What this template is for
The one-piece postal box every online shop uses: side walls off the base, ears that fold in, and a lid whose lip locks into the front. No glue anywhere.
Also called shipping box · postal box · ecommerce mailer · roll end tuck box — all the same shape, and this is it.
- Ecommerce and subscription shipping
- Etsy and small shop orders
- Gift and unboxing presentation
- Sturdy postal packaging for prints and books
How to use this template
Set your measurements above, then download the file that suits whatever you are already working in. All four are the same mailer box, drawn to the same size — only the format changes, and every one of them is free.
- PDF printing at home
- Print it at 100 per cent and cut it out. This is also the file to hand a print shop: say "actual size, no scaling".
- PNG 300 dpi Canva, Photoshop, Procreate
- Upload it as an image, lock it in place, and design your mailer box on top of it. Works on the free Canva plan and on a phone. Full Canva walkthrough →
- SVG Cricut, Illustrator, Inkscape, Affinity
- Vector, with the cut lines, fold lines and labels on separate layers so you can style or delete them independently. Cricut and Silhouette walkthrough →
- DXF Silhouette, laser and vinyl cutters
- Two layers, CUT and FOLD. The free Silhouette Studio Basic opens DXF where it will not open SVG, so this is the one to use there.
Putting your own design on it: you do not need any of those programs for a logo or a pattern — add a picture in the panel above and drag it onto the mailer box. It is trimmed to the cut outline and embedded properly in the PDF, and it never leaves your computer. Getting it printed properly →
Printing it
- Type the size you need above, in millimetres, centimetres or inches.
- Download the PDF and print it at 100% — never “fit to page”, or every measurement comes out wrong.
- Too big for your paper? Tick Split across several sheets and it prints across as many as it needs, with overlaps and matching letters to tape together.
How to put it together
These pictures are the mailer box itself, not a generic diagram — change the measurements above and the template changes, but the three steps never do.
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Cut the solid lines
Every solid line is a cut. Scissors are fine; a craft knife against a steel rule is neater on the straight runs. Cut the inside shapes, like a thumb hole, before you free the outline — the sheet is easier to hold while it is still whole.
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Score every dashed line
Dashed lines are folds, and they want scoring first: run an empty ballpoint, a bone folder or the back of a butter knife along a ruler. Card folded without scoring cracks along the outside of the bend. Fold each crease both ways, then back — it makes the shape almost close itself.
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Fold, glue and hold
Fold the side walls up, then the front and back walls, tucking their ears inside the side walls. Load it, bring the lid over and push the lip down inside the front wall.
Glue: a glue stick is enough for paper; use white PVA on card and hold each seam for thirty seconds. Tape works on the inside of any seam if you would rather not wait. Let a box dry standing up, not lying on a flap.
Questions about the mailer box
- Why is a mailer box better than a plain carton for posting?
- It is one piece, so nothing can come apart in transit, and it needs no glue or tape to hold its shape — the lip locks into the front wall. It also opens flat, which is why it is the standard for unboxing.
- What board should I use?
- For real posting, single-wall corrugated at about 3 mm. Set the thickness field to match: the lid is drawn one thickness deeper than the space it covers, because it has to reach over the top of the back wall and down the front.
- What are the ears for?
- The small flaps on the front, back and lid panels. They fold inwards and are trapped behind the side walls, which is what stops the box splaying open under load.
Print your own design on it
Every template here takes your artwork. Add a picture in the panel on the left — a logo, a photo, a pattern — drag it where you want it on the mailer box, and it prints with the template. It is trimmed to the cut outline automatically, so nothing spills over the edge, and it goes into the PDF as a properly embedded image.
No other free box template site will do that, and your picture never leaves your computer — there is no server here to send it to.