[hfscreenprinting]

Hello, ok so i am here again. I think i have been down this road too many times.

I have tried to get help on how to price my printing for years now. I have used different sheets and excel price sheets. I currently have one that i am using and have for a while now, it is simple. Just plug in the numbers and it gives a price based on markup i put, screen fees and so forth.

The trouble i have had was that it seemed i wasnt making enough profit or i was priced too high and wold turn alot of customers away.

Recently i have tried to talk with other print shops that have been in the industry for years to see if i could get some insight and possibly some direction and or help. None want to help, as bad as that sounds.

It all comes down to"whatever you want to charge" "based on your overhead" "What do you want to make"

I understand all of this, i have all my overhead numbers down and what i need to make monthly, daily etc to keep myself alive.

Does anyone know a simple way to help me. I have been doing this for a long time now and i feel as if this is the main reason that i havent been able to breakthrough and expand.

I have a few price sheets from online and they all seem to be in or around the competitors, from what i am quoting myself and to see how close my list is.

Some jobs i am competitive and some i am way under, some way over.

At this point i want to throw my press outside lol but i wont. I am hoping someone can help me and not the usual "its up to you" "Each shop is different" approach. I understand we dont want to give up our secrets, but i am sure there has to be a formula that we charge or go off to get a number.

Can someone help me?!

 

[bwmccall]

There are no magic numbers out there. If you know what your costs are, and you are good at production, you need to focus on getting jobs where quality and customer service are more important than price.

There will always be someone out there that is cheaper than you (for a bunch of different reasons), and if all you are looking at is price, you won't get anywhere.

Marketing, Marketing, Marketing, Make Sure You Follow Up and Perform.

 

[hfscreenprinting]

There are no magic numbers out there. If you know what your costs are, and you are good at production, you need to focus on getting jobs where quality and customer service are more important than price.

There will always be someone out there that is cheaper than you (for a bunch of different reasons), and if all you are looking at is price, you won't get anywhere.

Marketing, Marketing, Marketing, Make Sure You Follow Up and Perform.

i understand that, but my question is how do you price a shirt if there is no formula to price one? There has to be something where you calculate or figure out how to price your product and job, right?

 

[bwmccall]

"Some jobs i am competitive and some i am way under, some way over."

Are these equal jobs based on your cost to produce? Did you price them the same?

Is the problem your pricing or variations in other printer's pricing or your customer's expectations?


Without a bunch more information, I am going to stick with two points:

1) You seem to think that there is some magic information out there that you don't have.

2) 75% of customers fall into two categories:

Those that will fight a gorilla for a nickel.
Those that don't care about price, they just want what they want.

Find the second group of customers and quit fighting for nickels.

 

[Trnessinger]

There are so many factors as I am setting up quotes that you can’t use a pricing sheet really.

1. What blank does the customer want, this varies so greatly.
2. Quantity of shirts, I will discount at larger quantity.
3. Did they provide artwork or do I have to do all that work also, can be very time consuming.
4. What type of printing. This ties back to 2 also, I may not discount large a quantity dye sub, vinyl or DTG jobs as much as a screen print, but these are also better for lower run production.
5. Are they asking for specialty inks that I don’t usually use. A quart is more expensive per item than gallon, plus I can’t spread that cost across multiple jobs like a basic color.
6. How do they want to get the products; pickup, delivery, etc.
7. How soon do they want it, a rush job now has a few because I have to rearrange shop schedule or work extra time that I’m normally off to get it done.
8. Is this a repeat customer or order, I may reward loyalty or a repeat job is easy as many of the previous steps are done already.

This is why this is a custom business and we should treat it as such, there are still more factors I consider as a business person (equipment amortization, capital improvements for future, utilities, employees, insurance, etc.) Every job has to cover $xxx of overhead and administration, but the busier I become the less I charge these costs to each job.

The only way to get pricing to static like you want, you would have to print same designs on same blanks and just be a retail shop no customization.