pricing quote

[Jeff Wilkins]

Okay, so I am starting to have people want me to engrave things with our engraver. I am a teacher and this is used by my students for prototyping. I have no idea where to begin on pricing a job. The football boosters want me to engrave about a dozen items with our school logo (about 4 different items / setups). I already have a file that works and sizing it is a snap. There are some large beer mugs that took a little bit of time since I hadn't really used the rotary device a whole lot. What should I charge / item? Thoughts? It takes about 2-3 mins to laser the items at 300dpi 100s. I was thinking $3-4 / item. Also, is it better to line up items horizontally to engrave or vertically? Which is faster typically?

Thanks

[Douglas J Miller]

I would have to agree with Mike. I know for a fact locally it's forbidden to use school equipment for this kind of use. Most likely it would lead to a suspension and maybe a firing.

[Jeff Wilkins]

First of all, it was not paid for by tax payer money. It was paid for through grants that I wrote, conferences that I ran and donated my time, and by local businesses and parents of my engineering students. This money that is made from this goes to our robotics program. This is not me getting rich off of the robotics clubs equipment. That wasn't my question and I don't appreciate how you jump to conclusions about how money is being spent when you have no clue. I asked is it a fair asking price for OUR booster club for OUR Football team for thier FUNDRAISER for me to charge $4 / item to raise money for MY robotics club. I have no idea what you would charge so I am asking if it is even reasonable. Thank you.

[Bruce Clumpner]

Congratulations on supporting both your program and the athletic booster clubs. As a past booster club president, any unique item we could sell to raise any amount was worth the time and effort. If you look around the forum, you'll see lots of talk about billing laser time. Most folks start @ $1/minute, but if you know you can gang the items, and the artwork is already done, you can drop it from there. If you have students run the products, any billable time is money in your pocket. Start high and drop the price as you see fit.

Good luck.

bc

[Douglas J Miller]

I DID jump to a conclusion. And I'll say right now I'm sorry. Not afraid to say I'm wrong sometimes.

[Ross Moshinsky]

A lot of different ways to charge.

1. Material + Engraving
2. Material (Engraving Included)
3. Material + Setup Charge
4. Material + Time (hourly charge)

For engraving charge, people charge per character, per word, and per line. Depends on who you talk to.

[Allen Isakson]

Jeff Your price is good. I do mugs for that price all the time. Large quantity runs are best when you are only changing them out. Good luck on raising money for your school. Learn the rotary, it can be a friend or an enemy.

[Mark Conde]

So...pricing is an art and science. But bottom line only one entity sets pricing--the market place. Take 30 min. and google the type of product you are going to create and see what others are charging. Then make sure that price allows you to make a respectable profit. Your gut and heart will tell you if it is right. I personally never bought into charging by how long it takes a laser engraving machine to spit out a job. Here's why--You could have a 30 watt laser, the guy down the street has a 60 watt laser. The guy down the street is going to charge less cause his machine can run faster???--- That seems like odd math to me. Let the market guide you and you can not go wrong-- usually.