By Wayne • 20 Aug, 2026
Two identical poly bags of the same product, side by side. One is sealed with a plain staple. The other has a branded header card folded over the top, logo facing out, product name and a QR code sitting neatly below it. Ask any retailer which one sells faster off a shelf, or gets a better reaction in an unboxing video, and you already know the answer.
Header cards (also known as bag toppers, topper cards or seal toppers) are one of those products that punch well above their price. They're not flashy. They're not expensive. But they turn a bag of stock from something you'd find loose at a market into something that looks like it belongs on a shelf at a boutique.
What a header card actually does
A header card is a folded piece of card stock that seals over the open end of a poly or cello bag, usually secured with a staple, glue dot or heat seal. Functionally, it does the job a twist tie or a bit of sticky tape used to do – it keeps the bag closed and stops product spilling out in transit. But because it's printed, it also does a second job: it's free real estate for your logo, your product name, ingredients or care instructions, a barcode, a QR code, or a "handmade in Newcastle" line that a plain bag could never carry.
That combination – functional seal plus branding surface – is why you'll see them everywhere once you start looking. Bakeries use them on bagged biscuits and lollies. Candle makers and soap sellers use them on cello bags. Online fashion sellers fold them over satchels of jewellery or accessories. Market stallholders use them to turn a $2 bag of fudge into something a customer photographs before they've even opened it.
Getting the specs right
This is where a lot of businesses either overspend or underspend, so it's worth getting a few decisions right before you order.
1. Card weight.
Go too light and the card feels flimsy, tears at the hole, and doesn't hold its shape once it's been through a courier bag. Go too heavy and you're paying for stiffness your product doesn't need.
Inteliprint offers header card stock in gloss, satin, or Zenith satin board – gloss makes colour pop under retail lighting, satin gives a smoother, less reflective finish that reads a touch more premium, and Zenith satin board is the heavier of the three, worth considering if the card's carrying weight on a peg hook or needs extra rigidity to stay flat in transit. As a rough guide, a 350gsm gloss or satin stock handles most retail applications comfortably; if you're hanging heavier items, the Zenith board is worth the small extra cost – it's cheaper than replacing stock that's fallen off a display..
2. Size.
Header cards for retail typically run from around 60x60mm up to roughly 230x60mm once folded and creased, but the right size depends entirely on what you're bagging. A card that's too small looks like an afterthought; one that's oversized dwarfs the product and wastes card.
If your product range comes in a few different bag sizes, it's worth checking Inteliprint's Header Cards page for the standard size options, or asking about a custom size if none of the standard cuts quite fit.
3. Hanger style.
If the bag is going on a slatwall hook or a peghook display, you've got two main options: a sombrero-style slot, which fits universal retail pegs, or a simple round punch hole (commonly 8mm) for single-wire hooks. If the product's going straight onto a shelf or into a mailer rather than a hook, you may not need a hanger hole at all – just a clean fold and staple.
4. Finish.
A matt, gloss or velvet celloglaze finish on one or both sides changes how the card feels and photographs. Matt tends to read as premium and doesn't show fingerprints; gloss makes colour pop under retail lighting; velvet is the one people can't help touching, which isn't a bad thing when the goal is to make someone linger at your display.
If you're printing double-sided, it's worth putting your logo and hero colours on the front and the practical stuff – ingredients, care instructions, a website URL – on the back.
5. Single design or multiple.
If you sell six flavours of the same product, six colours of the same accessory, or a range of scents, you don't need six separate print jobs. Multi-design print runs (Inteliprint can run up to 30 different designs within the one order) let you keep a consistent card format while giving each variant its own colour or label, without the setup cost of ordering each one separately.
Not ready to brief a designer? Start with a template.
If you'd rather not build a header card layout from a blank page, Inteliprint has free, ready-to-edit Canva templates sized specifically for header cards – you'll find them under the Templates tab on the Header Cards product page. Drop in your logo, swap the colours to match your brand, and the sizing and bleed are already sorted for you, so what you export is print-ready without any back-and-forth on file setup.
Where they earn their keep
The obvious use case is retail shelf and peg displays, but header cards do quiet work in a few other spots too.
For online and e-commerce sellers, a header card folded over a satchel or bag turns a generic parcel into a branded unboxing moment – the kind of detail that ends up in a customer's Instagram story for free.
For food and beverage businesses, a card doubles as your ingredients and allergen label, which you're often legally required to display anyway, so it's not an added cost, just a better-looking way to meet a requirement you already had.
For market stalls and pop-ups, where you don't have shelving or a shopfront to do the branding for you, the card is your signage – it's often the only thing telling a browsing customer who you are and what's in the bag.
Ordering without the guesswork
If your artwork isn't quite print-ready, that's not a dealbreaker – Inteliprint offers advice and assistance to get files sorted before they go to print, and standard turnaround from print-ready artwork is five business days (orders placed by 10am on a business day).
If you're not ready to finalise artwork but want to lock in your production slot, you can place the order now and upload files later.
For the full range of stocks, sizes and finishes, have a look at the our Header Cards page – it's the fastest way to see current specs and get pricing for your quantity.
And if header cards are the first point-of-sale product you're adding to your packaging, it's worth browsing Inteliprint's other retail and POS printing options while you're there – a header card looks even better next to a matching swing tag or shelf talker.
Ready to get a quote or talk through your specs? Get in touch with the our team on 02 4962 5960, email sales@inteliprint.com.au, or head to the Contact Us page – we're happy to help you land on the right stock, size and finish before you commit to a print run.
