Solutions

You cannot price a custom size online

A custom print size cannot be priced from a fixed variant table because the price depends on the area or perimeter computed from the typed width and height, the sheet or roll yield that size produces, and the business's own minimums and rounding rules. Netbase JSC builds that model as one validated rule set on W2P Solution.

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Reviewed by CEO, Netbase JSC · Published 30 Sep 2026 · Updated 6 Nov 2026

Why can't a custom size use the same price table as a catalogue product?

A catalogue product has a fixed set of sizes, so each one can carry its own stored price. A custom size is a width and a height the customer types, from a continuous range. There is no row in a variant table for 743mm by 1189mm, or 744mm by 1189mm. The price has to be computed from the dimensions each time, and the calculation has to agree with what production actually does with that sheet or that length of roll.

Most "we can't price custom sizes online" problems are not a missing feature but a missing model. A text box that accepts any number is an unvalidated input waiting for a size the press cannot run. The fix is area or perimeter as a first-class calculation, yield read from the actual stock, a stated minimum and rounding rule, and limits that reject a size before it reaches a quote.

This page covers the custom-size boundary; the general model, including quantity breaks, customer tiers and contract terms, is scoped under print pricing engine engineering.

A custom width and height cannot carry a stored price; the price has to be computed from area, perimeter or yield at the moment the customer types it.
Sheet-fed and roll-fed stock use different yield mathematics, and the engine has to know which one applies to a given product before it can quote.
Minimums and rounding are commercial decisions, written down before they are coded.
Validation rejects an impossible size before checkout, with a reason the customer can read.
The same rule set has to run in the browser for the estimate shown and on the server for the amount actually charged, or the two numbers will eventually disagree.

How does an engine compute a price for a custom size?

The pricing engine runs the calculation in a fixed order, and each stage either produces a number the next stage needs or stops the order with a stated reason.

How does an engine compute a price for a custom size?
Stage	Input	What it produces
Dimensions	Width and height as typed, plus the unit (mm, cm, in)	A normalised size in one internal unit
Area and perimeter	The normalised size	Area for sheet or material cost, perimeter for cut, hem or trim operations priced by length
Validation	Area, perimeter and the product's configured limits	A pass, or a rejection naming which limit failed
Yield	The validated size and the stock's sheet or roll dimensions	How many pieces per press sheet, or how much roll length the job consumes
Rounding and minimum	The computed amount and the business's rounding increment and minimum charge	The amount actually shown and charged

A rigid board sign and a roll-fed banner both take a width and a height, but one is priced from sheet yield and the other from roll length plus a cut allowance. Which model a product uses is a configuration decision the calculation cannot infer.

Diagram of a custom-size pricing pipeline: dimensions, area and perimeter and validation lead to a pass or rejected decision, then yield and rounding. — Diagram of a custom-size pricing pipeline

What does a worked example look like?

Real numbers make the mechanism concrete without publishing a price list, so the example below uses a symbolic pricing unit, written pu, rather than any currency.

A wide-format shop sells rigid board signs from a stock sheet of 1220mm by 2440mm, priced at 0.04 pu per square centimetre of board, plus 0.02 pu per linear centimetre of cut edge, with a 45 pu order minimum and rounding to the nearest 0.50 pu.

A customer orders one sign at 850mm by 620mm.

Area

85cm × 62cm = 5,270 cm². Board cost: 5,270 × 0.04 = 210.80 pu.
Perimeter

2 × (85 + 62) = 294cm of cut edge. Cutting cost: 294 × 0.02 = 5.88 pu.
Subtotal

210.80 + 5.88 = 216.68 pu.
Yield check

The stock sheet yields four signs of this size per press sheet with normal layout waste, which the engine records for production but does not change the unit price in this pricing model.
Minimum

216.68 pu is above the 45 pu order minimum, so the minimum does not apply.
Rounding

Rounded to the nearest 0.50 pu: 216.50 pu.

Order a single 300mm by 300mm sign instead: area 900 cm² and perimeter 120cm give a subtotal of 38.40 pu, below the 45 pu minimum, so the minimum charge of 45.00 pu applies and is the amount shown.

Minimum and maximum dimension

Below the smallest size the press or cutter can register, or above the largest sheet or roll width the equipment takes, the order is rejected with the limit named.
Aspect ratio and area ceilings

Some equipment limits total area or an extreme aspect ratio even when both dimensions are within range, such as a very long, very narrow banner.
Unit and precision

A size is normalised to one unit and rounded to what the equipment can act on, such as the nearest millimetre, with the same defined rounding a browser or server applies to a number.
Standard size detection

A typed size matching an ISO 216 A-series sheet can route to a pre-validated price.

Rejection has to explain itself. "Width must be between 100mm and 1500mm for this stock" lets the customer correct the order; a blank error or a silently clamped value sends them to support.

How does W2P Solution by Netbase JSC handle custom sizes?

W2P Solution by Netbase JSC is a web-to-print platform for mid-market and enterprise print businesses, built on Laravel and its own print API. Its print price calculator prices each product from rules the merchant sets for options, quantities and sizes; the buyer sees the price update while choosing, and the order keeps the price accepted.

A typed width and height is where the standard calculator stops. Netbase JSC engineers the area, perimeter, yield, minimum and rounding stages above as an extension that runs beside the product core and is tested per store before each upgrade. The rule set is accepted against a regression suite of your own known-good quotes. Each store runs as its own instance with its own database, and its full data can be exported.

A custom dimension option with a price type and quantity-break fields ties the amount to the design area instead of a stored size.

Option settings form for a custom dimension with price type, quantity dependence and quantity break fields

How do the options compare for custom-size pricing?

How do the options compare for custom-size pricing?
Question	Packaged web-to-print SaaS or plugin	W2P Solution by Netbase JSC	Agency custom build
Who writes the size rules	You, inside the vendor's option screens	Netbase JSC, as a tested extension on your store	The agency, in code your team inherits
Shown price and charged price	Depends on the product	The order keeps the price the buyer accepted	As specified in the build
Upgrades	On the vendor's schedule	Managed; each extension is tested before the store upgrades	Your team's job
Leaving	Export depends on the vendor	Full store data export	You hold the code

Which businesses hit this hardest?

Wide-format and signage printers feel it first, because nearly every job is a custom size and roll yield, tiling and waste change the calculation; wide-format margin loss is the next boundary. Commercial and trade printers hit it on cut and folded sizes. Packaging and label businesses add die-line shapes to the validation.

What evidence stands behind this page?

Netbase JSC has delivered 50+ web-to-print platforms; as of 12 October 2026 its project records list 500+ custom web-to-print projects, for clients in 80+ countries as of 13 October 2026. The live web-to-print stores, such as a signage and display store in Singapore, are operated by their owners and use designer or print-option components Netbase JSC delivered. Delivery records cited on this site belong to Netbase JSC; where no delivered example of a capability is published, the page says so. No custom-size pricing engine delivered under the W2P Solution name is published as a case on this site.

Check whether this applies to your catalogue

Send a project brief with one product that takes a custom width and height, the stock's sheet or roll dimensions, your current minimum and rounding rule if one exists, and one size your team has had to quote by hand because the storefront could not. That is enough to show whether the fix is a rule set on the existing platform or a larger model change, of the kind covered in too many variants for real print products.

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Frequently asked questions

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Can a custom size ever be a stored variant?

No, not as a purchasable SKU, because the space of possible sizes is continuous. A storefront can still offer a short list of "standard" sizes as convenience variants alongside a custom-size calculator; the two coexist when the product model keeps them separate.

Does rounding favour the business or the customer?

That is a policy decision the business sets, commonly rounding up to the next increment so the calculated amount never undercuts the true cost. The rule is written down once and applied the same way to every quote.

What happens if a size does not fit any yield efficiently?

The engine still prices it, at a higher effective rate because more material is wasted; it refuses the order only when a hard limit, such as maximum sheet width, is breached.

Can Web2Print Solutions work with a print business in my country?

Yes. Web2Print Solutions delivers remote-first from Hanoi, Vietnam, and Netbase JSC has delivered web-to-print projects for clients in 80+ countries.

How do I contact Web2Print Solutions or request a consultation?

Send a project brief at /project-brief, email project@netbasejsc.com or message us on WhatsApp at +84 937 869 689. A senior engineer reads every brief and replies in writing.

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