Pricing help

[Abdul Baseer Hai]

Hi All

I have a potential order to engrave 200 USB key drives. I desperately need help in pring the quote. The particulars are as under:

Width: 5/8 inch
Length: 3.5 inch
Material will be either metal or shiny plastic

I need to quote for both materials and would need your help in pricing.

Should there be a setup charge?

Suggestions for proper engraving methods will also be highly appreciated

the quote has to be given tonight.

Thanks

Abdul

[Aaron Koehl]

I have a potential order to engrave 200 USB key drives. I desperately need help in pring the quote. The particulars are as under:

Width: 5/8 inch
Length: 3.5 inch
Material will be either metal or shiny plastic

I need to quote for both materials and would need your help in pricing.
Should there be a setup charge?
Suggestions for proper engraving methods will also be highly appreciated

the quote has to be given tonight.


Abdul,

How long have you had a laser?

Look between $0.75 and $1.00 per minute of engraving time, the dimensions you specify look to be under five minutes of engraving per piece.

You will inevitably have some setup, but it will be entirely dependent on whether the same design is on each piece. If they are to be customized with a name, for instance, that will add to your setup time.

If you're doing any metal marking, you will likely have chemicals involved (such as Cermark), which is relatively expensive, and adds considerable preparation time over plain engraving of plastic.

Also, be sure to get a couple of extra pieces in case of failure. Metal marking can sometimes produce inconsistent results. Plastic will vary too, but not as much, so again you'll have to test.

Be sure the engraving won't damage any of the electronics in the USB drives too.

[Abdul Baseer Hai]

Thanks for the help.


i will be getting a sample of the USB key tonight and will get back to you after seeing the material.

The engraving involves one repetitive logo on all of them.

The size of the logo will be about 1/2 inch x 1 inch.

I have had my laser over just a month and a half now, hence the frequent queries about trivial matters.

Thanks
Abdul

[Nick Adams]

The only real need for a set up charge is when you are going to do one offs.
Otherwise your price should reflect the basic setup / time divided by the amount of pieces.

On something like your project I would assume for metal youd need to add in about 18 cents each for the cermark (unless you are using the tape which is much more expensive.) That 18 cents should cover the small bit of time it takes to apply.

However so many factors are left out. Do you have a airbrush, If so cermark would be cake. If it is plastic, How are you going to be filing it for color or is the top layer and bottom layer two seperate colors?

Wish I could be of more help. I charge between 1 and 2 dollars depending on time envolved in set up. We run a slightly different system then most people do. We don't charge setup fees, However they are figured in at 1 dollar per minute.

[Abdul Baseer Hai]

The people brought me the sample this evening.One is a mirror plastic (Odd shape) and the other is a grey plastic (Rectangle).
I have quoted $3.00 for the first and $2.50 for the second. I plan to gold fill the first as the contrast is not very good. I am hoping the grey has a white underneath. No setup fee.

I hope I have done it right. Will know in a day or two if I got the order. Will post it here.

Thanks again to all

abdul