Zebra 104523-130 Red 30 Mil PVC ID Cards – 500-Count Box
Overview
The Zebra 104523-130 is a 500-card box of 30 mil red PVC cards, produced under Zebra's Card Media division and designed for use in Zebra card printers across access control, visitor management, and workforce ID programs. If your deployment calls for color-coded badging — separating contractor badges from employee badges, or distinguishing temporary visitors from permanent staff at a glance — this is a straightforward way to build that differentiation into the physical credential without relying solely on printed graphics. The 104523-130 (often searched as 104523 130) ships in a pre-counted 500-card box, giving you a clean reorder quantity for high-volume badge programs.
Zebra's card media line is engineered to run through Zebra's own retransfer and direct-to-card printers, which means you get consistent feed behavior, predictable ribbon adhesion, and color output that matches what Zebra's color profiles expect. Using off-spec cards in a Zebra printer is a common source of ribbon wrinkle, misfeeds, and color-shift complaints — specifying genuine Zebra card media eliminates that variable from your support queue.
Key Features
- 30 Mil Card Thickness: CR80 30 mil is the standard ISO 7810 ID-1 thickness — the same profile as a credit card. This ensures reliable feeding through card printer input hoppers without shimming or manual adjustment. Thinner cards (20 mil) tend to jam in hoppers calibrated for 30 mil; mismatching thickness is a silent source of printer downtime.
- Red PVC Stock: The saturated red base layer provides immediate visual differentiation in a badging program without any additional print overlay. In access control environments where staff need to confirm badge color at a distance, a red card reads faster than reading printed text or a small colored stripe.
- PVC Material: Standard PVC card stock is compatible with dye-sublimation and retransfer print processes, accepts ribbon dye cleanly across the card surface, and holds up to normal ID badge handling — clip wear, wallet carry, proximity reader contact. It is not rated for harsh chemical or UV exposure; for those environments, consider laminate overlaminates or composite card stock instead.
- 500 Cards Per Box: A single box covers a mid-size initial deployment or a full reorder cycle for an active visitor management desk. For enterprise-scale programs issuing hundreds of badges per month, ordering by the box keeps per-card cost predictable and inventory simple.
- US-Manufactured: Country of origin is listed as the United States, which matters for TAA-sensitive deployments (federal facilities, GSA schedule contracts, and certain state government programs that require domestic-sourced credentials).
- Genuine Zebra Card Media: Sourced factory-new through the card printer media supply channel, not grey-market or parallel import. Printer warranties and support agreements often distinguish between genuine and third-party media — using genuine stock keeps that coverage intact.
Integration & Compatibility
The 104523-130 is intended for use with Zebra card printers that accept CR80 30 mil PVC card stock. This covers the broad ZC, ZXP, and ZC300/ZC500 series direct-to-card printers, as well as retransfer models in the ZXP Series 8 and ZXP Series 9 lines. Always confirm your specific printer model's media guide before ordering at volume — some retransfer printers have minimum or maximum thickness requirements that differ from direct-to-card models.
For access control badge programs running HID, Allegion, or ASSA ABLOY proximity or smart card encoding, verify that your encoding station accepts blank PVC stock in the same 30 mil thickness — most do, but combo printer-encoders with inline encoding modules sometimes specify a tighter tolerance. These cards are blank PVC only; they do not include embedded RFID, magnetic stripe, or smart card chip. If your program requires encoded credentials, you will need to specify the appropriate Zebra card media SKU with the required encoding technology built in.
Visitor management platforms (Envoy, Proxyclick, Lenel OnGuard badge printing integrations) that drive Zebra card printers via CUPS or Zebra's ZMotif SDK will print to these cards identically to any other 30 mil PVC input — the color-coded stock is transparent to the driver. Color coding is enforced at the physical card level, not the software level, which is exactly the point: the red card communicates badge type even when the printer software has no awareness of it. See the ID badge systems category for compatible printers and accessories.
What's in the Box
- 500x Zebra 30 mil red PVC CR80 cards
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What card printers are compatible with the Zebra 104523-130?
A: The 104523-130 is 30 mil CR80 PVC card stock, which is the standard thickness accepted by most Zebra direct-to-card and retransfer card printers, including the ZC, ZXP, and ZC300/ZC500 series. Confirm your specific printer model's media specification before ordering at volume, as retransfer printers sometimes have tighter thickness tolerances than direct-to-card models.
Q: Do the 104523-130 cards include magnetic stripe, RFID, or smart card encoding?
A: No. These are blank PVC cards only. No magnetic stripe, RFID antenna, or smart card chip is embedded. If your access control or ID program requires encoded credentials, you will need a Zebra card media SKU that specifies the required encoding technology.
Q: Are these cards TAA-compliant for federal or government badging programs?
A: The country of origin is listed as the United States, which is a relevant factor for TAA-sensitive procurement. For formal TAA compliance determination on a specific contract, verify against your contracting officer's requirements — domestic origin is a necessary but not always sufficient condition depending on the contract vehicle.
Q: How many cards are in a box of the 104523-130?
A: Each box contains 500 cards.
Q: Will the red card color affect print quality or ribbon adhesion?
A: The red base color will influence how light-colored prints appear on the card surface — for example, a yellow printed element over a red base will shift toward orange. Dark colors and black printing are not meaningfully affected. If full-bleed white or light-background designs are required, a white PVC card base is the appropriate choice. For color-coded programs where the red base is intentional, this is expected behavior, not a defect.
The 104523-130 is one of those consumable line items that looks trivial until a color-coding scheme breaks down in the field — and when it does, it's usually because someone sourced off-brand card stock that feeds inconsistently or prints with visible color-shift. The 30 mil PVC spec here is the standard CR80 ISO thickness, and specifying genuine Zebra card media means your printer's feed calibration, ribbon tension, and color profiles are all working from the same baseline Zebra validated during printer development.
Technical Highlights:
- 30 Mil PVC Thickness: Matches the feed tolerances of Zebra's ZC, ZXP, and ZC300/ZC500 series printers exactly. Mixing 20 mil cards into a 30 mil hopper causes intermittent double-feeds — a subtle problem that takes time to diagnose if you don't suspect media thickness as the cause.
- Red Base Stock: Delivers badge-type differentiation without relying on a printed color band that can fade or wear. In high-throughput visitor management environments, staff visual confirmation of a red visitor badge is faster and more reliable than checking a printed text field.
- 500-Count Box, US Origin: Clean reorder unit for programs issuing 50–200 badges per month, with US manufacture on record for TAA-sensitive contracts at government facilities or cleared sites.
Deployment Considerations:
- These are blank PVC stock — no encoding of any kind. If your access control system requires HID or MIFARE credential encoding, you need a different SKU with the appropriate chip or antenna embedded. Ordering blank stock for an encoded-credential program is a common and costly mistake on initial procurement.
- The red base will shift light print colors — yellow designs go orange, light blue goes purple. Run a test print on a few cards before committing to a full badge design that relies on accurate light-color rendering over the red base.
This is the right call for facilities running a tiered badge program — contractor red, visitor blue, employee white — where the color coding needs to survive without relying on staff reading small printed labels. Government lobbies, corporate campuses, and healthcare visitor check-in desks are the typical deployment scenarios where the 104523-130 earns its place in the supply chain.
