[TeeShirtSamurai]

I'm working on figuring out the best prices for my shirts right now. In determining price I've seen that quite a few shirt sites tack on $1 or $2 for ordering an XXL. When you go to order and pick the shirt size from the drop down you can see it there: XXL (Add $2).

I was wondering how many of you also do this. I definitely think it's justifiable as anyone who has purchased shirts before knows that the XXL is usually a higher price than the M-XL.

Although passing this fee on to your customer may be justifiable doesn't mean it's a best practice. I can see how this would help you recoup your cost on XXL's but on the other hand I wonder if people would be turned off by this. I doubt a lot of people would refuse to order the shirt because of an extra dollar or two but I could also see losing a small percentage of sales because of that.

Those of you that have been at this a while, what are your thoughts?

 

[Rodney]

I think that customers buying XXL are used to paying a bit extra because so many sites do it and there is an actual extra cost associated with the larger shirts (from the manufacturer).

I think it's find to add $1.75-$2.00 for an XXL.

Like I always say though...it depends

For example: If your market is specifically for larger sizes (as in the case of fatguyshirts.com), you can sort of stand out by NOT charging the "normal" upcharge as an added selling point for your demographic.

 

[revperrin]

We add $2.00 we have too.

 

[Comin'OutSwingin]

We add $2.00 we have too.

I'm curious. Why?

I never have. I won't do it online either. Most of my sales are 2XL anyway, so I don't want to charge the majority of my customers extra for buying.

But like Rodney says, it depends. One of the factors, I think is your market. My market is urban wear. Just a quick look at a couple of urban wear companies online (Roca Wear, G-Unit, Dr. Jays), none of them charge extra for bigger sizes.

 

[revperrin]

I dont get case pricing yet since I order what I need. The price on white dont jump to bad but colors do so I price them higher to earn the same as I do for the smaller shirts.

 

[badalou]

Yep $1. for 2x $2. for 3x I have it on my price sheet and customers know it in advance. I was in retail trade for 30 years and we always charged extra for larger sizes.

 

[triplebtees]

I only sale on ebay, and i do not add anything to the XXL's, i figured what the heck, i make a little less on those, but when you have to list it at a higher price, so ebay gets more $$$ and so does paypal. So at this point, i just make it easy for everyone.

 

[TeeShirtSamurai]

Thanks a lot for the responses. You've helped me make a decision.

 

[Comin'OutSwingin]

You gonna keep us in the dark? C'mon, spill it...what did you decide?

 

[TeeShirtSamurai]

You gonna keep us in the dark? C'mon, spill it...what did you decide?

Oh, I decided to add $2 for the XXL shirts.

The reasons for this was:

1. Based on the responses it's reasonable, an accepted practice and sometimes expected by the customer.

2. Rodney has multiple sites, knows a lot about the business and is successful so him saying it's fine to do (for my market) says a lot.

3. Badalou has loads of real-world experience and is a veteran of the industry. His word also means a lot to me.

4. I'm not in the urban market so an over-sized t-shirt is not expected and looking at a lot of the sites I aspire to be like they do this also. If it wasn't working for them or was hurting their sales (which I'm sure they've looked into) they wouldn't do it.

There are a lot more reasons and benefits to practice this than not (at least for my situation).

 

[Comin'OutSwingin]

Thanks...sounds well-thought-out!

 

[Rodney]

I'm not in the urban market so an over-sized t-shirt is not expected and looking at a lot of the sites I aspire to be like they do this also. If it wasn't working for them or was hurting their sales (which I'm sure they've looked into) they wouldn't do it.

This is a good point too. I used to go by the rule "What would amazon.com do" when I was trying to setup my websites. Meaning, they have the big bucks to do usability tests, check analytics to see what is working and what isn't, etc. If something wasn't working on their site or costing them sales, they wouldn't do it. When trying to succeed, it doesn't hurt to emulate those that are successful in their niche.

So in this case, you could say "what would cafepress do" or "what would threadless do". Or as Greg did "what would Roca Wear, G-Unit, FTKOnline do" (since that was closer to his market).

 

[revperrin]

When trying to succeed, it doesn't hurt to emulate those that are successful in their niche.
).

I agree if it is a good template , why re-invent the wheel. They paid for the studies to get better we can just watch what they do and tweek it to fit our site.

 

[gaseousclay]

I don't think charging extra for 2X (larger sizes) is unreasonable....you're simply passing on the cost to the customer. the question is, how much of the cost do you pass on? $1.50? $2?

 

[Solmu]

I think a buck or two makes sense. More doesn't. Medium amounts ($0.75, $1.50) look odd. Same rules as any other retail pricing basically.

 

[Moo Spot Prints]

I think a buck or two makes sense. More doesn't. Medium amounts ($0.75, $1.50) look odd. Same rules as any other retail pricing basically.

As opposed to the nice round number of $2.39 for shipping?

If you think you need to charge it, charge it. It's pretty common and not many people will be put off.

We charge $2 extra for XXL on online sales but when we sell at an event we don't charge anything extra. It makes our lives easier when doing the math. We usually emphasize that we don't charge extra when talking to bigger customers and they often end up buying two shirt instead of just one just because of that. Sweeet!

If I had bigguyshirts.com or something like that, I would tack on a surcharge for smaller sizes. You're not going to lose anything as your primary customers will be buying big shirts. They will probably appreciate it that they aren't the ones paying extra for just being who they are.