[TheShirtBox]

So I just opened up a shop here in my town, and I am the only screen printer in the town, and the city came to me asking for a bid on these shirts for a camp. The shirts are a 3 color front, a one color sleeve, and a one color back. They are on light blue kids Gildan 5000B's and I came up with a quote of $10.32 per shirt in an order of 70 shirts. That is just all of my set up and everything added up and divided by 70, and I even gave them 2 free screens, and she said that last year she paid $4.13 and then $7.21 the year before that?

Do people give bids that are way lower than their usual prices to get the job? or should I just stick to my prices that I think are right? $10.32 does seem like a lot, BUT it's a 3 color, 3 location! So I think that they SHOULD be pretty expensive! Let me know what you think. Thank you.

 

[sjidohair]

This is a hard deal,, and i run into it every day,, bidding tees,, signs and banners and rhinestones,,,,
if my bid is something,, i get a response well we did them for $1.99 last year,,,,
I dont know where poeple get them that cheap,, but that is what we are up against,,,
I just got back from vegas,,,,
and i saw 5 tees for 10.00 all over the strip

 

[jayman2143]

Long sleeve or short sleeve?

For short sleeve shirts, you're much higher than what I would quote. I would charge $7.62 per shirt. Add in all the various charges here and there for a grand total of about $608.40 for the entire job before taxes, shipping, etc... That's just what I would quote it at.

For long sleeve shirts, you're still a little higher than me. I would charge $9.87 per shirt.

 

[TheShirtBox]

Yes, they are short sleeve kids Gildans.

Really?? Man, I priced it out by a price list that I have of a printing shop in Denver, which is like 10 miles from here, and it came out to be almost 12 dollars a shirt from them...

If you don't mind me asking, how do you deal with additional placements? Like what do you add to the printing cost when there are additional placements?

 

[Smckee21]

Nick, most shops will practically give these orders away because the logic is that you can get your foot in the door and possibly open up many more opportunities with this city in the future. I looked over my priceing for 70 shirts with 3 color imprints on 3 locations and I am at around $9.00 each as well. But it might be wise to see if you can do it a little chaeper, believe me the next order they have may be for more shirts and they may need them in a rush so you might not have to bid on it.

Steve

 

[jayman2143]

If you don't mind me asking, how do you deal with additional placements? Like what do you add to the printing cost when there are additional placements?

When there is more than one location involved, I add 25 cents to the per shirt cost. In this case, I was at $7.12 for a 3 color, 1 location print of 70 shirts. Two more additional locations (sleeve and back) and the final per shirt cost comes out to $7.62.

You say that you based your price off of another print shop. Why? My advice would be to produce your own price list. That will ensure that you will achieve your desired profit. Yes, use other print shops as a guide but make sure the prices meet YOUR needs.

 

[TheShirtBox]

Yeah, well we will see what they say when they get quotes from other places I guess...

I haven't based my prices off of another shop, but I made it looking at many different price lists from all over. But people are always told to compare their prices to other shops in the area rather than across the country. I just wanted to see if my price was really out there or what, but since a shop in Denver has a higher price on it, I don't think that my quote is THAT bad... But I suppose it's worth it to get the business...

 

[jayman2143]

But people are always told to compare their prices to other shops in the area rather than across the country. I just wanted to see if my price was really out there or what, but since a shop in Denver has a higher price on it, I don't think that my quote is THAT bad... But I suppose it's worth it to get the business...

For your area, your price might be right on the money. Every print shop will have somewhat different prices. Also, you are right when you say that you should compare your prices to other local print shops. If you are the only print shop in town and your quote is better than all the other shops, I have no doubt that you will get the job.

 

[Flagrant-T]

Your price seems a little high, but not much. I'd be somewhere between $8 & $9.

These bids really bring out the low ballers. I don't put much time into the small quantities anymore. I understand if there are 1000's of shirts with print ready artwork, but most of the time, these Cities want (and get) 1000 pc pricing for 50 shirts. Whoever quoted 3 locations, one with 3 colors for $4.13 could not have made any money on only 70 shirts. Don't get too upset if you loose these types of jobs. I like the jobs where you can sell your quality, delivery, service, artwork...etc.

Good luck!
Nick

 

[TheShirtBox]

I redid some pricing on some stuff to bring the price down as much as I was comfortable with down to $7.50 a shirt... she found some other company that would do them for $6.33.... So naturally she is going with them...

 

[TshirtGuru]

Bidding jobs from the city isn't fun or most of the time profitable. Someone is ALWAYS going to be cheaper than you.

Most of the time, cities already have their go to screen printers and ask new printers to quote a job so that if you quote lower then their current printers, they take that quote back to their go to screen printer and ask for a price match or have them beat that price.

I went through bidding on our local cities waterparks, police uniforms, firefighers, rec centers, the whole shabang! The quote was 40 pages long...

Of course they went with someone slightly cheaper. Whatever.

 

[TheShirtBox]

Man that stinks! I was really counting on the city being a big client of ours, because I don't have many customers as it is. But I guess if they're going to play that game I'll just let them do whatever they want.

 

[Flagrant-T]

Don't loose too much sleep over that one. I've always found those city bids to be kind of a waste of time because they just get rediculuously low prices. A lot of times, like someone mentioned before, they also seem like they are just collecting bids because they are required to get a certain number.

If I were you, I'd try to get some relationships with schools around your area. In the beginning I assumed Cities and Schools were similar, but I could not have been more wrong. Although schools are definitly "political", you can establish relationships, and there are a lot of clubs and teams that want quality/service/cool artwork etc over just some generic bid.

Good luck!
Nick

 

[TheShirtBox]

Hey I appreciate it Flagrant-T. I'm just trying to stay positive and motivated!!!