Custom Price Tags

Custom Price Tags for Retail, Jewelry and Craft Sellers

The right tag starts with three decisions: size, stock and how it attaches.

Custom price tags do one job — communicate value clearly, fast. A shopper picks up your product and reads the name, the price and the variant in under three seconds. 

Whether you run a boutique, a jewelry counter or a weekend craft fair, the tag on your product is often the first physical thing a customer interacts with. Choose the wrong size and your barcode won’t scan. Choose the wrong finish and your team can’t write prices by hand. Start here, get those three choices right, and everything else falls into place.

If you also need a tag that carries your brand story, logo or care instructions, our Custom Hang Tags handle that job — a brand tag and a price tag serve different purposes and work best when they stay separate.

The Anatomy of a Well-Designed Price Tag

 Layout comes down to priority. A shopper gives a price tag a second or two, so the order of information matters more than how much fits.

1. Line 1: product name, variant, size and price. This is the part the shopper reads, so keep it the largest and clearest text on the tag.
2. Line 2: SKU and barcode for your team and your checkout scanner. A QR code can sit here too if it sends shoppers to a product page.
3. Line 3 (optional): a short brand phrase. One line, not a paragraph.

Care instructions, compliance text and long product descriptions belong on Custom Retail Packaging, sewn-in labels or a product page. On a 2" tag they shrink to text nobody can read. When branding and price compete for space, use two tags instead: one for the brand and one for the price. When prices change, you reprint only the price tag and keep the branded one.

Sizes and Dimensions That Actually Work

This is where most sellers waste money — ordering tags that are either too small for a barcode or too large for a jewelry piece. Here are the sizes we produce most often:

A few practical specs worth knowing:

• A full UPC-A barcode measures roughly 1.47" × 1.02" — your tag needs to be at least 2" wide to hold one without cutting into the quiet zone.
• Tags over 3" tall carry better on heavier 18pt–24pt cardstock. Smaller square tags work well on 14pt.
• Hole punch: 1/8" or 3/16" diameter, placed approximately 0.25" from the top edge.

Stock and Finish — Matched to How You Actually Use the Tag

Uncoated and Matte Stock

If your team writes prices by hand — using a marker, a price gun or a “Was/Now” field — uncoated or matte lamination is the only practical choice. High-gloss UV coating repels ink and makes handwriting nearly impossible.

Gloss, Spot UV and Foil

For fully printed prices with no write-on area, gloss lamination and spot UV give retail price tags a clean, premium look. Foil stamping and embossing are available as accent finishes for higher-end product lines.

Kraft and Recycled Stock

A natural uncoated finish reads well in artisan, farmers market and gift shop settings where a synthetic-looking tag would feel out of place.

Synthetic and Tear-Resistant Stock

Outdoor garden centers, humid display cases and jewelry counters that see heavy handling benefit from synthetic or Tyvek-style stock — tags that won’t go limp, tear or absorb moisture.

For a flat adhesive alternative, Custom Stickers work well as price labels on packaging surfaces where a hanging tag isn’t practical.

String and Attachment Options for Custom Price Tags with Strings

Custom price tags with strings ship either pre-attached or with loose strings packaged separately — confirm your preference when ordering. Here’s a breakdown of attachment types and where each one fits:

• Cotton or jute twine — classic retail and boutique look, suits apparel and gift items
• Elastic loop — fast to attach, great for high-volume tagging in a stockroom
• Satin ribbon — premium feel, used in gift shops and luxury boutiques
• Metal eyelet or grommet — reinforces the hole on heavier tags that get handled repeatedly
• Barbell or dumbbell fastener — the standard for jewelry labels, slides cleanly through small loops without snagging delicate pieces
• Safety pin — used on garments when a string or loop would damage fabric

For jewelry specifically, dumbbell-style attachment keeps the tag flat and secure without scratching metal or pulling at chains — a detail that matters at the jewelry counter.

Which Seller Needs Which Tag

Boutique — 2" × 3.5" on 16pt matte stock, cotton twine. Room for a price field, SKU and a short brand line. Boutique price tags in a consistent format make your rack look intentional, not thrown together.

Jewelry Counter — 2" × 2" or 1.5" × 3.5" on Tyvek or tear-resistant stock, dumbbell fastener. Jewelry price tags need to survive frequent handling and humid display cases without curling or fading.

Candle and Home Décor — 2.5" × 2.5" on kraft or recycled stock, twine. The natural material matches the product aesthetic and communicates quality before the shopper even reads the price.

Craft Fair or Farmers Market — 2" × 2" or 2.5" × 2.5" on uncoated kraft, pre-attached twine. A writable price field lets you adjust pricing on the spot without reprinting.

Thrift or Consignment — 2" × 3.5" on 14pt uncoated stock, color-coded by department or price bracket. Space for a SKU, “Was/Now” pricing and a barcode zone keeps checkout fast.

Garden Center or Gift Shop — 3.5" × 2" on synthetic or coated stock, grommet hole. Retail price tags in outdoor or high-moisture environments need stock that holds up through a full selling season. Wholesale price tags ordered in bulk for garden centers typically run on uncoated stock with a pre-printed price field.

Artwork Setup — Get It Right Before You Send

A clean file saves you a reprint. Before submitting:

• ✔ Add 0.125" bleed on all four sides
• ✔ Keep text and logos 0.125" inside the trim line
• ✔ Leave the top 0.25" clear — that’s where the hole punch lands
• ✔ Use CMYK for full color or PMS spot color for exact brand matching
• ✔ Outline all fonts before saving
• ✔ Decide one-sided or two-sided before building your layout
• ✔ Test any QR code at actual print size before approving

If you’re using variable data — meaning each tag carries a unique SKU, price or barcode — flag that at the quote stage so the file is structured correctly from the start.

From Proof to Delivery

1. Request a quote — share your size, quantity, stock and attachment preference
2. Receive a digital proof — review layout, bleed and barcode placement before anything prints
3. Approve the proof — no production starts without your sign-off
4. Print and quality check — each run is checked against your approved file
5. Ship — orders go out with free shipping across the USA

Custom printed price tags with strings attached ship as a ready-to-tag set — open the box and you’re tagging product the same day.

Why Choose Sire Printing

We print custom price tags the way retail actually works — not just what looks good in a product photo. That means we flag barcode clearance issues before your file goes to press, not after. It means we ask about your attachment method before recommending a stock weight, because a heavy tag on a thin elastic loop is a return waiting to happen.

Our custom price tags with strings are pre-attached and ready to use, and our team catches the small spec mistakes — a hole punched too close to the edge, a QR code that won’t scan at 1" — that other printers only find after you’ve opened the box.

Frequently Asked Questions

What size should a custom price tag be?
For most apparel and retail use, a 2" × 3.5" tag fits a price, SKU and barcode comfortably. Smaller items like jewelry work better on a 2" × 2" or 1.5" × 3.5" tag. When in doubt, go one size up — a tag that’s slightly larger is always easier to read than one that’s crowded.

Which stock and finish work best when writing prices by hand?
Choose uncoated or matte stock. Gloss lamination and UV coatings repel marker ink, which means your handwritten prices will smear or won’t stick. A write-on area works best on a flat, uncoated surface.

How large does a tag need to be to hold a barcode?
A UPC-A barcode needs at least 1.47" of width and 1.02" of height with proper quiet zones on both sides. That means your tag needs to be at least 2" wide. Smaller tags can carry a QR code, which scales down more cleanly.

Can one tag carry both branding and price?
It can, but it usually creates a trade-off. When the price changes, you reprint the whole tag — branding and all. A better workflow for most sellers is a branded hang tag for identity and a separate price tag for pricing. That way, repricing costs almost nothing.

How do I handle price changes without reprinting everything?
Order your main brand tag once and reprint only the price tag when prices shift. On uncoated stock, a “Was/Now” pre-printed field lets your team update prices by hand without any reprinting at all. For seasonal repricing, this saves significant time and print costs across a full product line.

Get a quote today and have your tags ready before your next restock