Pricing of Wholesale/distributor

3257 Views 21 Replies 10 Participants Last post by impression4444, Jul 8, 2018

ParkSpy

Discussion Starter · Jun 25, 2018

Hello everyone,

I have been looking at a lot of wholesalers recently for t-shirt. I am getting more into and finally have the capital to do so. I have gone to some trade shows and found various manufacturers who sell the products I am interested in. I am pretty new to the wholesale world but have tried to figure out how most of it works but I have one huge problem… Prices to look out for.

I have gotten an account with a pretty large company who sells tons of brand name products and buys directly from the source. After all the paperwork, I was given a list after talking to one of my account managers and quickly realized the prices are very… meh. This isn’t a small company by any means and they require a 10k minimum order but when I did a lot more research on the products I was interested in, even at 10k the costs are ludicrous… I won’t give the company, for obvious reasons.

It took me a long long time of talking and getting to know them to get set up with them but an example of a product is 10k price minimum, product costs 40 dollars each and retails for 49.99.

The question I am wanting to ask is what are the typical prices you expect from your distributors for markup? In this example, this would be about 20 percent retail markup excluding shipping and any other fees… Going to discuss it further with them but what the average MSRP markup you look for from your distributor? 20%? 40%?60%? etc.

Thank you in advance.

1 - 20 of 22 Posts

splathead

· #2 · Jun 25, 2018

You're going to pay $40 for a t-shirt? Must be some shirt.

In general, t-shirt wholesaler/distributors don't mandate markups. Normal suggested is double the wholesale price.

impression4444

· #3 · Jun 25, 2018

Hello,

I can't wait to find out what the Canadian prices are for t-shirts. Because this will be yay or nay. Whatever the price is, the customer ends up with the final bill. Too expensive = no business.
I have a feeling that a lot of people will pay for design not for quality. I was looking for a chinese t-shirt with flag design - for a "joke" and I opted for the cheapest of cheapest.
I infer that quality might play with what you are printing.

P!erre!

lisapeakin

· #4 · Jun 25, 2018

Fortunately for the T-Shirt Company in the discussion, they are charging what their market will bear. Unfortunately, that is out of the price range for the average T-Shirt Reseller to markup. So my rule of thumb is to double the net price as well. That is normally what my market will bear!

NoXid

· #5 · Jun 25, 2018

Standard retail markup is 100%, from the point of view of the retailer. The distributor/printer as nothing to say about it ... as far as I know.

alvovsky

· #6 · Jun 25, 2018

Can someone recommend website and/or company who can buy at close out poly shirts and shorts.

Reactions: 1

splathead

· #7 · Jun 25, 2018

alvovsky said:
Can someone recommend website and/or company who can buy at close out poly shirts and shorts.

Try sanmar.com. They have a closeout section of their website with great deals sometimes.

Reactions: 1

TABOB

· #8 · Jun 25, 2018

Minimum of $10,000 is nothing. Big brands usually require around $100,000 minimum, and would probably still refuse selling to you. Big brands just don't want to risk their products ending up in a discounter's inventory. The reasons are obvious if you think about it.

Reactions: 1

impression4444

· #9 · Jun 26, 2018

...ouch...this thread is scaring me... Can I buy 100 tshirts from anywhere?

TABOB

· #10 · Jun 26, 2018

impression4444 said:
...ouch...this thread is scaring me... Can I buy 100 tshirts from anywhere?

No need to be scared... but you have to be reasonable.
Everybody want to jump on the bandwagon, but if it was so easy, everyone would be doing it.

Reactions: 1

binki

· #11 · Jun 27, 2018

This sounds more like a retail channel that a decorator channel. Basically SanMar, TSC, S&S, Bodek, etc will give an MSRP but you don't have to go by that. Now some brands you do have to sell at a specific price, it is in your contract. Those are typical retail brand items like Nike, 511, etc. Nobody is going to tell you what to sell a Gildan shirt for.

Reactions: 2

impression4444

· #12 · Jun 27, 2018

TABOB said:
No need to be scared... but you have to be reasonable.
Everybody want to jump on the bandwagon, but if it was so easy, everyone would be doing it.

...ok...but...still...can I buy 100 blank t-shirts to begin with?

TABOB

· #13 · Jun 27, 2018 (Edited)

@impression4444
Don't be lazy... check amazon. Plenty sold in packs of 10.

@binki
Generally speaking, the "brand name products", which is what ParkSpy has said, is referring to big retail brand items like Nike.
Gildan will not refuse selling to you, if you are willing to pay.

Reactions: 1

impression4444

· #14 · Jun 27, 2018

TABOB said:
@impression4444
Don't be lazy... check amazon. Plenty sold in packs of 10.

@binki
Generally speaking, the "brand name products", which is what ParkSpy has said, is referring to big retail brand items like Nike.
Gildan will not refuse selling to you, if you are willing to pay.

I'm not lazy at all, I just didn't get to this part of it yet - but, this thread scared me! I was going to think I'll just grab some shirts @ Wal-Mart!!!!
I can't buy 1000 shirts in the first day!!!!

splathead

· #15 · Jun 28, 2018

impression4444 said:
I'm not lazy at all, I just didn't get to this part of it yet - but, this thread scared me! I was going to think I'll just grab some shirts @ Wal-Mart!!!!
I can't buy 1000 shirts in the first day!!!!

The minimum shirt order at 99.99% of all wholesalers is 1.

Reactions: 1

impression4444

· #16 · Jun 28, 2018

splathead said:
The minimum shirt order at 99.99% of all wholesalers is 1.

Ok..oof...I was about to be discouraged...hahahahahaha!!!

TABOB

· #17 · Jun 29, 2018

splathead said:
The minimum shirt order at 99.99% of all wholesalers is 1.

Yeah... but at what price? You need to buy at least 1000 to get a good price. Just a $0.50 discount per shirt, means around $4,000 profit if you buy 8,000 shirts... which is what I buy during my production months.

Reactions: 1

splathead

· #18 · Jun 29, 2018

TABOB said:
Yeah... but at what price? You need to buy at least 1000 to get a good price. Just a $0.50 discount per shirt, means around $4,000 profit if you buy 8,000 shirts... which is what I buy during my production months.

Hey, great for you. But this wouldn't apply to someone like Impression who is just starting out.

Reactions: 1

TABOB

· #19 · Jun 29, 2018

splathead said:
Hey, great for you. But this wouldn't apply to someone like Impression who is just starting out.

Of course not, but impression4444 asked where to buy 100 shirts, and I did suggest buying from Amazon.

In this case also, paying $0.50 less per shirt, equals to a $50 more in your pocket. I'm sure that's a lot of money for somebody just starting out on a low budget.

Reactions: 1

and3008

· #20 · Jun 30, 2018

I like Sanmar and they have warehouses all over the United States. If you spend $200 - shipping is free. You can also get samples and can return them within 30 days for a refund.

Reactions: 1

1 - 20 of 22 Posts

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