Looking for a good website to have my designgs put on heat transfers.
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Looking for a good website to have my designgs put on heat transfers.
Looking for a good website to have my designgs put on heat transfers.
Im new to heat transfers. im looking to have my designs printed on heat transfers so i can heat press them myself. Im starting my own brand from scratch which means im short on money as of now. Im looking to pay a reasonable price. Your help will be apreciated Thank you.
There are plenty of threads where everyone argues their favorite is the best. Most of the companies you read about will produce excellent quality, the real divider is the price and turnaround time. I can tell you in a nutshell who is least expensive. These are based on an average of several types of jobs, from least expensive...
First Edition
F&M
Dowling
Howard*
Ace*
Universal
Quick Trans*
Versatranz
Everyone else is way more expensive. * means they charge extra for gang sheets.
There are a few I didn't mention because they are absurdly expensive and TE is the most expensive of them all. But yeah there is also KE Motographics, ENV studios, Transfer Express and several more whom I can't remember off the top of my head.
There is also the matter of turnaround, some places turnaround your order in a few days and others a few weeks. Some are more competent taking orders through email and the web while others seem to still be working out the kinks. The gang sheet pricing is important because if you get a small image printed, the gang sheet surcharge that some companies charge can double or triple the cost which is bs because they're doubtless ganging them anyway.
Re: Looking for a good website to have my designgs put on heat transfers.
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There are a few I didn't mention because they are absurdly expensive and TE is the most expensive of them all. But yeah there is also KE Motographics, ENV studios, Transfer Express and several more whom I can't remember off the top of my head.
Hello all....
The above quote was the previous post from wormil. Sorry, new to the posting tools here...
Wormil, I appreciate the insight regarding which ones are "gang-pricing" friendly. I was just going to go with Ace but may need to shop around some first. Are you basing your supplier preferences upon first-hand experiences?
FYI, here is a link to an on-line magazine focusing on heat transfer. It has a variety of good newbie-oriented articles, specifically a directory (pg.20) of on-line places that make heat transfers.
I was considering making my own plastisol transfers. I have a small 4 color press but without having a proper oven to get the partial-cure, buying ganged from a supplier seems best for now, maybe always, we'll see how the numbers crunch. Later....
Re: Looking for a good website to have my designgs put on heat transfers.
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Originally Posted by Raymee
Wormil, I appreciate the insight regarding which ones are "gang-pricing" friendly. I was just going to go with Ace but may need to shop around some first. Are you basing your supplier preferences upon first-hand experiences?
I made a spreadsheet with a half dozen sample jobs priced from different transfer makers. The jobs were 1,2,& 3 color jobs in a variety of quantities. I tried to be as efficient as possible, so if my sample order was for 24 transfers and a particular company gave breaks at 25, I priced 25 transfers at the lower price. In some cases the company's minimum order was higher than my sample, in which case I used the minimum order quantity.
There are more considerations besides price, such as turnaround time, service, hand holding, whether the company is efficient accepting orders through the internet... The one thing that varies the least is quality. While there were some differences in print, the differences were negligible for my needs.
In the end, I chose a company that doesn't charge for gang images, has a three day turnaround and is among the lowest priced offerings. Charging for gang sheets is in my opinion, a rip off and I would not use those companies under normal circumstance. There is one company often recommended on the forum that becomes very, very, expensive if you gang images. I have read it justified by breaking the price down per transfer... saying the transfer is 75 cents makes it sound better until you consider that you could have paid 35 cents for the same quality and turnaround. Money saved is money in my pocket.
I recommend ordering samples and price sheets from all of them and doing your own comparisons. Sit down and consider what is really important to you... can you live with a company that is somewhat impersonal and businesslike or are you willing to pay more for a more for a warmer, friendlier, relationship?
Re: Looking for a good website to have my designgs put on heat transfers.
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Originally Posted by wormil
In the end, I chose a company that doesn't charge for gang images, has a three day turnaround and is among the lowest priced offerings.
Come on man, don't be so secretive. Spill the beans. Who is it?
I agree with you on gang surcharging. To me, it's their way of saying 'well, we are making less money from you because you are ganging images, so we are going to stick it to you another way'.
I don't do business with any of them that surcharge gangs either.
One of them had the nerve to tell me that they charged more because ganging multi colored transfers were harder to register than a multi colored single image. Can you believe that! I guess they think their customers are stupid.
Re: Looking for a good website to have my designgs put on heat transfers.
Rick,
Thanks for the reply. I agree, it's all about how the bottom line matches up to my particular requirements.
I started a matrix yesterday, based on that list of suppliers from the magazine and noting your input.
The ideal price is per screen transfer. They are not making less money on a ganged print, this is just an attempt to horn-in on the percieved end profit, that being my profit. One print is just that, the squeege pulled only once. If I pay for 24 prints and that print happens to be some number of the same little design or slogan that I intend to seperate, that's my business.
I will not be rewarding suppliers who charge higher for ganged designs with any business. It sort of makes me extra determined to get a small oven, GDI that I be.
Re: Looking for a good website to have my designgs put on heat transfers.
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Originally Posted by splathead
Come on man, don't be so secretive. Spill the beans. Who is it?
Oh, sorry. I use F&M. If turnaround wasn't an issue I would probably use Dowling. I'll probably use Universal for digital transfers but my only order to date for those was canceled. Universal has great prices on single color transfers but their pricing is all over the place on multi-color transfers, sometimes cheap, sometimes sky-high. Versatranz looks like a good company to work with if you can afford their higher prices.
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Originally Posted by splathead
I don't do business with any of them that surcharge gangs either.
One of them had the nerve to tell me that they charged more because ganging multi colored transfers were harder to register than a multi colored single image. Can you believe that! I guess they think their customers are stupid.
After thinking about it, I'm guessing they want to gang your image with a larger print run and customer ganging prevents them from doing that so they lose some cost savings. I can appreciate their position since I gang images to save myself money but saving money is icing on the cake; but I don't penalize my customers when I can't do it.
Looking for a good website to have my designgs put on heat transfers. 
Re: Looking for a good website to have my designgs put on heat transfers. 
