# Is this fair pricing for POD/fulfillment service?



## numberonenog (Dec 22, 2016)

Hey Everyone! One-man screen-printing shop here with some questions about fulfillment pricing. 

I have a long-term-relationship customer, and he's growing his T-shirt business. Basically, he comes up with the ideas, I do the art development, print the shirts, send the batch of shirts back to him, and he takes orders through his website and ships them out of his house. We're not partners in business, but we've been at it for four years or so.

Sales have been slow since the beginning, and as much as I would love to see a big check from him for printing a huge batch of new designs we've been cooking up, and we both decided that he should put some $$$ into social media marketing and see if that boosts sales. More sales = more printing for me in the long-run 

The marketing effort is translating into sales! He's a busy father, and this is his side-hustle. He probably doesn't have the time to spend packing orders from his house. I see an opportunity for me to print and fulfill the orders from my shop. I told him I'd do some leg work and figure out a good price for him. The designs are fairly simple (1,2, or 3 colors), and keeping a pile of shirts in my shop is NBD. I imagine they'll be a learning curve as we synch up the Shopify account, but I figure I can make a few extra bucks doing the fulfillment. Heck, if the growth continues I'll be able to hire someone to print shirts and ship orders.

Does anyone out there use a screen-printing POD fulfillment service (not DTG)? What kind of margins are you getting? Here's the approximate price breakdown:
-He sells shirts for $25 on his website. End-user pays for shipping. 
-I'll be charging about $16 for a front hit and neck label and shirt, regardless of the number of colors on the shirt (I'm trying to make the numbers simple for everyone. The shirts are nice and cost me about $5. So I net about $11 for each shirt. 
-If I charge an extra $3 for shipping and fulfillment per piece, that leaves $6 for my guy if he sells his shirts for $25 each. Is that a good price for him? I think he could sell them for $35, which would net him more, and I could up probably increase my margins a little too.

Maybe I'm taking on more risk than I should, but I feel like if the marketing push pays off, I could be very busy. If I could track sales, I could even print a dozen or so of the most popular designs to have handy so I'm not constantly setting up and tearing down screens for one-offs. We've even agreed that we'd do a trial period and see if the pricing arrangement works, so good on him for being flexible. I just don't want to shoot myself in the foot and commit to some ridiculous pricing arrangement that's just too much hassle. If you're a brand or a screen printer/fulfiller, I'd love to know if I'm even remotely competitive. And any insight to share would be very much appreciated!

Thank you all, and stay safe!


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

You already have a great deal at $16. I wish I could charge that much wholesale.

If it were me I would just include fulfillment for no extra charge.

Shipping alone is going to cost you $3 so no room there for any additional fulfillment income.


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## numberonenog (Dec 22, 2016)

Wow! Thanks for the response. If you don't mind me asking, how much does your customer sell the shirts you're printing for?


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

numberonenog said:


> Wow! Thanks for the response. If you don't mind me asking, how much does your customer sell the shirts you're printing for?


The general rule of thumb is the retail cost is double the wholesale cost. So for a $16 wholesale shirt, most would charge $32 retail.


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## numberonenog (Dec 22, 2016)

Thanks, Joe! Stay safe!


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## TABOB (Feb 13, 2018)

numberonenog said:


> I have a long-term-relationship customer, and he's growing his T-shirt business. Basically, he comes up with the ideas, I do the art development, print the shirts, send the batch of shirts back to him, and he takes orders through his website and ships them out of his house. We're not partners in business, but we've been at it for four years or so.


This is fairly close to what I do, but I have a long list of small business clients (years of work).



numberonenog said:


> -I'll be charging about $16 for a front hit and neck label and shirt, regardless of the number of colors on the shirt (I'm trying to make the numbers simple for everyone. The shirts are nice and cost me about $5. So I net about $11 for each shirt.


As splathead said, this is a bit high for wholesale... but not totally unreasonable. 
Making the numbers simple should not be a priority... Flexibility is much more important.


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## numberonenog (Dec 22, 2016)

Thanks for the reply, TABOB. Can you give me an example of how flexibility played to your advantage?


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## TABOB (Feb 13, 2018)

numberonenog said:


> Thanks for the reply, TABOB. Can you give me an example of how flexibility played to your advantage?


Not all shirts/designs sell equally well, and we all know the price does affect sales. 
I personally want my shirts to be sold ASAP. I don't want them in my storage, and I don't want them in my clients shop.

I price my shirts based on popularity, and I can guess what's going to be popular from previous seasons.
Some shirts make me £10 and some others £2 (better than £0).


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## nuthreadz (Sep 23, 2012)

Hello, I don't know all of the parameters here (like is it only one print location, etc) but to net $11 per t-shirt is an amazing mark up for you as a printer. Made me throw up in my mouth (haha joking) reading this because we see no where near that mark up. If taking on the simple task of packing and printing a shipping label then I would add your cost for the bags/boxes and maybe a pinch for your time. However I wouldn't go up too much because if it means more sales to happen because the guy is busy with life, then it means more $11 net profits for you moving forward. In todays climate, I would focus more on retaining and growing the sales vs nit picking the price increase (because you are making a hell of a mark up here). I can share my supplies that I buy on amazon for shipping bags and boxes but you can simply do a search and find the lowest price for your need. I think I have my small boxes down to .37 cents a box. So maybe factor in those supplies (include tape) and you will be well under a dollar if you shop smart. Keep the shipping costs being paid by the customer on his website.....don't take that on! I would think adding a dollar to your price to him would be all I would personally do JUST to keep these sales rolling in and growing!


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## numberonenog (Dec 22, 2016)

Thank you, nuthreadz and TABOB for the insight.

Yes, please, share the boxes you use! I'm using These for my mailers, though I think my customer would like to do something a little different.

I guess I'm more worried about shooting myself in the foot if every week while we get this thing rolling I need to set-up and clean 5 2-color sets of screens + neck tags. Like all designs, 80% of sales come from 20% of pieces (or maybe 90%/10%), so once we figure out the hot sellers I can batch those up and print a few extra in anticipation of more sales.

But from what y'all are telling me, I shouldn't be so worried. You're definitely right that I should be trying to retain and grow sales.

Lurking on POD DTG sites…they want to charge around $20+shipping for a front hit and inside neck label. I guess I figured that screen printing is more labor-intensive and my shirts are nicer than the B+C 3001, so If I could slide in well under $20 I'm doing okay.

Thanks for all the straight talk! It's very much appreciated!


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## nuthreadz (Sep 23, 2012)

I'm so sorry, I never got notified that you had replied. Here are the boxes I get. They are on amazon and we primarily use them for hats. or a hat and a tee.
Amazon.com: BOX USA B864500PK Corrugated Boxes, 8"L x 6"W x 4"H, Kraft (Pack of 250): Industrial & Scientific 

The shape probably isn't great for your tshirts but you can locate the right shape. Actually when we ship 1-4 tshirts we use these mailers:
Amazon.com : Famagic 12x15.5 Inch 200PCS Black Poly Mailers Shipping Bag 2.35MIL Self Sealed Business Mailer Bags Waterproof and Tear-Proof Shipping Envelopes : Office Products


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## numberonenog (Dec 22, 2016)

Sweet! Thanks, nuthreadz!


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## gigman1 (May 19, 2021)

numberonenog said:


> Hey Everyone! One-man screen-printing shop here with some questions about fulfillment pricing.
> 
> I have a long-term-relationship customer, and he's growing his T-shirt business. Basically, he comes up with the ideas, I do the art development, print the shirts, send the batch of shirts back to him, and he takes orders through his website and ships them out of his house. We're not partners in business, but we've been at it for four years or so.
> 
> ...


While I don't think it's a direct comparison for fulfillment costs, we pay our 3pl $2 per order and the shipping cost~$4 for light weight product with minimal storage fees. Like I said probably not a direct comparison but the prices might help to gauge.


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## numberonenog (Dec 22, 2016)

gigman1 said:


> While I don't think it's a direct comparison for fulfillment costs, we pay our 3pl $2 per order and the shipping cost~$4 for light weight product with minimal storage fees. Like I said probably not a direct comparison but the prices might help to gauge.


Sweet! Thanks for the numbers, gigman1.


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