Knife pricing

[Daryl Barberousse]

Okay folks, here is a never ending question. Just want to get some opinions. Received an order for 50-100 of these logos to cermark onto knives. What kind of prices are ya'll charging out there?

[Brian Robison]

I'd price it at a buck each. I'd use the Thermark spray also.

[Joe Pelonio]

You'll get a lot of different answers with a question like this. I'd charge them
at least $30 to make a jig that holds many of them in place at a time. Then
the Cermark itself is probably worth another $30. Then the time to apply the Cermark, run them, swap them out in the jig, and clean has to be at least worth $2 each. Total for me comes out to $3.20 each for 50, $2.80 each for 100, and people here often tell me my prices are too low.

Also, if there's any kind of clearcoat on the knives, you'll have to engrave that off before the cermark can stick, doubling the run time. I'd definitely want to do a sample prior to agreeing to a price.

[Bruce Volden]

I'm with Joe. I do hundreds of knives for trap shooting events in several states. I wouldn't consider anything under $2.25 (or more dependant upon area) My $0.02

Bruce

[Gary Hair]

I can't see getting anything less than $3.00 to $4.00 each, deducting a bit for quantities. Even at the highest quantity I don't think I'd get less than $2.00 each. As mentioned previously, there is a lot of time involved with this that needs to be accounted for - unpackaging, cleaning, applying cermark, placing in template, lasering, removing from template, cleanup, repackaging. There is way more to this than simply lasering on some cermark. If they have a protective coating then you add two more steps, depending on how you remove the coating. If it's laserable then you can probably just double the lasering time, once to remove the coating and the second to apply the cermark. If you can't laser it off then you have to use paint remover or lacquer thinner, acetone, etc. Then you have to apply something after you laser them, don't want them rusting, do you? This would add a real PITA factor and I would have to get about double what it would be otherwise.

Gary

[Mike Null]

I'm more in line with Gary's thoughts-maybe even a little higher.

[Stephen Beckham]

I'm good with the $3 and up range just because of the chemical paint/spraying and then cleaning. I normally start out at $5 when Cermark is involved, but when doing multiple of the same image - I'm with Joe. Create the template and let them run at or around $3. I normally charge $10 to etch a single knife - no counting letters, lines or sides. Just flat rate $10.

One other important question:

Are you providing the knives? If so - don't forget your cost plus markup. Then, how much do you allow yourself for the mistakes?




If you are not providing - what kind of agreement do you make with the customer that you'll do your best, but in some cases, the metal doesn't take well to the Cermark.
Do you replace the cost of the knife?
Do you just mark that one (two etc...) as No-Charge but let them keep it? (it is their knife)
Do you tell the customer that at the low $$ rate and high quantity - there is a XX% of bad etchings allowed?
Honestly, I'd rather not ever have a 'broken' item leaving the store. I prefer to provide the items, so I give the number requested and toss the mistakes to good-will or garbage. That way that item does not get tied to my store.

I'd love to get some feedback on how people treat mistakes.

[Daryl Barberousse]

Thanks for the education. It's good to know what everyone's opinion is and the thoughts behind it.

After reaching a "set price" of $4 per, I have decided to throw in a quantity discount per 50 knives.....say 10%.

Thank again for the info.

[Michael Kowalczyk]

So Daryl, if they order over 500+, then they get them for free?

All kidding aside make sure you have a cap and incentive in your discounts. Make sure you are willing to work for the highest discount level you offer. Sometimes it works out great to have 3 weeks worth of work but if you are giving 40-50% discounts are you OK with making 1/2 the money with twice the work? Just food for thought.