# would you sell a DTG printed shirt for $8



## Kimsie (Oct 5, 2007)

I'm looking into purchasing a dtg printer. However, screenprinters in my area are doing shirts for $6-8 + screen sharge $15-20. So my question is can I do just a plain 1 color ink job on a t-shirt for $8 and still have profit what about if it were a blk shirt with white ink and a full back logo on just white ink?

I like the possiblites with the dtg but I what to stay competative when do a simple 1 color design.

Kimsie


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## mrbigjack50 (Jun 9, 2008)

$8 including Garment or not including?
in ink and pretreatment you are spending prob. 1.50 to 3.50 
depending if it is bulk ink base printer(cheaper) or closed catriage machine(higher like double)
That being said if you are including shirt that will cost you roughly 2 dollars wholesale than don't do it
If it not including garment and is bulk base than it can be OK profit margin. But remember you gotta think outside of 1color world box and think of full color part...


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

I have to agree with Sean on this one. The purpose of a DTG is not to compete with a screen printer, but to fill the void a screen printer cannot. Dtg's are great for doing small order, high color order and high detail orders. I do not give bulk price breaks above 50 pieces with my dtg. That is because on darks its alot of work. I will do large light color garments all day long, but I am pretty picky about how big of a dark color job I will do, and I do not negotiate my price. 

So you really need to look at what business plan the machine fits, not whether it can compete with a different print method. The prices are not going to be the same screen printing and dtg because they are two completely different printing methods.

And I would not print one shirt at a time and sell it for $8, my time with setting up the file and printing and all is worth more then that to me. I dont go down to that low until the quantities are much higher.


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## mrbigjack50 (Jun 9, 2008)

Yep, Bobbie hit most important part to this thing and that is time=money
Unless you got auto treat machine than ain't worth dealing with....
this ain't best example but you get idea:
1 8x10 black & white photo developed at lets say Right Aid is $2.00 and at a lab at least $10
At end of the day right aid does let say 100 prints at 2 buck which come out to 200 bucks with 75 cent cost of ink and paper because they do bulk "prob alot less but example
Lab does 20 jobs with with 200 outcome and maybe 1 dollar cost of material and spent lets say 1 minuate a picture to develope... but in end with high price and lower amount of jobs they still grossing in as much as rite aide with less work?
So the screen printers are Rite Aid and your the lab .... In end with your higher charge for shirt and over clients coming in; you will see you gross same if not more money doing less work at end of day, than working more, selling for less


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## skdave (Apr 11, 2008)

We print on our Gt541 for less than $8.00 everyday. People need to understand that everything begins with one. We just came back from the show in Atlanta and the $55.000 new Brother looks AWESOME. 
Will be buying one as soon as they bring them to the USA.


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## mrbigjack50 (Jun 9, 2008)

I do printing for 6 bucks but that is on lights and always end up doing a dozen or more
I know in way going against what I said about rite aid thing but thing is that it has a big factor difference when you gotta pretreat and use alot pricier inks to get end result...more end user error issues to, can factor in


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## zhenjie (Aug 27, 2006)

skdave said:


> We print on our Gt541 for less than $8.00 everyday. People need to understand that everything begins with one. We just came back from the show in Atlanta and the $55.000 new Brother looks AWESOME.
> Will be buying one as soon as they bring them to the USA.


Cool, so the Brother white ink printer is selling for $55,000 at the show? NIce to hear a solid figure for once.


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## sharktees (Dec 12, 2007)

Add in the screen charge and the number of shirts and then see how much per shirt it would be also a screen printer will not make it the same day,always figure the bottom line not just the price per shirt and you can provide them with multiple colors at no extra charge you just have to educate your customers and let them know small runs or single shirts have no color limitations.


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## Girlzndollz (Oct 3, 2007)

Kimsie, 

I don't think you can truly compare your prices and a screen printers prices because really, you both cater to different markets, though there is some crossover in the market. A screenprinter generally will not print one shirt for a customer, but may take an order of 12. A DTG generally will not take an order of 1000 shirts, but may take an order of even 200 or so. That will depend on the DTG operator's feelings on profit vs. investment. 

Since your original question uses screen printing pricing for comparison, to really find out how you compare to a screen printer's prices for the same order, why not call around to some of your local screen printers with the above order, and find out if anyone will print you 1 to 3 shirts, and what the charge would be... then you will know what the price is that your customers will hear before they come to see you.

This is where you and your DTG machine will shine. My guess is you will hear that they won't print that low of a quantity, or the amount will be very high. My guess is you will find that you do not need to go to the lowest price rung to compete. 

Also, if you take the above screen print numbers and use the lowest ones:
$15 screen charge plus $6 for a shirt, the total cost for one shirt (if they will even do one shirt at this price) is $21. Why would you charge $8? You could charge $18.00 and beat the screen printed by almost a full 15% discount off the price.


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## Kimsie (Oct 5, 2007)

Girlzndollz said:


> Kimsie,
> 
> I don't think you can truly compare your prices and a screen printers prices because really, you both cater to different markets, though there is some crossover in the market. A screenprinter generally will not print one shirt for a customer, but may take an order of 12. A DTG generally will not take an order of 1000 shirts, but may take an order of even 200 or so. That will depend on the DTG operator's feelings on profit vs. investment.
> 
> ...


Thanks, YOu have a good point!!!


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## kerrdigital (Sep 22, 2009)

I saw that Brothers printer in action. It is very nice! Huge, but nice.


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## WholesalePrint (Sep 23, 2008)

> Will be buying one as soon as they bring them to the USA.


They been here.
Our install date is 10/12 and we spoken to 3 owners who had theirs since August.


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## Don-ColDesi (Oct 18, 2006)

I actually spent some time recently doing an install next to one of the Brother machines (white ink beast). Wasn't overly impressed with the print quality, did like the speed and ease of use and the ink consumption was pretty high - depends on what the price of the ink is per cc - looks like dark shirts will be in the $5 plus pre-treat cost to print. Seemed to have it own fair share of banding issues.


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## Des Studio (Apr 8, 2009)

WholesalePrint said:


> They been here.
> Our install date is 10/12 and we spoken to 3 owners who had theirs since August.


Did you happen to notice this thread is almost a year old 
I just saw that now myself, only the last couple posts are from this year.


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## CUSTOM UK (Jun 28, 2008)

Des Studio said:


> Did you happen to notice this thread is almost a year old


Hey, there are lots of people who reply to four year old threads on this forum.... 

The original title of the thread was would you sell a dtg printed shirt for $8 ? Irrespective of the print method employed, selling a tee for such low money, would not give you enough capital to re-invest in new equipment, when the need arose. Having said that, I bet a few desperate individuals have sold tees well below that price, during the current economic downturn.

Dropping prices is all too easy, it's getting customers to accept the new prices, when finances dictate you putting them up again to meet your outgoings, that is the hard part.


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