Absolute beginner - lots of questions!

[Justin]

Why you preffer 6 color printers? it cost more on inks. And Can you realy see the diference on pressed t-shirt or mug? I used to use 6 color printer and tbh I can not see the diference. Yes. When I use normal inks and print a4 or a3 photograps on photo paper then I can see the difrence. but not when use sublimation inks.

Most definately, I see a big difference particularly in skintones. I also print designs that are scanned in pieces of material and the 6 colour reproduces tones so much better than the 4 colour. That said, for most day to day work I agree, 4 colours is perfectly adequate.

[MugMonster]

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the responses, it all seems pretty straightforward - although with the printers, it does seem that people have their favourites... so I'll do a bit more research before picking one up. I think to begin with, I'm probably going to start with a 4-colour, to keep those initial consumables costs to a minimum and see how I get on with it.

Graeme, I'll send you a PM - would love to see a sample of your mugs.

Another question I thought of...

8. Ballpark figure of what you're able to charge for your mugs? (Dependant on volume of course) I've seen the magic number of £6 a lot while trying to do some research.. just wondered what your experiences are of what the general mug-buying public are prepared to part with.

Thanks again all, this has been really useful for me so far!!

[Kaz]

You need to take into account packaging and postal charges.

My postal boxes cost me about 20p each, and it costs £2.24 per mug to pst, that's using first class post.

I sell my mugs for between £5-6 dependant on what's on them. Obviously a full wrapround image costs more than text/one image/vector to produce, so that's reflected in the price

[MugMonster]

So you're saying £5-£6 and then you charge your postage on top? Or you include your postage in that price?

[Kaz]

Postage is on top of the sale price

[MugMonster]

Postage is on top of the sale price

phew!

[Justin]

I think you're right to go with the 4 colour printer to start with David. Speed & mass production isn't really an issue (just yet!) so you could start with something simple like the D88 or D120 but for the price bear in mind the new B1100 which is A3.

Biggest outlay will be your inks. You could save a little by using refill. carts possibly but this isn't ideal, better just to go for the full CIS if you can.

Price wise, many sellers (especially on eBay) are selling at silly prices. Your mugs are individually made and can be personalised so they should command a higher price. I sell wholesale to local shops for £4.50/£5 and they retail them out at £8-£10. If I sell direct to the public my own designs would be £6.99+postage. if you're going to sell at much less than that it really isn't worth the effort.

[bms]

Plenty of useful advice here. I believe there are other posts here about the currently supported printers. Your choices are:
A4 - Epson B40W or Ricoh Gxe3300
A3 - Epson B1100, Epson Photo 1400 or Ricoh GX7000

The Ricoh GX7000 is A4 or A3, whereas the Epson B1100, Photo 1400 is A4, A3 and A3+. The A3+ paper gives you up to 13" x 19" paper size for the bigger stuff. All Ricohs use cartridges whereas Epsons use the Easyflow systems and you'll get more ink per £ spent with the Epson range compared to the Ricohs.

The cheapest printer on the market at present is the Ricoh GXe3300 but with this system you get 4 cartridges with 29ml of ink per cartridge (just under 120ml ink in total). Compare that to the entry level Epson B40W and you get 400ml of ink, the B1100 comes with 500ml and the Photo 1400 comes with 600ml. As the ink is going to be expensive then weigh this up in your original startup costs.

There are reviews on here of our DF1 mug press if you looking for low startup costs and if your looking to get fully started then we have some business startup deals which offer discounts on buying these separately:
http://www.printerowners.co.uk/sublimat ... ackage.htm

Do your homework - there are plenty of users here who will have lots of good advice to give you and hopefully help you make your decision on what to buy. With most suppliers you would be welcome to visit any of them to see how the process works.

[MugMonster]

That's great guys, a wealth of information here and probably more than enough to get me going.

I've been trying to figure out what the clear profits are per mug, again dependant on volume. Am I way off the mark by think it's possible to make anywhere between £2-£3 per mug depending on who you're selling to, all consumables taken into account?

[bms]

Am I way off the mark by think it's possible to make anywhere between £2-£3 per mug depending on who you're selling to, all consumables taken into account?

Very achieveable I would expect. A mug, ink, paper, electricity will cost you no more than £1.50 - others might say £1.20, £1.32 etc but if you work on £1.50 as your base all in price then you'll always make a margin. Selling the mug at whatever price you set gives you your profit and allows you to cost in your time in terms of design work, pressing mugs etc.