Discuss the wholesale blanks industry: Factory direct, custom labels. You can also use this forum to locate a wide variety of wholesale products including t-shirts, hoodies, mousepads, coffee mugs and other imprintable products.
I have been ordering a lot from TSC lately thinking they were a bit cheaper on blanks then my other source. I bought about $10k worth in the past month, but I decided to compare everything from Bodek today (I was using Bodek before TSC). Well I placed the same exact order from TSC and Bodek to compare and this is what I figured.
TSC lists prices cheaper PER garment, but their shipping is double the price of Bodek. Although Bodek and a little higher on garment price, they are half the price on shipping. So all in all, they are almost the same. I am guessing TSC is keeping half shipping costs in order to make up for their "cheaper" prices.
Doesn't bother me, just thought I'd share if you didn't know already.
Edit: I ordered $2k worth of blanks today from Bodek instead. (they were a little cheaper and faster in delievery time). Study your vendors!
Are the 2 suppliers in the same city or state? The fact Bodek shipments don't take as long to reach you indicates they don't have to ship as far which means cheaper shipping cost?
Are the 2 suppliers in the same city or state? The fact Bodek shipments don't take as long to reach you indicates they don't have to ship as far which means cheaper shipping cost?
Exactly.
If I order blanks with no relabeling, I get them from TSC the next day if I order before 5pm.
I've got accounts with several vendors, and the shipping prices are about the same for all of them because of where I'm located.
I highly urge you to verify your shipping. I am in the seattle area and there are 3 local "big" name suppliers here that I use. 2 are very close in price and shipping and the third gouges me, with not even close to the great pricing as the other two. It amazes me because the gouger to me is a bit bigger in name than the other two. I sent them an email complaint but alas it fell on deaf ears. What really frosts me is that each of these three companies have some special products that I really like, but I simply refuse to get the cool products from the price gouger because their shipping is highway robbery. In this thread the posters are talking in the thousands of dollars, and perhaps there I would be fine with all three, but in my case I am buying very few items at a time and the other companies will charge me $10 shipping but the other company quotes $19! So, verify all your prices and reverify every time
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I've noticed the same thing. TSC charges a 3.95 handling fee for every order you place with them. They also add a percentage to your order if you use a Credit Card or Debit Card. I use one of their warehouses in my state and it ends up coming out cheaper or on par with another supplier who's out of state. The funny thing is I have another supplier who's right down the road from me and they're an average of about $10-20 more even if I pick up from their warehouse.
Shipping is an interesting topic. I went to a class at ISS Long Beach last year, or the year before, and Greg Kitson had some interesting stuff to say about shipping which made me rethink it.
We have a couple suppliers that don't charge us any shipping at all on garments due to the volume we order, and many times they deliver on their own truck. If you're buying enough volume (10k a week is enough) you can pressure some vendors to give you free shipping on everything, or free shipping on orders over $200 or whatever.
Some of our other garment vendors ship to us on our UPS account. This way, we're sure to be charged the correct and consistent amount everytime. This has prove to save a little money.
I noticed the same situation with One Stop and Broder Bros in my area. It burns me when another business overcharges for shipping when they know that we know the actual rates as well as they do.
Some of our other garment vendors ship to us on our UPS account. This way, we're sure to be charged the correct and consistent amount everytime. This has prove to save a little money.
That's a pretty good idea. Do you call your orders in or can you place them online?
That's a pretty good idea. Do you call your orders in or can you place them online?
We email or fax PO's, but I'm sure that if you're calling in orders it would work too. This is something you can easily set up with your vendor sales rep. Just call them, give them your UPS account number, and ask them to ship all future orders to you on your account. Try it with one vendor first, then matriculate the others onto the system. I have found that the vendors are more than happy to do this because it's less work for them in the end...
Don't get me started on shipping! I live in a small town in Southeast Alaska. Shipping things here is a nightmare to say the least. It can be anywhere from 20-100% of the purchase price!!! Even if the vendor is offering free shipping to the rest of the US, on orders over X dollar amount, I still have to pay FULL price. How come, a factory in Seattle will send something to Florida for free, but I don't even get a discount??? Aaarrrggggg!!!!! Sometimes I have them ship to a friend down south to get "free" shipping, then have them turn around and send it up to me USPS. That way takes longer, but at least I get my discount! Finding vendors who are willing to send via USPS is near impossible.
Sorry, just had to vent about that.
I am just starting out and am having a hard time trying to figure my pricing. Like, do I charge a base price for the t-shirts, hoodies, long sleeves, ect. Then go form there, depending on service and qty? I can do vinyl, inkjet transfers, or order plastisol transfers for large orders. Also, I cater to both one time tourists and local repeat customers, in a retail gift shop. Should the blank shirts be priced to sell as is??? My husband says no, but I cant justify having other clothing for sale, but saying no to someone who just wants a plain white t-shirt.
seems to me a business can charge what ever they want for shipping no matter what ups or fed ex or us mail charges. it is up to you if you want to pay it or not
When I ship an order I charge flat fees. never just what it cost me to actually ship it. I buy bags to put everything in. shipping bags and it takes my gas and time to take the order to fed ex. Why should I have to eat those cost? they get passed on to the person buying.
TSC Apparel Overcharges for Shipping 
