# Pass shipping costs to a local customer?



## Bodyshot (Feb 2, 2013)

Hi all, I've searched this with no luck. 
If my customer orders a small quantity of 36 shirts to get printed and shipping from my wholesaler is a pretty good percentage of those goods, how can I recoup that? I mean after I printed the goods I wouldn't list shipping on my invoice to my end customer, right? I just want the invoice to reflect shirt price (marked up of course), tax, and total. Are you eating shipping costs?


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## treefox2118 (Sep 23, 2010)

We charge customers for the shipping in our garment price.

So, what our garment price to customer includes is:

1. Wholesale price of garment
2. Labor cost to order garments
3. Labor cost to receive and sort garments
4. Shipping cost of garments to us

It might cost us $300 for 100 blanks, plus 1/2 hour to order them ($15) plus 1 hour to sort the order ($30) plus $15 in shipping. That means each blank cost us $360/100 = $3.20 each.

Mark up is 50% so we charge the customer $4.80 each, plus printing and any shipping and handling to send it to them.


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

We get free shipping from many of our vendors over $100/$150/$200 depending on the vendor. You can also negotiate that as well


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## Bodyshot (Feb 2, 2013)

Thanks for the reply. I guess I was wondering would a customer be paying less if I were to stock certain brands or would I just build in an average shipping fee as part of the cost of making a shirt. Since I'm just getting started, I can't really afford to stock shirts though. As for collecting sales tax, my accountant was saying that for some things (like labor) I could exempt from sales tax on my monthly return. That's where I was torn between breaking out fees or just lumping everything into a per-shirt cost and collecting tax on everything.


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

Screw breaking out labor on tax. Too much to keep track of


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## SunEmbroidery (Oct 18, 2007)

I add to everyone's per shirt cost (whether I need to pay for shipping or not). You could also charge a surcharge for smaller orders. That might encourage large orders.


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## Bodyshot (Feb 2, 2013)

Thanks for the thoughts. It never occurred to me how much shipping from my wholesaler would eat into a small job. In my pricing structure I obviously have a much higher price for small runs but didn't really account for the shipping. Need to re-calculate I guess.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

Bodyshot said:


> Thanks for the thoughts. It never occurred to me how much shipping from my wholesaler would eat into a small job. In my pricing structure I obviously have a much higher price for small runs but didn't really account for the shipping. Need to re-calculate I guess.


You can re-calculate all you want......However, at the end of the day, you can only charge what your customers are willing to pay or you do not make the sales...If you are not making enough profit, you better figure a way to lower your costs....


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## Bodyshot (Feb 2, 2013)

Well, that's a good point. I think finding out what the customer is will to pay is all part of what I'm doing. I've got to set my price somewhere. But I don't want to eat costs because I didn't anticipate them either. I have been looking into what other shops around me are charging too so I'm trying to dial in where I think I should be.


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## cookster (May 10, 2006)

royster13 said:


> You can re-calculate all you want......However, at the end of the day, you can only charge what your customers are willing to pay or you do not make the sales...If you are not making enough profit, you better figure a way to lower your costs....


You can see what your competition is charging but at the end of the day you need to set your prices based on what it costs you to run your business. Your accountant should be able to help you. You need to figure in shirt, labor, heat, electric, insurance and others I might have missed but I think you get the idea. 
Keep in mind that whatever equipment your using such as the press itself. It needs to make you X amount of money an hour and only you can figure that out based on what it takes to run your business. Hope this helps. 

Sent from my DROID RAZR using T-Shirt Forums


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

cookster said:


> You can see what your competition is charging but at the end of the day you need to set your prices based on what it costs you to run your business. Your accountant should be able to help you. You need to figure in shirt, labor, heat, electric, insurance and others I might have missed but I think you get the idea.
> Keep in mind that whatever equipment your using such as the press itself. It needs to make you X amount of money an hour and only you can figure that out based on what it takes to run your business. Hope this helps.
> 
> Sent from my DROID RAZR using T-Shirt Forums


Okay so using your "accountant's" method what if your prices end up higher than your client's are willing to pay?....Seems to me you end up a good margin but no sales....Kinda hard to make money if you have no revenue.....What am I missing?....

PS.....Been in business for many decades and never paid an accountant a dime.....


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## cookster (May 10, 2006)

royster13 said:


> Okay so using your "accountant's" method what if your prices end up higher than your client's are willing to pay?....Seems to me you end up a good margin but no sales....Kinda hard to make money if you have no revenue.....What am I missing?....
> 
> PS.....Been in business for many decades and never paid an accountant a dime.....


If your prices don't cover your costs to buy, print, run the press and other equipment then why open the doors. Its simple your revenue better cover your expenses or your out of business. Keep in mind you don't necessarily need to compete with lower priced competitors if you educate the customer on the product and your turnaround is better. If you worry about dealing with the bottom feeders it makes it tough to make a fair living. 

If I buy a piece of equipment it is because I have developed a customer base to support that machine. That machine is figured to make X amount per hour or it can't cover the cost of having it. 

I am glad you have never used an accountant. I grew up in a family owned business and the accountant, provided you have a good one is an asset to your company. 

Sent from my DROID RAZR using T-Shirt Forums


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