Newbie pricing question

378 Views 4 Replies 2 Participants Last post by synsayshun, Feb 27, 2014

synsayshun

Discussion Starter · Feb 27, 2014

This is my first post and let me say…. You guys Rock!

I’m new in the business and produce low volume sales in custom heat transfer shirts. I basically don’t feel bad selling shirts to folks for $20-$25 bucks…. But now I get interest from an organization that is looking for 30 to 50 shirts. Next thing I know I’ll be looking at request for 100 to 500 or more for schools or non profit organizations.

So now I need to rethink my pricing for larger orders. My thinking is that I should make my rock bottom price my cost X2. Then some sort of sliding scale between those 1-shirt sales vs. that 500-shirt sale. I think this pricing thing is the toughest part of business. Any comments or ideas out there?

Thanks.... and as I said before....You guys Rock! I have really enjoyed browsing the t-shirtforums post.

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BidGuru

· #2 · Feb 27, 2014

Welcome to the shirt world!
There are lots of ways to get your pricing.

Check what your local competition is charging, Look online and see other price lists, figure your own costs and markups.
There really is not "exact" price for every company, depending on your costs, production times and how much you want to mark items up.

I think the trick is to get 60-75% of all the bids you send out.
If you get more than 75% you might be charging too little (and maybe not making any money), and if you get less than 50% of your bids, you might be charging too much.

And the price you charge needs to take into account how you are making the shirts, direct printing, transfers, D2G, or whatever.

I can give you some averages prices, but to make sure you get the right prices in your bid, you need to know the item, color of item (darks cost more) how many sides to be printed, and what the size of the run is.
Lots of info.

I hope this helps
Steve

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synsayshun

Discussion Starter · #3 · Feb 27, 2014

Thanks Steve for your reply... I would be interested in seeing the average prices list you mentioned. I'm printing transfers on an Epson printer onto Jet ProSS paper. T shirts requested for this quote are white, 100% cotton. Pretty basic large logo on front. They also want quote on white Polo shirts with a small logo on the left breast. Quant of 30 to 50 at this point. Any help is appreciated. The numbers I worked up on this quote with a quant of 50 t shirts is $11.50 and Polo is $13.50. Both inexpensive Jersee 100% cotton. I have know idea if that is over or under where I should be??? AS I am used to selling a higher price item this all scares the hell out of me??

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BidGuru

· #4 · Feb 27, 2014

You are going to print transfers on a computer printer and ironing them on? Or do you buy custom iron ons online?
I can give you my prices and what the averages are, but screen printing is different than transfers.
You can break a bid price down to a few parts

+ The shirts + Markups (you can markup shirts from 100% down to 30%) Up to you.
+ Decorations, how much does it cost for the process, (this is your real cost) + markups
You need to make money on the materials
+ Time to do the shirts ( hourly rates ) Time studies are important to get an accurate price per shirt
+ Commission and overhead - even if you don't have a salesperson, other than yourself, this is paying you!
= total

the prices I can give you would be for screen printing, which does not match iron-on prices.
You can print full color, where screen printing charges for each color.
Do you know how much you want to make on the transfers, without the shirts?

Just shirt prices for white, 100% cotton nice shirts,
24 - 4.35,
36 - 4.15
48 - 3.75
75 - 3.25
100 - 2.80

Then you need to add the iron-on cost and them to decorate them.
Hope this helps.
Steve

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synsayshun

Discussion Starter · #5 · Feb 27, 2014

To answer your question.. I will be printing the transfers and I do have a 16x20 heat press.

Well Steve.. You have been very informative and helpful. And I appreciate that. It may be that when it comes to the larger orders I should become more of a broker than a printer. Farm out large jobs and take what would be sort of a commission on the sale. It’s clear that a silk screener can do much better on the larger orders.

In the mean time I am going to send my quote to my customer as is and see if I fall into that 60% to 75% win category or that 50% lost category. Won’t know until I try I guess.

Thanks again… off to print a couple of sample shirts and keep my fingers crossed that all goes well..

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