I feel like crying into my cereal..

[Renniwano]

Ok.. so i've not been doing this long.. but i've been in business a few years.. enough to know that cheap prices do not always get you a quality product..

SO.. why do other people seem to think that it will..

I have just spoken to a local photographer who wishes to have mugs done.. and then her to sell to her customers making a little extra on the way..

When I mentioned to her about prices.. she said a friend photographer gets her mugs done for £3 a mug.. and she (the photographer) sells them on at £10 a mug.. basically making £7 for having them available.. when the supplier who subs them surely isn't making much based on current prices of stock etc.

I can't possibly compete with that.. and to be honest don't wish to.. but is that the going rate or am I really losing the will to live for a reason ??

Maybe I am expecting too much ??

Please shoot me now.. it's not even the weekend !! lol

Nikki xx

[Paul]

Nikki! ask your photographer how much his pictures cost??? and then tell him you can get them done for £20 all on dvd disc
this always winding me up

[Renniwano]

lol.. it makes it worse that she's an aquaintance.

BUT i've told her there is no way i'd sell my mugs to anyone for that price.. no matter who they are.. because I believe they are worth more..

I have also told her to check the other company that her photographer friend uses to make sure they are sublimation and dishwasher proof.. because mine are lol..

So I am not losing the will to live for no reason then lol

[phoenixalpha]

There is always someone somewhere who can and will undercut you. In these days, it's always a race to the bottom. Tell your aquantaince how *much* it really costs to make a mug (proper dishwasher safe etc) and ask how long they can expect their new buddy to keep supplying mugs at below manufacturing cost.

[Renniwano]

Contrary to popular belief I am not as mad as I thought then lol..

This is my take on things.. i'd rather sell mugs that mean I last.. than ones that mean I don't..

Thanks guys.. I feel better now for telling her that I won't quote that low..

[jennywren]

I've turned away work when there is a small amount of profit, and I've taken on work for a small amount of profit and on each occasion it depended on varying factors, how they speak to me, will I get more work where I get them to buy a different product, will other people see it so I might pick up more customers, plus many more factors to go in, sometimes I just plain stupid and give in to pressure or a sob story and could kick my self when I said yes, I also have good sells where I can maximise my profits, its swings and roundabouts. What really is makes me lose the will, when they leave a deposit and don't come back, even though I've covered the cost I never know what to do with mugs ect, my cupboards are full with my mistake no room, plus you never know when they might come back, I have stuff that people have ordered and paid in full, it drives me mad. I do take phone numbers but sometime they change their phones, they forget, they move and loads of other reason.

[JSR]

There are some people out there who worship at the altar of money, and they absolutely must squeeze every last penny out of you. If arguing for a couple of pennies off the prices causes an ulcer, they'll still argue for a couple of pennies off the price (one only has to watch the BBC's "Antiques Road Trip" to see this type of person at work).

I had a photographer once who got me to put their photos on my items which they sold onto their customers (like many do). They would buy my £5 mug and sell it to their customer for £18. And they wanted a discount! I gave them a 5% discount, which made them very happy, but it's really just a joke. Saving 5% on my price saves them 25p, but they could have made four times that by just selling their £18 mug for £19. It would have made no difference to their customer to pay £1 more than £18.

Then you'll have the customer that beats you down to a really low price, and then they'll complain every two minutes that the product they receive isn't 110% perfect. They won't pay for quality, but they still expect it.

Sometimes it's just best to stick to your guns. Remember - you work to live, you don't live to work.

I've turned away work when there is a small amount of profit, and I've taken on work for a small amount of profit and on each occasion it depended on varying factors, how they speak to me, will I get more work where I get them to buy a different product, will other people see it so I might pick up more customers, plus many more factors to go in, sometimes I just plain stupid and give in to pressure or a sob story and could kick my self when I said yes, I also have good sells where I can maximise my profits, its swings and roundabouts.

This.

[mrs maggot]

The supplier is mistakenly working on the premis, that if they normally sell theirs at £6 then the "trade rate" must be £3 - they will still be working on the fact that the mug/ink etc is £1/£1.20 ish and that as this is a "trade customer" they need to make their money - which at £10 a mug they are.

Perhaps you could make a deal with them doing some photography of your items for your website in exchange for mugs at a trade rate - but that needs to be your trade rate, or offer them a proper trade rate, based on the numbers ordered at one time, not over the period of a year !! where all items are different.

[Andrew]

If the £3 per mug is just for 1 per design then it's cheap but manageable. If it's multiple prints per design then it's expensive when you move into trade areas. Also, I assume with it being trade the customer wouldn't be surprised to see the 20% vat added? We supply some photographers at far cheaper costs than £3 but that's at multiple prints per design. I know this is the exception when it comes to printers on here. If I could sell our mugs for an average of £3 I would have retired happily by now.

[purpledragon]

I think the lines are getting blurred here how much would a photographer charge for example to produce an a4 portraight ? im sure paul will correct me if im wrong but im guessing its more than a tenner but for that the photographer has to arrange a sitting then use their skill and training to take the photo the cost of actually printing is probably nominal maybe 10p per sheet of paper and maybe 50p for the ink yet you dont have the paper and ink suppliers complaining because someone is earning so much more than them you are basically paying for the photographers skill and training and rightly so, so if you are producing a mug for the photographer you are really in the same stable as the paper and ink suppliers you simply put the picture in a template press print then place on a mug and in a heat press. Now if you were selling your own designs on a mug or you are altering the pictures for the photographer i couldnt agree more with you, you want paying for your skill and training the actual printing to an item is almost incidental
just my two penneth worth