Overprintable Paper Labels · Overprintable rolls
The part we leave bare is the part you are buying
The short answer: a protected thermal paper, printed by us in full colour, with one area left free of ink and free of varnish so your own printer can add the date, the lot or the barcode as you pack. From €183 per 100, cut up to 100 × 105 mm and wound to suit your machine.
Any shape within this size — rectangle, round, oval or custom die-cut.
VAT invoice · card or bank transfer · proof before production · ±5 % quantity tolerance
- Printing
- 1 option
- Protection
- 1 option
- Adhesives
- 1
- Sizes
- 16 formats
- Smallest
- 35 × 30 mm
- Largest
- 100 × 105 mm
- Quantities
- 100 → 10 000, more quoted
- Variable data
- quoted on request
Printed from €183 per 100, unprinted on rolls from €63. Production 2 to 10 working days after proof approval.
The one thing worth knowing
The protected grade costs the same as the plain one
There are two thermal papers in the catalogue: a plain one and a protected one carrying a top coat against damp, handling and light. On this product they are priced within two euros of each other — €183 against €185 per hundred — and at the most ordered size they are exactly the same price.
So there is no arbitrage to make: take the protected grade. A thermal print fades when it is rubbed at a packing bench or sits in a chilled room, and the top coat is what stops your customer receiving a pack whose date has disappeared. The plain grade remains available for labels that are dry, indoors and read within days.
- Stock
- protected thermal paper
- We print
- full colour design
- You print
- use-by date + lot
- Free panel
- 45 × 20 mm, unvarnished
- Size
- up to 100 × 105 mm
- Quantity
- from 100
- From
- €183 / 100
An example of a real order. Quantities are not capped — we print from a hundred pieces to several million.
Designing the panel
Three rules, and the first one is absolute
No varnish over the panel
A varnish or a lamination over the free area stops the print head marking the paper and the label comes out blank. This is why the whole label ships unprotected — and the single most common mistake on this product.
Size it from your own output
A date and a lot number need about 40 × 12 mm; add a Code 128 barcode and you are at 40 × 25 mm. Add 2 mm of margin all round so a drifting roll never prints on your design.
Say how the roll must be wound
Inside or outside, and which way up. A perfectly printed roll that feeds the wrong way round is unusable on your machine — tell us the printer model and we wind it to match.
Send us a label your machine has produced and we place the panel around it on the proof, rather than asking you to measure it.
Which route is yours
Between a blank roll and a finished label
Three ways to get a label with today's date on it. A blank roll at €44 per 100, where your printer produces everything, brand included — cheapest, and monochrome. An overprintable roll at €183, where we print the brand in full colour and you print the data. A finished label, where we print everything, data included, which only works when the data is known at order time.
The middle route exists for one reason: most in-house label printers are monochrome. It gives you a full-colour label without buying a colour printer, without the printing time on your line and without the colour drifting between batches.
- Blank roll
- €44 — you print all
- Overprintable
- €183 — we print, you date
- Finished label
- €137 — we print all
- Numbering by us
- from + €112 per run
Price by quantity
What a run actually costs
Up to 55 × 70 mm, full colour, unprotected — die, setup and printing included.
| Quantity | Run price | Per label |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | €219 | €2.19 |
| 200 | €224 | €1.12 |
| 300 | €228 | €0.76 |
| 500 | €230 | €0.46 |
| 1 000 | €252 | €0.25 |
| 1 500 | €267 | €0.18 |
| 2 000 | €288 | €0.14 |
| 3 000 | €321 | €0.11 |
| 5 000 | €404 | €0.081 |
| 10 000 | €611 | €0.061 |
Excluding VAT and delivery. Other sizes, finishes and quantities are priced in the configurator above.
FAQ
Overprintable paper — what producers ask us
Why is an overprintable roll dearer than a finished label?
Because it is a short-run full-colour print with an extra constraint, while the €137 finished label is the entry price of a plain coated paper. You are not buying less printing — you are buying the same printing plus a panel that has to stay bare and register with your own machine.
Can the panel be varnished or laminated?
No, and it is the one rule with no exception. A coating over the panel stops the thermal head marking the paper and the label comes out blank. That is why these rolls ship with no protection at all, while the printed part keeps its colours.
Which printer do I need?
A direct thermal printer — no ribbon, the paper darkens under the head. A thermal transfer printer with a ribbon works on the same stock and gives a more durable mark. Send the model with your order and we match the stock and the winding; if you are unsure, send a photo of the roll you use today.
How big should the free panel be?
Big enough for what your printer produces, plus 2 mm all round. A date and a lot number take about 40 × 12 mm, a Code 128 barcode takes the block to 40 × 25 mm. The safest method is to send us a label your machine has printed and let us place the panel around it.
Can you leave a panel on another stock?
On coated papers and on films, yes — see overprintable polyester at €173 and overprintable polypropylene at €214. On a textured or metallic stock it is possible but the overprint quality depends on your ribbon; ask us before committing a run to it.
Your brand in colour, today's date in black.
Protected thermal, free panel, from €183 per 100.