Wow!

[Liesl Dexheimer]

I know that there have been posts before like this but I was surfing through dickblick.com & came across "presentation plaques" clicked on it & saw a 1" x 3" brass plaque that they are selling for a whopping $25.73!!! I can't say I blame them for charging quite a bit, we all hate onesies but I was shocked to see $25.00! I wish I could charge that price!

[Mark Sipes]

I don't know if it is the economy or that people are just accepting the fact that things are costing more. . . Gas prices... not going there.. The internet has a lot to do with competition I know. But "people in general" do not know how engraving is done, either drag or laser. So yes many people will pay the $25. This is not a mass production business in most cases.... These are one of a kind items.....Custom orders. What do you charge to Laser a Kindle or laptop that costs 199 + . People want security knowing their items are identified....... and don't want to drive all over the place to save a nickle......Charge accordingly.

I have like businesses in the area that charge $28+ min order... no matter what.

[Dee Gallo]

I was in Petco yesterday and they were charging $12.99 for one engraved anodized dog tag. That's a good markup!

[Joe Pelonio]

I have gone to a $35 minimum, and with the time it takes to set up a file, send it to the laser, position and run the job, prepare an invoice it's going to be at least 15 minutes, but sometimes more for the 1 item. No one has complained yet. Last week I did 3 letters on a wooden card case for that and the customer was very happy.

[Anthony Scira]

WARNING - Do not mistype the URL.

[Mike Null]

Like Joe I've gone to a $35 minimum though now and then I'll waffle a little. But I'm also turning down nearly all retail work as just too much of a nuisance. Retail work gets in the way of offering good service to my commercial accounts and as others have said, it often takes more time than it's worth. I can do that because I'm home based.

[Liesl Dexheimer]

Ok, now I'm jealous. First off I do a fair amount of corporate work but I also do some walk-in onesie type of work. It seems like most of the customers I get already have a price in mind as to what they want to spend. I had one customer who runs a business (customer has given me business for over 7 yrs) complain when I told her that I had a minimum order of 3 name tags. I told her if I were to do 1 I would have to charge $10. She felt she should be exempt from that rule & I should give her the wholesale price. I stuck to my guns on this, I'm all for reliable customers but I can't do favors all the time. Also had a customer who wanted glasses engraved sort of complain about $30.00 price. I told her engraving is like when you get your car repaired. It's not the part that costs a bit of money, it's the labor. She backed off saying she didn't mean to "knock my craft" but I was thinking to myself, well you sort of did. Even one of my good corporate accounts questioned my pricing so I had to defend myself and explain how plastic is a petroleum based product and we all know how those prices are increasing. She thanked me for reminding her of that and I did get the order. I guess I'm just tired of the money battle. I could go on about pricing but I'd rather not...too depressing & it's just part of business anyway.

[Joe Pelonio]

Liesl,

What you might try telling them as I do is that I paid $16,000 for my machine, and have spent several thousand more
on replacement parts. Your customer doesn't have that equipment. Every job has to help pay for it, in addition to the labor.

In my 6 years with a laser I have only had two customers buy their own, and both were high-volume wholesale people that could benefit from doing it themselves. For someone buying a few name tags once in a while I wouldn't worry about them much. When I have done deals it was for regular sign customers that were spending a lot of money on other items
which more than made up for a few breaks on the laser work price.

[Liesl Dexheimer]

Actually this customer is in the sign business & they used to give us a lot of work but that work has since diminished. Don't get me wrong, they still give us jobs but it's not what it once was & I have given them good deals in the past. In fact, there were a few times where they had made a mistake & I didn't charge them for the redo which is why I think it's fair that I stick to my guns with minimums on name tags. They actually haven't given me any hassles since I put this into effect though they haven't given me any name tag orders either which is fine.