Basic question - Which ink for transfers?

[DREAMGLASS]

I really cannot believe people on this forum would sell garments that wouldn't last more than 3 - 5 washes. This is why I suggested that this forum should be a membership ran forum - the beer money brigade are asking the same questions again

Sorry John, but that sounds more like an exclusion of people that have different perspectives on running a business. Quite how making them write an intro and reading some FAQ's would ever change their philosphy about doing things on the cheap is beyond me?

For example, on several places on my own sites, it clearly states that I don't accept cheques, but I still end up having to shed the occaisional cheque from people that choose not to read; likewise on my eBay shop it clearly states I don't accept returns for incorrectly ordered sizes as the items are made to order but I still get the odd request, even though it states in three seperate places that I don't. Therein lies the whole problem, many people simply don't READ what is put in front of them, or they choose to ignore it to suit their own purpose.

Folks will continue to ask questions about 'doing things on the cheap' on this and other forums, which will always continue to annoy people with higher production standards, but print onto tees and sublimation items is always going to attract the quick buck merchants due to its low set up costs. Lets face it, most people have an iron and an inkjet printer. A few cheap transfers from an office supplier and they are ready to have a disruptive and damaging effect on the industry.

[AdamB]

And still .............. you're not getting the point!

You refer to your own site and that people 'still use cheques' - but you don't know how many people 'were' going to use a cheque but after reading the text they didn't!

This won't solve the problem - but help!

[John G]

People can run their businesses anyway they choose!
I'm not getting at business men/women - what i'm getting at is we are helping people that do this for pocket/beer money who are offering inferior items. They have no overheads and don't pay taxes so they can undercut anyone that runs a legal business that does pay taxes. Due to the cheap prices being peddled by the cowboys out there, just about giving the stuff away, they are devaluing the product and in turn will wreck the chances of anybody else selling a decent item at a fair price.

It may be beyond you but if we had stickies with FAQ we might not be getting the same old questions asked again and again. If we had paid for membership we wouldn't be having this debate as people that pay for something tend to do their homework and take the business a bit more serious.

Cheers John

[DREAMGLASS]

No Adam YOU'RE the one not getting the point.

At the moment this is an OPEN forum, to which anyone can contribute ONCE they have registered as a member of this site. I'm not sure whether Justin still manually approves new members, or whether it is an automated process with the new forum software. Nobody can post on this site WITHOUT first being registered though.

You can go on ANY forum and see the same questions repeatedly asked, as very few people appear to actually bother with doing a search first, to see if their question has been brought up before. This site also has a search facility, but if people choose not to use it and keep asking the same questions then how would you propose altering that? You can have a bright red heading for when people post a new thread suggesting they search the forums first, but very few people probably would?

There are many subjects that get brought up on here repeatedly. People wanting to report vendors selling inks that don't come from a particular manufacturer, people wanting to report traders selling 'copyright' merchandise, people slurring machinery because it comes from another country. Would I want to join a CLOSED forum to listen to that endless drivel based on jealousy and envy - no I wouldn't.

The saving grace for this forum other than it is open to everyone, is that unlike other subli sites it is UK based and more relevant to sellers in this part of the world. Start talking about making it closed in any way because you don't like the way that others do business and you really start to lose the plot of what an open forum is all about.

[DREAMGLASS]

It may be beyond you but if we had stickies with FAQ we might not be getting the same old questions asked again and again. If we had paid for membership we wouldn't be having this debate as people that pay for something tend to do their homework and take the business a bit more serious.

Rather than bitching about what everyone else is doing (or isn't) a lot of folks would do better to concentrate on what they are doing with their own enterprises. You differentiate your products from those of your competitors by offering a better product or service. There are always going to be those that attempt to undercut you in any business, if they want to be the 'busy fools' working for next to nothing, then let them.

As regards paid membership, that would only really ever work if you had some benefit to members, such as a discount arrangement with certain suppliers, or a group insurance scheme to cover small businesses.

[AdamB]

You know what Dreamglass, I don't think I'll bother commenting on this anymore after this. I'd rather not go tit for tat in what is now turning into a (yet again) disection of posts with quotes.

If only you realised that I am merely offering some advise as help for the forum (my opinion) - whether it works or not is not for you or I to decide as we'll never know (unless someone comments that they found a particular FAQ useful). I won't say it's the right thing to do or the wrong thing to do but I am suggesting something that may help (or may not).

I could go on and on, but I haven't got the time - sorry, what I feel started as an interesting debate has now turned into something that I'd rather avoid!

[John G]

Think we've gone off topic a little

To answer the original question - I've never used inkjet transfer paper but I have tested various laser print paper for light shirts. It has its uses and I would definitely offer it to customers wishing to have a photo printed onto a use once or twice t'shirt, such as for hen/stag nights. I did a test print on a white shirt then washed it to check quality - it looked a little faded, this could have been down to temp settings though!

As said above - it has its purpose, hope you get your answers regarding inkjet transfers.

[Sweetchuck87]

My first post's coming under heavy fire! I simply want to get my souvenirs into the local tourist shops, i have no love for sublimation or other printing as i only heard of it when i tried to find out how to get the things made. You'll know the costs involved with screen printing, and my designs wouldn't work if i reduce them to 4 or 5 colours. Printable flex is £42+del for 25 a4 sheets, add £1 for the shirt you're printing on and consider the shop'll want to sell for a tenner. They'll then offer me £5 for it, and as you can see when you throw in the ink costs and diesel and i've not much left over. Hence i'm looking for the cheapest way of making a decent shirt.

I knew it was a basic question, i just wanted to make sure before i threw money around. Under the transfers section there is only one other topic, and i looked through the stickies to make sure. It seemed to only way to make sure i'm buying the right things was to ask, but if its a big problem feel free to delete this thread and my profile, and i'll go join t-shirt forum.

[John G]

Hi Sweetchuck87
Flex @ around £1.88 inc. for an A4 sheet, £1 for a shirt and anything between 10 - 50p for ink that comes to a maximum of £3.38 making a £1.62 profit if sold to a 3rd party (souvenir shop) for £5.00.
Theres not a lot of profit there but sell direct to the public at shop prices (quoted £10) and there's a profit of £6.62 off a cheap t'shirt that cost you £1.00 - fantastic mark up!

Can you not open a stall or spend on a really good website and advertise your services that way.