Advice on bulk orders

[dj_doubler]

Hi all,

As many of your are aware I am new to the sublimation game... I have today been asked to press 50 mugs for a local well known clothing company... I am just looking for advice on what I should be charging per mug on a order of 50? which hopefully will turn into a bigger order next time around... any advice would be great

Anthony

[Andrew]

You'll get various different answers as there is no correct one. The correct one would be as much as possible whilst still winning the order and keeping the customer happy. At the end of the day it's a few hours work so you need to decide what you and your mug printing capabilities are worth. From this you can get the minimum amount you would be happy with then see if you can comfortably add a bit extra on. £3 a mug should get you near enough to £100 profit obviously depending on your costs.

[John G]

I'm afraid at £3.00 per mug your not going to get £100 profit - most peeps on here aren't vat reg so all items and consumables will have vat on which can't be reclaimed. If buying decent mugs then the mug alone would be over £1.00 due to delivery charges and the non claimable vat. This isn't to mention the ink, paper etc.

[Andrew]

All depends which way someone goes about things. More and more people on here seem to be going the cheap route (which I always suggest against). Many now don't bother with Sawgrass inks or RN or other tried and tested coatings. Going this route will not have you to far above £1 inclusive of vat.

[bms]

I seem to recall a thread ages ago that discussed prices of items and the feeling from some quarters was not to say as that fuels a downward spiral of prices until no-one makes any money in this business.

It's very easy to be a busy fool - working and producing something at cost or below.

Remember if you want to earn a living then don't discount your time to nothing. As for a price, Andrew's first post sums it up. It's up to you, but remember what your producing and making a value added product. It's not just the cost of the mug, ink, paper but also a small share of your equipment cost, possible failures, enough to make it worthwhile but not too little that if they come back for more you actually make something.

[mrs maggot]

it takes the same time to make one mug as it does to make one of fifty, it takes the same cost to make one mug as it does to make one of 50. if they are a well known company and may want more, i would suggest as i did to gifts NE you also look at having it priced up by listawood or a similar company, to give you an idea on price breaks - never offer a cheaper prices based on getting another order from it, too often people get sucked into a cheaper price as it will lead to loads more, the customer gets a very good price for a few items, and then wants more discount for placing the "bigger order". again, not being VAT reg might be an issue, as the company you are supplying to cannot claim back the VAT proportion of the invoice - i know you will say it wont have VAT on it in the first place, but if they see a bottom line of £300 they would be expecting to claim back the VAT on that.

good luck

[Lee]

Im sure there was a post only a few weeks ago where the average price to print a mug after all deductions EXCEPT labour would be around £2.50...therefore £3 a mug would value your time at 0.50p a mug.... personally I would test the water a bit higher, that way you can always come down a bit to do a deal.... would you get away with £4 a mug do you think?

[Andrew]

£2.50! Wow, that's a fair old cost price. I don't really see how people could get that far over £1.50 myself even doing it properly with the more expensive options.

[Lee]

Ill have a look for it, but it included mugs, paper, ink, postage boxes, tape bit of juice etc....

[Andrew]

Ahh, postage boxes will have bumped it up a fair bit then. Like with everything in sublimation, you will always get a fair old cross section of cost prices depending on how people go about their business.