Industrial sourcing · China to Europe

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Buyer guide · Packaging

Coding and marking machine from China

The printer is the cheap part of a coder: ink, solvent, wear parts and the code quality on your packaging decide what it costs to run and whether your customers accept the codes.

Ask about this machine ↗Where the numbers come from

Written and listings checked 30 September 2026. Every figure on this page names its source.

What you are actually comparing.

Two quotes, one machine name

What hides inside the price

Technology

CIJ prints on most surfaces with solvent ink. TIJ uses cartridges and suits porous or coated surfaces. Laser uses no ink but needs a surface that marks.

Ink source

Chipped cartridges or bottles can lock you to one ink supplier.

Print height and lines

Ask for both at your line speed.

Your substrate

Glass, film, coated carton and cold, wet packs each need a matched ink.

Data and verification

Where the date and batch come from, and whether a camera reads each code.

Before you ask for a price.

Send these with the enquiry. Without them, any number a factory gives you is a guess dressed as a quotation.

Packed samples of every substrate, at coding temperature.
The exact code: lines, characters, barcode or 2D code.
Line speed and the gap from head to pack.
Room conditions: cold, damp or dusty.
Where the code data comes from.

Turn the claim into a demonstration.

Require this	A pass looks like
Print your code on your pack at line speed.	Every character readable, and barcodes scan at your customer's grade.
Rub, wet and chill coded packs.	Codes stay readable after the tests you set.
Leave a CIJ coder off overnight, then start it.	It prints cleanly without a manual nozzle clean.

The documents that must arrive with it.

EU Declaration of Conformity naming 2014/35/EU and 2014/30/EU, and for a laser coder its class under EN 60825-1.
Manual with the consumables list and wear-part intervals.
Safety data sheets for every ink, solvent and cleaning fluid.

The one people forget. Safety data sheets in the language of the country of use. REACH, Regulation (EC) 1907/2006, requires them for hazardous mixtures, and solvent inks without them can be held.

When this is the wrong machine.

Buy something else if

Named, not hedged

The code can go on the label before it is applied.

A thermal transfer printer on the labelling machine.

You print large text or logos on shipping cases.

A large-character inkjet, not a small-character CIJ.

Where the numbers come from.

We name the kind of source, how many and when, and never the factory. Listed prices are asking prices, not landed cost. Where we do not hold a fact we say so: that is a GAP, not an estimate.

Listings · 9Nine listings for new CIJ coders, checked September 2026, asked US$1,299 to US$4,120; four listings for branded models resold, new or used, asked US$1,000 to US$5,000. These are asking prices, not landed cost.
Listings · 9Nine listings for online TIJ coders, checked September 2026, asked US$195 to US$8,000, most under US$500, with stated print heights of 12.7 mm or 25.4 mm.
Listings · 11Eleven listings for online laser coders, fibre, CO2 and UV, checked September 2026, asked US$1,350 to US$8,000.
GAPGAP - no supplier quotations logged for this machine yet. Three to five quotations for one configuration would give a real price spread.

Related machines.

Labeling machine. Choose it if the code can be printed on a label you already apply.
Checkweigher. Choose it beside the coder when every pack must also be weighed.

Every machine we source in this area is on the Packaging page. How a project runs, stage by stage, is on how it works, and what it costs is on pricing.

Straight answers

Questions buyers ask about this machine.

Chinese vs European coding and marking machine?+

Branded coders are also resold from China, new and used. Compare ink price, local service and wear-part cost.

What goes on the inspection checklist?+

Code content, legibility at speed, rub resistance, overnight start, laser guarding, ink supply terms.

What CE documentation does a coder need?+

A Declaration of Conformity under 2014/35/EU and 2014/30/EU. A laser adds EN 60825-1.

Does food law cover the ink on food packaging?+

Regulation (EC) 2023/2006 on good manufacturing practice covers printing inks on the side away from the food. Ask the ink maker for a statement for your use.

Contact

Tell us what you need.

Send a machine, a quotation you want checked, or a question. We reply with what we would look at first.