reorder as well as the first. A supplier who knows the volume will grow can price the first run more sensibly & plan the tooling step with you rather than for you.
- The formula direction, & whether it is a proven base or a new development.
- The fill volume & the number of units in the first order.
- The pack format you want, & whether you will accept a stock component at launch.
- The number of print colours & the decoration method.
- The markets the product will be sold in, & the testing each one expects.
- The documents you need per formula & per batch, stated separately.
- Whether a fragrance is used, & the IFRA 26-allergen declaration it brings.
- Whether the base contains alcohol, & the flash-point papers freight will need.
Then confirm which of those lines the quotation covers. A quote that lists the bulk, the component, the filling, the print, the testing & the freight separately can be compared with another on the same basis, & the comparison usually shows that the difference sits in one or two lines rather than in the whole product.
Where our capability fits
We quote eye cream projects as a costed breakdown rather than as a single number, so a brand can see which line is producing the price & which one to change. The fill volume, the component & the print are costed together, the testing & documentation are listed separately from the goods, & the sample budget for stability work is agreed before the run is scheduled rather than discovered afterwards.
We work with brands on private label (your brand on a proven base), OEM/ODM contract manufacturing & full custom formula development, & the commercial structure is the same across all three, so a brand can start on a proven base & move to a bespoke component later without redrawing the project. Adjacent lines often used to test the small-format maths include a copper peptide repair serum & a firming facial essence.
Tell us the fill volume, the pack you have in mind & the quantity you expect over the first year, & we will come back with a breakdown you can compare line by line. Start at our inquiry page, email capsulebiotech@163.com, or message the right team on WhatsApp: Capsule Series (capsules only) +86 158-7655-5319, Cosmetics Series (serum, hair care, body care, fragrance) +86 158-7655-5319.
General manufacturing information, not regulatory or legal advice. Prices, minimum quantities & lead times depend on the formula, the component & the order volume & should be confirmed with the factory, & duty, tax & classification questions should be confirmed with the importer for each destination.