Free design proof on every custom order: no templates, no stock SKUs
A QR code label packs a scannable link, product identifier or tracking number into a small printed square, letting a phone camera pull up a webpage, video, warranty registration or inventory record without anyone typing a URL. Reliable scanning comes down to contrast and print quality more than size. A QR code needs a clean quiet border and sharp corners, since low-resolution printing or a busy background can cause a phone to hesitate or fail to read it. They're used on product packaging, asset tags, event materials, restaurant menus and point-of-sale displays where a quick scan replaces a longer explanation. We can print them alone or alongside your logo, product name and other label content on the same sheet.
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A QR code is a two-dimensional barcode that a smartphone camera can read almost instantly, pulling up whatever it's been encoded to open. A web address, a video, a menu, a wifi login or a vCard. What began as a Japanese automotive-industry tool for tracking parts on an assembly line is now one of the most common ways to bridge a printed piece and a digital destination, since nearly every phone in circulation can read one without a separate app.
Printing one that scans reliably comes down to a few technical basics. Contrast is the biggest factor. A dark code on a light, matte background reads far more consistently than light-on-dark or a code printed over a busy photo. Every QR code also needs a "quiet zone," a clear margin of blank space around its edge, or scanners can misread where the code starts and stops. Size matters relative to scanning distance rather than in absolute terms: a code meant to be scanned from arm's length can be small, but one on a poster or vehicle wrap meant to be scanned from several feet away needs to be sized up so the individual modules stay distinguishable.
Common uses include linking product packaging to instructions, ingredient details or warranty registration; linking a flyer, poster or business card to a landing page; tagging equipment or inventory for asset tracking; and replacing printed menus or check-in sheets at restaurants and events. In each case the code is doing the same job. Replacing a URL or process too long to type by hand with a one-second scan.
Before printing in volume, it's worth testing the actual printed code with a few different phones, since a code that renders fine on screen can still fail once it's shrunk, laminated or printed on a textured stock. It also helps to decide upfront whether the destination needs to be able to change later. A code pointed at a fixed URL can't be redirected once it's printed, while a code built around a short redirect link can be updated behind the scenes even after the labels are out in the world. Material choice follows the same logic as any other label: paper and standard adhesive for short-term indoor use, laminated or vinyl stock for anything that will sit outdoors or get handled repeatedly.
Labels divide first into paper and film, and the dividing question is whether the label will ever get wet. Coated paper takes ink beautifully and costs the least, but moisture ends it. A paper label on a chilled bottle wrinkles within an hour. Film faces such as BOPP shrug off condensation, refrigeration and handling. Clear and metallised films are chosen for a specific visual effect rather than for durability alone.
Paper or film? If the labeled item is ever chilled, refrigerated or handled with wet hands, film. Everything else, paper does the job for less.
Full color covers most label work. Three cases need more: a brand color that must match across every reorder runs as a Pantone spot rather than being approximated from process inks; anything printed on clear or metallised film needs a white underbase or the colors go translucent; and labels carrying serial numbers, addresses or codes are printed as variable data, where every label in the run is different.
Can every label be different? Yes. Sequential numbers, names, addresses and codes are all variable data. Send a spreadsheet and the field mapping.
A protective layer over the print, in two grades. Varnish is a coating applied inline. Cheap, thin, enough to stop ink scuffing in normal handling. Laminate is a bonded film: thicker, tougher, and the only real answer where a label meets moisture, abrasion or chemicals. On anything that gets wiped, refrigerated or squeezed, the difference between the two shows within weeks.
Varnish or laminate? Varnish for a dry indoor label. Laminate for anything wet, chilled, handled constantly, or wiped down.
Chosen against the surface, the temperature and the intended life. General-purpose permanent covers most rigid, room-temperature surfaces. Removable releases cleanly within a reasonable window. Freezer-grade stays flexible and keeps bonding at temperatures where a standard adhesive turns brittle and lets go. High-tack exists for textured plastics, recycled board and anything that resists adhesion.
It is going on something cold. Does that matter? Considerably. Applying a standard adhesive to an already-cold surface is the single most common cause of labels falling off in the chiller.
A QR code scans reliably when its individual modules (the small squares) are large enough for a phone camera to resolve at the distance it will be scanned from. That makes physical size a function of scanning distance rather than of layout convenience. Higher error-correction levels let the code survive partial damage or a logo placed over the center, at the cost of a denser pattern.
How small can a QR code be? Smaller than most people expect, but it depends on scan distance and camera. Test print at final size and scan it with an ordinary phone before committing to a run.
Ask for samples of any face on this list before committing to a run. How a stock takes ink and handles moisture is impossible to judge on screen.
An inline coating that stops ink scuffing in normal handling. It is thin and inexpensive, and it is the right answer for a dry indoor label that will not be wiped, chilled or gripped.
A bonded film rather than a coating. Thicker, tougher, and the only real protection where a label meets moisture, abrasion or cleaning chemicals. On chilled and handled products the difference from varnish shows within weeks.
Metallic foil pressed into the label under heat, applied to selected elements. Against an uncoated or matte ground a single small foil element does more visual work than any amount of additional color.
Relief pressed into the material, or a clear resin lens poured over the face. Both add a physical dimension a flat label cannot have: emboss for texture, dome for depth and abrasion resistance.
Same family, genuinely different jobs. Your current selection is highlighted.
| Label | From | Build | Order it when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Custom Labels | $175 | Every layer specified | Nothing standard fits the job |
| Product Labels | $145 | Brand panel plus mandatory content | It sells the product and carries the details |
| Food Label | $175 | Regulatory panel, food-safe adhesive | Ingredients and nutrition are required |
| Bottle Labels | $169 | Film face, wraparound, laminated | It gets cold, wet and gripped |
| Clear Labels | $180 | Clear film, white underbase | The container should show through |
| Die Cut Labels | $179 | Custom outline die | A rectangle or circle will not do |
| Domed Labels | $210 | Cut to a custom outline | The shape is the artwork, not a rectangle |
| Metallic Foil Labels | $180 | Metallised film beneath the ink | Large metallic areas or metallic color |
| Embossed Foil Labels | $190 | Emboss registered to foil | Seals and authenticity marks |
| Bar Code Labels | $150 | Contrast, resolution, quiet zone | It has to scan every time |
| QR Code Labels | $150 | Module size to scan distance | A phone camera has to read it |
| Shipping Labels | $165 | Thermal face, carrier format | It moves through a carrier network |
| Mailing Labels | $140 | Sheet or roll, high volume | Hundreds or thousands of addresses |
| Address Labels | $145 | Sheeted, uncoated, writable | Envelopes, by printer or by hand |
| General Purpose Labels | $140 | Standard shapes and stock | Dates, contents, internal marking |
| Business Labels | $160 | Standard commercial format | Everyday branded commercial use |
| CD Labels | $170 | Concentric annular die | It spins, so it must be balanced |
It depends on scanning distance and camera quality rather than on a fixed minimum. The practical test is the only one that matters: print at final size on the final material and scan it with an ordinary phone before committing to a run.
Yes, if the error-correction level is raised to compensate. The code carries redundant data so it survives partial obstruction, but the higher the correction level, the denser the pattern, which pushes the minimum size back up.
Only if you point the code at a URL you control and redirect from there. A code encoding a final destination directly is fixed the moment it is printed, so always route through something you can change.
On a gentle curve, usually. On a tight one the camera cannot see the whole pattern flat and scanning becomes unreliable. On small bottles and tubes, keep the code on the flattest available area.
Pricing for qr code labels starts at $150 and moves with quantity, size, material and finish rather than sitting on a fixed list. Setup is shared across the run, so the per-unit price drops steeply as the quantity rises: the gap between a few hundred and a few thousand is usually the significant one. Send the size, quantity and what it has to do and you get a firm figure back, not a range.
There is a practical minimum rather than a hard one. Every run carries artwork checks, a proof and a press setup, so a very small quantity of qr code labels prices poorly per unit even though we will still make it. If you are ordering a small batch, ask for pricing at two or three quantities at once: the curve usually shows that a modest increase costs very little more in total.
The clock starts when you approve the proof, not when the order is placed, which is the part most people are surprised by. You get a proof first: a digital proof showing artwork against the dieline, and on clear or metallised faces exactly where white ink sits. Nothing is printed until you approve it, and on a shaped label the proof is where you first see the real outline. Turnaround after approval depends on the finish: anything laminated, foiled or die-cut adds a stage that cannot be compressed without causing problems later. Tell us the date you actually need them and we will work backwards from it rather than quoting a generic lead time.
Print-ready artwork with bleed and a safe margin, supplied as a PDF, AI or EPS. Photographic elements should be supplied at the resolution the finished size needs, not the resolution that looks sharp on screen. If your file is not print-ready, say so when you order. We would rather fix it before the proof than after the run.
Yes. Module size and error correction is the standard build, and the dimensions around it are yours to set. A size that sits efficiently on the press sheet often costs no more than a standard one, while an awkward proportion that wastes half the sheet does. Ask before you commit and we will tell you whether a small change to the dimensions saves a disproportionate amount.
In most cases they are the same product under a different name: the trade uses several terms for it depending on the region and the supplier. What actually defines this one is the build: module size to scan distance. Order it when a phone camera has to read it. If you have seen it called scannable qr labels elsewhere, describe what it has to do rather than which name you found, and we will match the specification.
Yes. We provide free samples, and on qr code labels it is worth asking for one, because the difference between semi-gloss paper and uncoated paper is obvious in the hand and invisible on a screen. Most orders run on semi-gloss paper, but ask for whichever you are weighing up. You also get a free design proof before anything goes to press, so nothing is printed that you have not seen.
The usual choices are varnish, lamination, foil stamping. Finish is not decoration on this product so much as a decision about how long it survives and how it reads in the hand, so it is worth choosing against the job rather than the budget. Tell us where the finished piece ends up and we will say which finish is doing real work and which is only adding cost.
Yes, and that is what almost every order here is. Nothing in this catalogue is a stock item: qr code labels are manufactured to the specification you give us, with your artwork on them. Send your logo as vector artwork where you have it, since that scales to any size without softening. If all you have is a low-resolution file, tell us and we will say what it needs before it reaches the press.
Yes, and a repeat run is simpler than the first one. We keep your approved specification on file, so a reorder skips the setup decisions and goes straight to production. If nothing about the artwork or the specification has changed, there is nothing to re-approve. Tell us the previous order and we will match it rather than starting the specification again.
Yes. Regalo Print has been producing custom commercial print for businesses across the USA and Canada since 2008, and every order ships tracked. The tracking number reaches you the day the job leaves, not the day it arrives. If you are working to a fixed date, say so when you order so the production schedule is built around the delivery date rather than the other way round.
