# What type of formula do you use to price your plastisol transfer shirts?



## danni214 (Oct 21, 2014)

Hello everyone!
I will be using plastisol transfers from Transfer Express using their Idea Book templates and I will be using Seay Graphics for custom artwork. I was considering using the keystone markup but I am not 100% sure if I want to do that. 
Thanks for your help!


----------



## wormil (Jan 7, 2008)

On transfers I charge cost + labor.


----------



## jleampark (Sep 6, 2007)

I'm not sure what you mean by "...the keystone markup" but what I do -- and what was recommended by Transfer Express -- is to add the cost of the blank tee to the cost per transfer and multiply by 2. This gives me a good starting point and I will adjust up or down accordingly.

So, if I am making 50 shirts using a 2 color design from Transfer Express, I would have the per item charges as:

$1.90 for a Gildan Ultra Cotton tee (for example)
$3.22 for a 2-color print from Transfer Express, assuming no ganging and buying 50 sheets

$1.90 + $3.22 = $5.12 x 2 = $10.24

Possible prices would include $10, $10.50, $11, or $12.


----------



## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

jleampark said:


> I'm not sure what you mean by "...the keystone markup" but what I do -- is to add the cost of the blank tee to the cost per transfer and multiply by 2.


That's the exact definition of Keystone Markup.


----------



## jleampark (Sep 6, 2007)

splathead said:


> That's the exact definition of Keystone Markup.


 Really?!?! I've never heard that before...

Well, I guess it's true what They say: "You learn something new every day."


----------



## danni214 (Oct 21, 2014)

wormil said:


> On transfers I charge cost + labor.


Hey, how much do you charge for labor?


----------



## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

danni214 said:


> Hey, how much do you charge for labor?


You first have to determine a value of your time. How much do you have to make to pay the bills, and make a profit. $50 an hour? $100?

Then you determine how much a specific job will take you to complete so you can move on to another one. If the value of your time is $100 and the job will take 30 minutes, then your labor charge is $50.


----------



## danni214 (Oct 21, 2014)

jleampark said:


> I'm not sure what you mean by "...the keystone markup" but what I do -- and what was recommended by Transfer Express -- is to add the cost of the blank tee to the cost per transfer and multiply by 2. This gives me a good starting point and I will adjust up or down accordingly.
> 
> So, if I am making 50 shirts using a 2 color design from Transfer Express, I would have the per item charges as:
> 
> ...


Hey, I was thinking about doing that but when I set my prices and did a little competitors research online... My prices were considerably higher than my competitors.


----------



## danni214 (Oct 21, 2014)

splathead said:


> You first have to determine a value of your time. How much do you have to make to pay the bills, and make a profit. $50 an hour? $100?
> 
> Then you determine how much a specific job will take you to complete so you can move on to another one. If the value of your time is $100 and the job will take 30 minutes, then your labor charge is $50.


 I will be using the ultimate pricing calculator from imprintables warehouse for my vinyl work and I have learned that my operating cost per hour is $31.33 should that be how much I value my time?


----------



## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

danni214 said:


> Hey, I was thinking about doing that but when I set my prices and did a little competitors research online... My prices were considerably higher than my competitors.


That's the rub. The larger your competitor, the harder it is for you to compete with them. Especially just starting out. And if you do come down to their pricing, you may not be in business very long.

It's always good to know what your competitors are doing, but not always smart to follow their lead. There are other ways to attract customers besides price; marketing and and then servicing the hell out of them.


----------



## rresquire (Dec 23, 2014)

My shop does a lot of these orders. We price based on customink or other large online custom sites. These end up being very easy orders for us. I don't think I could justify to our customers why they should pay more than they'd pay on one of those sites, but if you can, power to you.


----------



## wormil (Jan 7, 2008)

danni214 said:


> Hey, how much do you charge for labor?


I charge per press. Keeps things simple. For numbers I charge per press + a fee per number (because I strongly, strongly discourage people from bringing numbers to me, I'd rather use my vinyl cutter). So basically I build all my profit into labor charges. What that number will be to you is something you'll have to figure out. Start with a couple bucks per press and adjust accordingly. That is pricing for a dozen or more shirts. For less than a dozen, I may charge more.


----------



## Artistic Impress (Jun 2, 2015)

In our shop I figure all costs into overhead: rent, insurance, water, electricity, advertising, and total labor all the employees and myself on a monthly basis. Divide that by 200 (hours the shop is open a month. Now I know what my true cost per hour is to run my shop. Divide that by the number of employees you have and you know what your true per hour shop cost is. Figure cost of material for the job and time it takes to make it times your shop cost and double it. That will give you a true keystone mark up. Most shops do not take into account all their costs. By analyzing your true shop costs you can figure out how to and where to save money.


----------



## danni214 (Oct 21, 2014)

splathead said:


> And if you do come down to their pricing, you may not be in business very long.
> 
> It's always good to know what your competitors are doing, but not always smart to follow their lead. There are other ways to attract customers besides price; marketing and and then servicing the hell out of them.


Thank you very much!  I needed to hear that!


----------



## danni214 (Oct 21, 2014)

Hello, everyone! I got my 1st real t shirt order! It's a 150 shirt order for a summer program, I am equally excited as I am nervous. I hope I don't mess up.


----------



## wormil (Jan 7, 2008)

danni214 said:


> Hello, everyone! I got my 1st real t shirt order! It's a 150 shirt order for a summer program, I am equally excited as I am nervous. I hope I don't mess up.


Congrats


----------



## danni214 (Oct 21, 2014)

Thank you all! I can honestly say that you all have helped me a lot! I ordered the transfers today and I am going to pick up the shirts from Sanmar tomorrow. I need to do some more homework though, I need to figure out my standard turnaround time, artwork specs for the customers who has their own artwork, I need to created an actual order form and I need to find out a way how to accept debit and credit cards.


----------



## jleampark (Sep 6, 2007)

danni214 said:


> Hello, everyone! I got my 1st real t shirt order! It's a 150 shirt order for a summer program, I am equally excited as I am nervous. I hope I don't mess up.


Not to be a Debbie Downer, but you WILL mess up. Maybe not on this order but you'll screw up a tee here and there. 

Don't sweat it. It happens to all of us. It's life. Learn from your errors and you'll become a better printer. 

FWIW, I am jealous that you live close enough to pick up your tees from SanMar. I love SanMar and want to visit and tour the facility. I am a nerd. 

I give my turnaround time as 10-14 days. I prefer to under-promise and over-deliver. Sometimes I can deliver them quicker and the customers are very happy. 

If the customer has artwork, it's probably low quality raster. I use CorelDraw to trace or recreate it in vector. If this is not an option for you, I also use the artists at Fiverr.com and -- rats! I can't remember the other place. I'll post it later. 

For credit/debit, you can use PayPal, Square (a little square swipey thing you plug into your iPhone) or the Invoice app. 

I'll send you some order form templates that I use. 

Congrats on your first (of many) order!

Happy printing and lotsa success to all. 


Team Spirit Tees
www.teamspirittees.com

Sent by iPhone to the T-Shirt forum


----------



## jleampark (Sep 6, 2007)

For vector tracing, a good place to go is https://www.copyartwork.com/. They are good, fast (next day), and only cost $14.

I also use Fiverr. As the name might suggest, gigs start at $5. One lady who has done nice work for me in the past is Hedwigstudio (https://www.fiverr.com/hedwigstudio...e&funnel=31bdbf32-adca-49b5-8b01-556af46253f0)

A last suggestion: always order extra tees and extra designs. With the designs, you can often order more for less (by getting into the dealer's next price level). A week or so after you deliver your order, you WILL get people who suddenly want to get a tee. If I had a nickle for every time that happened...

Joe


----------



## danni214 (Oct 21, 2014)

jleampark said:


> For vector tracing, a good place to go is https://www.copyartwork.com/. They are good, fast (next day), and only cost $14.
> 
> I also use Fiverr. As the name might suggest, gigs start at $5. One lady who has done nice work for me in the past is Hedwigstudio (https://www.fiverr.com/hedwigstudio...e&funnel=31bdbf32-adca-49b5-8b01-556af46253f0)
> 
> ...


Thank you very much for all of your help! I greatly appreciate it!


----------



## wormil (Jan 7, 2008)

My experience ordering extra tees turned out a bit differently. Over time I accumulated a couple boxes of random t-shirts in random sizes. I tried selling them off as singles in various ways but still have a bunch. So now I don't order any extras unless the order is 200+ shirts and any extras I do order are in my size or my wife's or kid's sizes.


----------

