# markup on blank shirts provided by printer?



## MayhemIndustries (Jan 21, 2009)

okay so i saw this place called porkchop screen printing whose prices are based on the actual printing itself not including shirts which i thought was awesome because its only 1.50 for a one color design and a minimum of 24. so i could get hanes 100% COTTON for like 80 bucks then turn around and sell them for mad profit.

then i called and they said its like 6 dollars just for the AA2001 shirts and like 5 bux for the anvil 980...............? so i insisted i could order them for way less online and if i could provide my own shirts.........he said thats fine but they will charge me a 1 dollar stocking fee per shirt!!!!!!!!!are you kidding me so basically i find out that your marking the price of the shirts up and so then you give me like a 25 cent discount lol soooo lame

my question is this. Is there a quality screen printer out there that wont mark up the shirt prices and give them to me at cost or do they all mark up the price??


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

MayhemIndustries said:


> my question is this. Is there a quality screen printer out there that wont mark up the shirt prices and give them to me at cost or do they all mark up the price??


Not _all_ printers mark up the price of the shirts, but the vast majority do.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> are you kidding me so basically i find out that your marking the price of the shirts up and so then you give me like a 25 cent discount lol soooo lame


Yes, this is a common practice. Many service providers mark up the products they have to stock. Same goes for your car repair shop and other service places.

There's actually some reasoning behind why the printer may charge more for the blanks. It helps to cover shipping, it helps to cover replacements that they will pay for out of pocket if there is a misprint, it helps to cover the time in dealing with ordering blanks.

You may be able to search around and find a printer that has totally separate pricing if you bring your own blanks. Some printers don't charge extra, but many of them do because it's more of a hassle if a customer brings their own blanks.

If you search around the web, you can get pricing from dozens of printers and compare them to see if they are competitive to what you've found locally. But if you get good service and printing from the local business, it may be worth it to be close to your printer and not have to worry about shipping.


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## TshirtGuru (Jul 9, 2008)

MayhemIndustries said:


> okay so i saw this place called porkchop screen printing whose prices are based on the actual printing itself not including shirts which i thought was awesome because its only 1.50 for a one color design and a minimum of 24. so i could get hanes 100% COTTON for like 80 bucks then turn around and sell them for mad profit.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Wait a minute...so you want to make maadddd profit, while leaving the printer not to make his? A lot of customers think they can save money by providing their own shirts, most times, they end up paying more in the end because the printers just mark up the print price if you do provide your own shirts. Printers have to make money to stay in business, pay for shipping, pay for employees, pay for the warehouse, pay for credit card fees, pay for water, pay for gas, pay for electricity, pay for equipment, pay for supplies, pay for time, pay for depreciation of equipment, pay for labor, pay for software you don't know how to operate, pay for payroll taxes, pay for triple net, pay for insurance, pay for phone and internet. I can go on, but you get the point.


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## MayhemIndustries (Jan 21, 2009)

i agree but still why mark up something i can get for cheaper?? if your gonna charge alot charge for the screenprinting its not my fault the profits on that arent very good i suggest getting into another business im looking out for the me not them


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## TshirtGuru (Jul 9, 2008)

MayhemIndustries said:


> i agree but still why mark up something i can get for cheaper?? if your gonna charge alot charge for the screenprinting its not my fault the profits on that arent very good i suggest getting into another business im looking out for the me not them


That's exactly what they are doing. They are marking up the printing if you provide your own shirts right? Whether they charge $6 for the garment & $4 for printing. Or they charge $10 for printing. What's the difference?

The reason they probably list their print prices is to draw customers in thinking they are cheap. My guess.


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## MayhemIndustries (Jan 21, 2009)

im sure somewhere has good quality and will be reasonable on printing cost as well as give us shirts at cost........the little man will never win if they dont mark down the price i can pay those prices anywhere stornvy,merchspin etc and they wont charge screens "storenv" as well as have faster turn around and probably better results


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## Girlzndollz (Oct 3, 2007)

Hi Steven,

I've seen various posts on the forum from printers about the customer blanks situation. Some printers posted that they do not mark up the cost of the shirt (beyond the total cost of the blanks). Others say they do. Some printers say they remove the cost of the blank when a customer brings in their own, and that they do not mark up the job with a per piece fee, while others have said that always will mark up a per piece fee. You can find some of these older posts, too, they are out there. 

The bigger point is, you know what you are looking for, and those kinds of printers are out there, you just have to find the right one for you, that has these policies set up they way you are looking to do business.


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## InterStreme (Feb 9, 2008)

A well paid printer is a happy printer. Less stress from bills...more energy for quality work.


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

TshirtGuru said:


> What's the difference?


The difference is psychological. Many customers hate this pricing method (it just doesn't sit right), but just about every printer who ever hears this feedback just gets defensive and ignores it.

Like most service industries, the print industry is entrenched, and doesn't listen to the general public.

Instead of listening to the _actual_ problem, they assume the problem is just money grabbing customers wanting printers to be cheaper all around. Not so. The problem is people expect to pay printers to print, not to broker blank garments.


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## out da box (May 1, 2007)

Bottom line is that people expect to pay pennies per print. The markup allows the printer to get some profit out of the deal. Some use high set-up/art/film charges to accomplish the same thing. People have a number in their head to pay for someone pushing a squuegie- it's a buck. 
Unless you're doing hundreds at a pop- 50 bucks to print a small order of tees ain't gonna cut it.


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## Comin'OutSwingin (Oct 28, 2005)

Solmu said:


> The difference is psychological. Many customers hate this pricing method (it just doesn't sit right), but just about every printer who ever hears this feedback just gets defensive and ignores it.
> 
> Like most service industries, the print industry is entrenched, and doesn't listen to the general public.
> 
> Instead of listening to the _actual_ problem, they assume the problem is just money grabbing customers wanting printers to be cheaper all around. Not so. The problem is people expect to pay printers to print, not to broker blank garments.


I *completely* agree!

I never had any problem paying a premium for excellent print quality and excellent customer service from a screen printer. I didn't care if the print charges came to more than the print charges plus the garments at another printer, as long as I got great quality and service.

But, one thing I always hated was a printer that said they don't have a print price!

"well, we make money off of the garment, too. so it just depends".

How in the world can you be in the business of *printing* shirts, but don't have a price that you know you need to charge for *printing* in order to make a profit?

Charge all you want for the actual printing, I don't care. But at least let me know what you actually charge for *printing*.

So, back when I used screen printers, I was able to find a printer that told me: "this is the price for the printing, this is the price of the garment. if you can get the garment cheaper, go ahead". 

This way I knew exactly what my costs were and where the money was going because I knew how much they charged for *printing*. 

Sometimes I needed a garment they didn't carry, and they printed on my garments. Other times they could get a garment cheaper than I could, and I would let them furnish the garment.

Either way, the price of the *printing* never changed. I always knew what the per piece price was for just printing, and could go from there. They never marked up the price on the garments so they could make more on an order.

They based their business model on great printing and service, and charging a premium for it. Not brokering deals on blank shirts.

So, Ridgely, from a former customer's point of view, the bottom line isn't wanting to pay pennies per print. It's about being fair and upfront with pricing.


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## MayhemIndustries (Jan 21, 2009)

Comin'OutSwingin said:


> I *completely* agree!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 
exactly what i think....well said


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## denck (Apr 7, 2009)

If they want to provide their own shirt- thats great
I dont have to pay for shipping
So if I normally charge $7.00 a shirt to print
now they just caught a break. Now its $5.00 a shirt
I'm not responsible for replacing any screwed up shirts if they provide.


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## Skiddem (Apr 11, 2009)

My customers can provide their own shirts if they want to, but I am going to make the same money either way. I can either get shirts at wholesale and charge for my printing or I can charge for my printing and they can pay more elsewhere for the same shirt.

The only time this has ever evened seemed practical to a customer is if they happen to have some old shirts lying around that they want printed. There isn't really a way for a customer to buy shirts as cheap as I do. They can go to sites that offer blanks, but most screenprinters with a reputation using a single distro source are paying case pricing and not piece pricing.

Plus it's usually just plain annoying to have someone provide shirts because, as a screenprinter, we are stuck if you give us 100 shirts to print and we mess one up. If we order them, we usually are paying for extras in case of mistakes. This is something I always warn my customers about when they provide their own shirts.


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## Comin'OutSwingin (Oct 28, 2005)

denck said:


> If they want to provide their own shirt- thats great
> I dont have to pay for shipping
> So if I normally charge $7.00 a shirt to print
> now they just caught a break. Now its $5.00 a shirt
> I'm not responsible for replacing any screwed up shirts if they provide.


Sounds good to me! I'll take that all day long!



Skiddem said:


> Plus it's usually just plain annoying to have someone provide shirts because, as a screenprinter, we are stuck if you give us 100 shirts to print and we mess one up. If we order them, we usually are paying for extras in case of mistakes. This is something I always warn my customers about when they provide their own shirts.


Again, no problem.

I always provided more shirts and had more shirts printed than I actually needed.

All of that sounds pretty fair to me. A little give-and-take makes for a good business relationship.



Skiddem said:


> The only time this has ever evened seemed practical to a customer is if they happen to have some old shirts lying around that they want printed. There isn't really a way for a customer to buy shirts as cheap as I do. They can go to sites that offer blanks, but most screenprinters with a reputation using a single distro source are paying case pricing and not piece pricing.


This isn't always true. It depends on the type of customer you're dealing with.

Since I retail my clothing, I have a resale license from my state, I also have a tax id#. This allows me to get wholesale prices from distributors/manufactures.

I can frequently get case pricing on pieces.

There have been several times that I could get just as good and sometimes better pricing than a particular printer could, just because we had accounts at different places.


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## TshirtGuru (Jul 9, 2008)

It's none of the customers business if the printer marks up on shirts. Someone said it well before, "Do you bring your own steak to a restaurant?" and ask for a price break? The restaurant should only be paid to cook right?

This is where the vendors screwed the printing industry. Some vendors decided to open wholesale prices to the public so any Joe off the street can purchase at case prices. Now every Joe can buy the shirts on their own. Now what gives Joe the right to purchase shirts at the same price I do if he buys $100 worth anually, and I purchase $100,000 anually? 

So, do you think printers should also detail out that the $0.25 of the $4.00 of printing they are charging is for paper towels? And that $1.00 is for electricity? You should know everything you are being charged for, correct?

In any case, this thread is headed in the wrong direction so this should be discussed in another thread. I apologize to the original poster.


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## Comin'OutSwingin (Oct 28, 2005)

TshirtGuru said:


> It's none of the customers business if the printer marks up on shirts. Someone said it well before, "Do you bring your own steak to a restaurant?" and ask for a price break? The restaurant should only be paid to cook right?


And like I've said before, a screen printing shop isn't a restaurant.

There are other industries that let customers supply goods, but of course you don't want to compare screen printing to those.




> So, do you think printers should also detail out that the $0.25 of the $4.00 of printing they are charging is for paper towels? And that $1.00 is for electricity? You should know everything you are being charged for, correct?


No, I don't. But, this is because I understand the difference between wanting to know how much the *printer* charges for *printing*, and how much his cost of doing business is.

If you don't know the difference, that's on you.

If you read my post, you would see that I don't care where the money that they charge for *printing* goes, or what they charge. Just tell me what you charge to *print*.


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

TshirtGuru said:


> It's none of the customers business if the printer marks up on shirts. Someone said it well before, "Do you bring your own steak to a restaurant?" and ask for a price break? The restaurant should only be paid to cook right?


Poor analogy. The restaurant gives a total price for service and goods. I've got no complaint about printers who do that too.

Plus it's a different industry and the same rules don't necessarily apply.

Plus I wouldn't have a problem with refusing to print on customer supplied t-shirts (_especially_ if printers didn't so often both overcharge for the shirts *and* refuse to print on customer's shirts). *None* of that addresses the complaint we _actually_ have. It's just more defensive spin from printers who don't listen.

Maybe it _is_ none of the customer's business, but that doesn't mean they like it. It's happening transparently in front of them after all. It's just another way that printers treat customers like they're idiots. Funnily enough, those who notice it going on don't appreciate it.



TshirtGuru said:


> This is where the vendors screwed the printing industry.


Of course, blame everyone _else_. It's the customers' fault. It's the vendors' fault. But never the printers'.



TshirtGuru said:


> So, do you think printers should also detail out that the $0.25 of the $4.00 of printing they are charging is for paper towels? And that $1.00 is for electricity? You should know everything you are being charged for, correct?


This is exactly what I'm talking about. Getting defensive and attacking imagined problems, instead of looking at the very simple _actual_ problem that some customers are having.

You treat printing as an ideological war between yourself and your customers, and you're always right. In my opinion that's not very productive.



TshirtGuru said:


> In any case, this thread is headed in the wrong direction so this should be discussed in another thread. I apologize to the original poster.


Yes, that may be the case.


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

Thread note: This thread was split off from the referrals and recommendations area to keep the two topics separate. The referral portion of the thread can be found here.​


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## MayhemIndustries (Jan 21, 2009)

back to the part where some one said the printer needs to put food on the table.there makin bank if they charge 2 bux for just the print for 24 shirts thats 48 bux which they can easily do in an hour 48 bux an hour is pretty good pay to be and divide it by 2 people 24 an hours not hurting any one id take it


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

MayhemIndustries said:


> back to the part where some one said the printer needs to put food on the table.there makin bank if they charge 2 bux for just the print for 24 shirts thats 48 bux which they can easily do in an hour 48 bux an hour is pretty good pay to be and divide it by 2 people 24 an hours not hurting any one id take it


I wouldn't even consider doing a job for that kind of price, and I wouldn't expect any other printer to either.

$48 for an hour's run of shirts is not even close to $48/hour. There are a lot of overheads involved in running a legitimate business, be it a printers or any other kind of business. It's not pure profit.


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## MayhemIndustries (Jan 21, 2009)

lol well its funny i found a printer to do it maybe your juss looking for too much i mean its just screen printing there not building you the great wall of china if you want to continue paying high prices be my guest but this is america built on finding the lowest price to help get the most profit thats a little economics supply and demand lesson for ya theres a billion screen printers out there im going to go with the one where the price is right =]


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

Solmu said:


> You treat printing as an ideological war between yourself and your customers, and you're always right. In my opinion that's not very productive.


Just to add Henry, I do at least understand and sympathise with *why* you feel this way


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## mrvixx (Jan 13, 2009)

Most of the printers that do not charge a handeling fee for customer provided shirts end up getting burned by a cheap *** customer. hate all you want but this is true. this has been discussed before and some of you already know my take. I mark up the garment on my orders at 75% if a customer decides he wants to provide his own shirt then i deduct the amount i pay for the shirt, not the mark up. unless you are a contract customer you will not get a break from me. i have never had anyone reject a job for this reason. the thing is that a lot of local customers will buy t-shirts retail at 3 for $10 so they pay $3.33 plus tax. i will get the same shirt for $1.75 x 75% so thats about the same price.


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## Comin'OutSwingin (Oct 28, 2005)

Well, I think there are different issues at play here. Marking up the shirts, accepting customer supplied shirts, and being upfront about pricing.

I really don't think this is about whether or not you print on customer supplied garments as it is about letting the customer know what you charge, and what the charges are for.

I don't get why it's such a problem for a screen printer to figure out what price they need to charge for printing shirts in order to make the profit that they want to make, and leave the brokering of shirt sales to manufacturers and distributors.

*Print* the shirts. Charge what you want for *printing* the shirts. Tell the customer what you charge for *printing* the shirts.

Pretty simple.


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## MayhemIndustries (Jan 21, 2009)

Comin'OutSwingin said:


> I don't get why it's such a problem for a screen printer to figure out what price they need to charge for printing shirts in order to make the profit that they want to make, and leave the brokering of shirt sales to manufacturers and distributors.
> 
> *Print* the shirts. Charge what you want for *printing* the shirts. Tell the customer what you charge for *printing* the shirts.
> 
> Pretty simple.


i second that


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## mrvixx (Jan 13, 2009)

i will be upfront with customers on pricing. its up to them if they want to do business with me or not.


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## out da box (May 1, 2007)

Any other business gets markup on supplied goods used in the manufacturing process, get over it. The thing that makes it tough is that any tom dick and harry can get a t-shirt or polo shirt from wal-mart, so they want to save a buck. Can't blame them. But they are the same ones that complain about high set=up and film charges. Like I said, people so math in their head based on what they think you should be making per hour based on their wallet- 50.00 per hour is peanuts- you will pay me and my business more than that one way or the other.
Truthfully, I have had few problems with most customers on my pricing, but it is geared towards higher volume since we're an auto only shop. There are on the other hand people who just refuse to let you make good money any way you cut it. 
If you charge high set=up there's an issue. If you charge high print charges, there's a problem, add a flash charge, there's a problem. 
I show those people the door or the dial tone.


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## Comin'OutSwingin (Oct 28, 2005)

out da box said:


> Any other business gets markup on supplied goods used in the manufacturing process, get over it.


Nothing to get over, it doesn't affect me.

But, you *might* have more of a case if this were a "manufacturing process". As it is you just provide a service.

You don't make the shirt. You put ink on the shirt that you get from someone else, who most likely didn't make the shirt either.

Putting ink on a *finished product* can hardly be called part of the "manufacturing process".


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## out da box (May 1, 2007)

The product is not finished- it's a blank t-shirt. Dtg retailers buy an epson 4800 printer and modify it and resell it for 20 grand. Do you think you can give them your Espon and have them make a dtg printer for 5grand- come on let's be realistic. Let me eat some of that chicken too.
Profit is not a dirty word.


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## Comin'OutSwingin (Oct 28, 2005)

A blank t-shirt is a finished product. People wear blank t-shirts all the time. You can go to the store, and buy plenty of blank t-shirts at retail. If it were not a finished product, you wouldn't be able to do that.

Screen printing just customizes the finished product.


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## out da box (May 1, 2007)

good point, but still...


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## Fuzz (May 7, 2007)

I just dont see where any of this really matters. If you think something is a deseptive tactic then that printer probably isnt right for you. But ALL customers pay for EVERYTHING no matter how you slice it up. 

In the end what matters, as far as money goes, is how much did you pay for that shirt. To get that, all you have to do is add up every penny you spent to get that shirt in your hand( shirt cost, shipping, printing, gas to go get it etc etc etc). Take that number and divide it by the number of shirts you had printed and there you go.


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## MayhemIndustries (Jan 21, 2009)

agreed however i still dont like that they markup something i can get cheaper


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## Fuzz (May 7, 2007)

It doesnt really matter what they are marking up in the end. I would hate for you to miss a good deal because of the way they structure the pricing when the end cost is all that matters to you, the customer. 

If you really get down to it, there are several ways that one might see as deceptive ways of pricing. Even myself, I dont charge seperate screen fees, but it is built into the price of printing. Some might see that as me trying to get over on them when I am really just trying to keep it simple. Some might look at my pricing and think I am way too high, disregarding the fact that the other cheaper guy has $25 per screen charges, $40 art charges and maybe even $5-$10 film charges. There are plenty of other examples i could list also. 

Again though (when it comes to money), what matters, to the printer and the customer, is the end price you pay.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> lol well its funny i found a printer to do it maybe your juss looking for too much i mean its just screen printing there not building you the great wall of china if you want to continue paying high prices be my guest but this is america built on finding the lowest price to help get the most profit thats a little economics supply and demand lesson for ya theres a billion screen printers out there im going to go with the one where the price is right


You will always be able to find someone to do a job at a bottom dollar price.

Just as long as you're aware that you may or may not come with the level of service you'd like or the quality of printing you'd like. You may also find that the bottom dollar printer isn't around after a few years.

Lowest price does not always equal the best place to go.

Insulting printers by trivializing the service they are providing to you by saying "there not building you the great wall of china" is probably not very productive to getting the information you're requesting.


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

Fuzz said:


> It doesnt really matter what they are marking up in the end. I would hate for you to miss a good deal because of the way they structure the pricing when the end cost is all that matters to you, the customer.


At the end of the day I'll calculate per item cost on anything I'm buying, and act accordingly.

But how (any) service provider presents their product or service offering, their prices, etc. - the psychology of it all - will affect how I feel about them. In turn, that will affect who I go with. I'm not going to cut my nose off to spite my face - but if quotes come in close, I'll go with the person I _like_ more, even if it costs me a little more.

The presentation of prices is one of the many things that contribute to how comfortable I am with a company, and how professional I think they will be. If it aligns with my perception of fair and honest disclosure, we're off to a good start for a business relationship. So when a service provider provides a clear price on their service, personally I take that as a professional courtesy to their customers.

I also take it as a sign that they understand their role in a larger industry, and what they can do to help me, their potential customer. Why? Because it indicates that they understand that their role is to provide me the service I am hiring them for, and to be compensated fairly for it. It sets up clear expectations between customer and provider. When a company *invents* a service that I don't need and charges me for it, I get angry - even if they've discounted something else equally. I see it as deceitful.

To generalise, I don't like companies that undercharge on one item (in this case, printing) and overcompensate on another (in this case, garments) in order to have it balance out.

Not everyone will respond the same way. But in my case, it just makes them less likely to get the sale.

It is one of the ways that I judge a business' honesty, and I don't deal with dishonest businesspeople (the example in this thread alone would not be enough for me to consider someone dishonest, but combine with some _other_ negatives and we're on our way). It's all about perception - we judge a company on what little information we can glean from them.

I perceive this practice as a negative.


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## Fuzz (May 7, 2007)

_"If you think something is a deseptive tactic then that printer probably isnt right for you."_ 

Quoted from my original post.

I totally agree with you.


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## tozier9 (Dec 11, 2010)

and what about your stores that sell patagonia, american apparel, skis, boots, bindings, jackets, hats etc. they buy finished products at wholesale pricing and then double their cost - just so that you can come in and shop in their store? 
when we mark up our shirts you are paying for our ein, for our time to call the vendors, for the shipping, for the packaging, and for our credit that we have extablished with our vendors

that being said, I tell my clients exactly what they're paying for printing services - however if you do not order from us then our printing charges go up since we're losing that profit margin from marking up our blanks.


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## Skiddem (Apr 11, 2009)

I may be lost in what is going on in this conversation but it seems that the question is should a company mark up a blank shirt and then pretend they are charging less to print it.

Overall, there are lots of tactics and none are entirely incorrect or intentionally deceitful.

Say I buy a shirt for $2.00. (basic tee)
Or American Apparel for $6.50 (designer tee).

Walmart sells the basic for $4.50 blank.
American Apparel sells theres blank for $20.00.

Some places love to do art fees, screen fees, blah blah blah. I like to just tell my customer a stinking price and if they really need to know why a 4 color costs more than a 2 I am happy to explain it.

But overall, the blank price to my customer is whatever I tell them. Markup is markup and your wholesale price is your benefit. 

If they want 50 blank shirts, then I can give discounts but the overall point of MSRP is to allow you the room to be competitive.

Now if I try telling my customer that there is going to be a $5.00 shipping fee on a shirt I have in stock I am being deceitful. Keep in mind too that if you are a person who has a running inventory, that counts as a contributing cost factor in your shirts because you do have a replacement cost to your shirt and/or a value to the money you spend to keep inventory. 

If you buy a 2.00 shirt to keep in stock you have spent your money to keep it in stock so your cost is technically higher than 2.00 even if you do nothing else to it because inventory is not a liquid asset.

I've probably gone over the top, but ultimately we all know a jerk printer when we see one and so do our customers. If you want to keep them, treat them fair.


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## Jay B (Dec 27, 2008)

Please keep in mind that any contract printer must recieve the said t-shirts count them in checking for the right sizes quantities and color or colors and contacting you if there are any problems so there is an actual labor cost dealing with your shirts you purchased from someone else. So if you don't care if they are the wrong shirts and I can just dump them out of the box and print whatever there is then maybe you shouldn't have any markup on that shirt.


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## Skiddem (Apr 11, 2009)

Jay B said:


> Please keep in mind that any contract printer must recieve the said t-shirts count them in checking for the right sizes quantities and color or colors and contacting you if there are any problems so there is an actual labor cost dealing with your shirts you purchased from someone else. So if you don't care if they are the wrong shirts and I can just dump them out of the box and print whatever there is then maybe you shouldn't have any markup on that shirt.


amen to that, there are "extras" that are usually ordered just in case scenarios like this. i usually ask my customer if they would like me to print the extras (since I am ordering them anyway) and believe it or not they usually say ok.

one time i had the company send me 25 of the wrong size and if i hadn't had extras, the order would not have been done


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## seanfmccool (Jun 19, 2015)

I am a small screen printer. I operate from my home. people forget that the overhead costs to make a finished product do not go away.

Electric, water, sewage, gas, inkjet films, uv blocking inkjet printer ink, the chemicals needed to reclaim and recoat a screen, plastisol ink and additives, clean up cards and never ending ending supply of paper towels, and the list goes on and on. 

they become included in the final cost of the shirts.

what is cool is seeing the customers face when they see their logo on a shirt for the first time.

when I first started I was charging screen fees and artwork fees and a set up charge. I told them it was a 1 time charge. no one liked those extra fees. then I started selling it as final cost per shirt with a minimum order. 

customers seem to more accepting of a final cost per shirt price plan than a low price per shirt and showing all the set up fees. 

For example base price for a white t-shirt one color ink is $5.00 per shirt. add an extra dollar for each additional color. Black or any other color starts at $6.00 per shirt plus $1.oo for each additional color. I have a 24 t-shirt minimum.

if the customer is VERY Specific about the type of shirt they want they add the difference in price to the final cost per shirt. Plus add an up charge for oversized shirts.

you have to cover your costs and make a profit. there is a lot of time involved from taking the order to giving the customer their t-shirts.

that's my two cents.

Sean McCool

McCool's Custom Textile Printing and Graphics 
Pittsburgh, PA

seanfmccool at gmail dot com


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## Beckmansbeach (Jun 30, 2014)

"I just dont like paying more for something i get cheaper"......

Do you ever buy bottled water at a convenience store? Why on earth would you pay $1 for a bottle when you could go to Walmart and buy a case of 24 for $5? Keep them in your trunk. Oh, wait, you want a cold bottle? Well it costs $60 a month to run a commercial drink cooler, and the person who fills it gets paid, and the person at the register too right? But they should only charge .21 cents cause thats how much you could get it for, right? Oh, wait, even Walmart charges $.75 for cold bottles at the register....

My business is a boardwalk convenience store. I press my own custom designs of my town and lots of stock catalog transfers for customers. Press is on the counter, designs all over the walls (i have at least 300 different transfers) 

I mention the bottle of water because in my store, that same bottle is $2.50. Yea. Try paying a years worth of storefront expenses in 5 months, you would want charge more. Fyi, i sell 500+ cases a season, and were not even talking about the gatorade, soda, energy drinks, etc.
Its supply and demand. If a customer complains about the price, i tell them its a 10 block walk into town to save a buck. If they continue to complain, i politely ask them to leave so i can ring up the 5 people after them in line that are happy to pay me for the convenience of being right on the beach.

Not every printer can charge the same rock bottom price for printing. The guys with a big shop in a busy town are paying a lot more in rent, taxes, higher employee wages then the guy printing shirts in his basement.

Markup on shirts, blah, blah, blah. Its just the way he words it to formulate the profit it is worth it for him to do the job. Everybody has a different formula, and he is entitled to what works for him. If he says the price of printing is more if you supply the shirts, its his right to to make sure he makes his profit on the job. Don't like it? Walk 10 blocks into town to the other guy.

I charge $15 for a T-shirt retail in my store. At first, i would have the occasional customer who would ask if i could press on a shirt they supplied. So i would do it for 5 bucks. Whatever, right? Then, i realized i had way to many people doing it so i now charge $10 to press one of my designs on there shirt. Its not about the profit in marking up the shirt, its the fact that what i am selling is the design, not the shirt.

I also do a lot of custom orders for local businesses, softball teams, etc. 

personally, i wouldn't touch 48 shirts for 48 dollars. Sure i could print them in less than an hour, but that doesn't include the 1-3 hours spent dealing with the customer to get the order, proof design, fix crappy art etc.
I charge what i feel it is worth it to me to do the job. Great vector, simple logo, job gets cheaper. Less headache. Easy customer, better price. Picky customer wasting my time, price goes up. 
I base my prices on my TOTAL time it takes to get paid. My time is what is worth money.

If you want a quality job, your going to have to pay for quality work.

Oh, and have you ever actually ordered these blanks you can get for mad cheaper? How long did it take you to complete the order, how much was the shipping (shipping alone on smaller orders can be $.25+ a shirt) how long did it take you to go through the order and check that its correct? Does the printer not deserve to get paid for his time doing all of that or is he only allowed to get paid when he has a squeegee in his hand? 

Order some shirts. Factor in these issues. Are you still saving money? If so its more than likely because your time isn't worth that much. Ok, now drive to the guys house who gave you the cheapest price, carry them into his mom's basement and hope he actually cares enough to pay attention while trying to get your shirts done as fast as possible with the cheapest inks he could find.


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## tpitman (Jul 30, 2007)

An embroiderer I print for had a customer who provided their own blanks. My policy on customer-supplied stuff is, I'll print it but not replace misprints.
So this was a 5 color print. Mostly tees, but they snuck in some fleece we weren't expecting. Printed them anyway, but had 3 misprints. We didn't charge for the misprints. Customer went berserk. We reimbursed him for the misprinted garments he supplied. He still went nuts, demanding that we not only replace the 3 shirts/fleece, but set the job back up and do it for nothing. At this point the screens had been reclaimed.
He was shown the door. He was selling the tees for $28 each on his website -- some of that "mad profit" you mention, but expected everyone else work for nothing.
To the original poster, if you don't like paying someone to do the work, learn how to do it yourself. I'm the cheapest SOB on the planet, and whenever I can I learn how to do stuff on my own. Not always the most efficient way to do things, but it's how I operate. If you're better at selling than you are printing, accept the fact that you'll have to pay someone something to produce the product you're peddling.


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## seanfmccool (Jun 19, 2015)

like the man said" To the original poster, if you don't like paying someone to do the work, learn how to do it yourself. I'm the cheapest SOB on the planet, and whenever I can I learn how to do stuff on my own. Not always the most efficient way to do things, but it's how I operate. If you're better at selling than you are printing, accept the fact that you'll have to pay someone something to produce the product you're peddling."

Mark up your shirts to a price that you think you customer are willing to pay. then there is "so called MAD PROFFIT". 

you can sell a screen printed t-shirt for $10.00 all day long where I live. some days you can get $15.00


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