Pricing help

[Tim Baude]

Just wondering if someone can help me out. I have been asked to quote a price on 10-20 plastic signs to put on some cages (all the info I have right now). This will be a wholesale job. I will also be putting holes to help hang them. I want to quote 1/16 and 1/8 inch. In the past I have done (for retail) sq. inch x .80 plus $1. This seems to work for small name tags. These signs will be 4 x 6 and $20 per sign seems a bit high. I thought wholesale, maybe .75 per sq inch for 1/8 and .50 for 1/16. What are your thoughts out there. This would be the first job for a local promotional place and I think I will be getting more work from them. Figure I can get 12 signs per quarter sheet. Any help would be greatly apprecitated.
Thanks
Tim

[Dave Johnson29]

Just wondering if someone can help me out. I have been asked to quote a price on 10-20 plastic signs to put on some cages (all the info I have right now).

Hi Tim,

I would be waiting to see if there is any raster work on the sign first. Also I would draw one up with the holes and everything and run it on some scrap wood at cutting rates and see how long it takes. For a wholesale job and the prospect of more work, I think a time to cut rate would be better.

It is easier to calculate (justify ) on bigger jobs than just a square inch thing. Square inch might be OK for retail and low quantities. Just my 2-cents.

[Joe Pelonio]

For wholesale jobs you are looking for quantity to help with your profit. This one at 10-20 isn't much, but if there's potential for a lot more work then you have to give them a good price that will keep them from looking elsewhere.
I'd suggest 25% off your regular retail prices, so they can sell at your price or more and still make a decent profit of at least 25%. Based on annual volume my wholesale prices range from 15% to 50% off retail.

[Scott Shepherd]

I agree with the point about needing to know how much rastering. I took a job to do some 6" tall letters on a job. Only after watching the first one run did the light bulb come on and I realized what was taking 20 minutes each on the laser could be done in 3 minutes each with vinyl lettering and it would look better.

If it's not a ton of rastering on there, and it's 4" x 6", and it's 10-20 of them, I'd probably be in the $8-10 each range for wholesaling. Retail from me would be closer to the $15-18 each. That's assuming it's some lines of smaller text and not big fat 4" tall letters 6" wide

[Stephen Beckham]

I figure I'll jump in and rattle the cage a little bit. I charge flat rate $.35 to $.45 a square inch for my laser plastic 1/16" and most metals alike. It's simple pricing and when you figure most of your plastic and metal cost less than $.02 per square inch, that's decent. I don't do a setup charge and I don't give minimums.

I just did some 2X8 signs at $6.40 a piece. I got $64 for the job and the laser time took less than 15 minutes. The original piece of plastic was $13 and there was still enough to do two more signs. Doing the math, the margin comes out to 56% on the sale or a net gain of about $36. In that $36, I can cover my 10 minutes on the computer setting up the layout, wear and tear of the equipment, overhead and ect... But only if there are several jobs stacked up behind it. I like quantity of jobs being higher than waiting around for the golden nuggets.

Now I'm not sure what locations you guys are in and how high the markets are around you, but I'll tell you at my prices, my gross business has increased by $24K from last year - and I'm in a pretty rural area. Honestly - the market will support $18-$20 per sign because there aren't many around that can do it. But at my prices - they'd be paying $10ish and feeling like they got a great deal - I don't have to haggle about wholesale, rebates or retail - a great price is a great price. And I've got people driving over 25 miles - passing up one shop to my South and two shops to my North to buy from me.

I'd give them a $10 quote each - explain to them that it's first time buyer special to earn their respect for your work. Don't tell them it will be higher next time, leave it up for negotiations after the first sell. If you impress them and they like the price, they won't even ask for a quote next time, they'll ask for you to do the work and trust that you'll give them a fair price. That's when you know you have a fair customer who won't take advantage of you - and as long as you give them fair prices, they'll come back without question.

My .02 cents

[Phil Garcia]

Without any surprises and just a simple sign with a few words I agree with Scott... somewhere around the $10 to $12 range. Again it really depends on what your local market is. Call around to some of your local competition and see what they would do it for. Here in my area, I am around %15 less than most and that is enough to get that repeat business. And when I am higher on some products, they really do not mine since they get good service and better pricing on most orders. That's my 2 cents worth.

[Martin Boekers]

Just remember when you're pricing to include the often forgot about things such as:

Is this a normal stock item or will you special order it - this gives you left over material you may not use easily plus additional shipping costs.

Fifteen minutes in laser time can add up to 45 minutes in actual time quickly by the time you include talking with the customer to get the order, set up time, ordering the material, cleaning and packaging the final product, shipping and or going over the final product with the client.

Some times you have to be careful about the percentages of sales increases, I've seen it happen too many times that others as well as myself have sold more goods at a discounted price I'm working twice as hard for less profit margin.

I have also lost some higher end work in commercial photography because I under priced myself. I thought I would be doing the client a favor and was looking toward more future work, instead the client felt that since I was lower then the competitors that my work was as good. What a way to lose a job!

We all have different needs and pricing requirements but I hope this helps a bit

Marty

[Tony Lenkic]

My price for 4" X 6" with 7 lines of 0.250" text is 12.50 each on laserable plastic with two mounting holes and 3M 468 MP adhesive. For one of my clients I do lots of them with last line change only.
If it was 10 - 20 plates only my price would be 15.00 - 16.00 each.

[Bill Cunningham]

My price for 4 x 6, 12+ all different, text only, or graphics/photos ready to go artwork supplied (like from a graphic artist etc..) is $15.00 ea. for indoor material.. If Artwork time is required, then I charge extra..