# Vinyl Pricing question



## Charms4all (Jan 29, 2007)

Hi there, I am sure this question has been asked before, but.... 
I have a new vinyl cutter, and the pricing cd was not in my package and is on its way BUT..... I need to know how much a 6in by 6 in single color vinyl decal would cost me, and you know those little squares on the back of the vinyl, can someone tell me if four of those is a square in, and if so how much does it cost me for one of those squares? The price i paid for the vinyl is roughly 18.00 for 10 yards by 24 inches...
But i also need to know how much extra to charge for the clear tape that goes with the decal, (roughly cuz i am not sure what that cost me) (it came in the package) 

Thanks in advance
JESS


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> Hi there, I am sure this question has been asked before, but....


The following three threads below should help get you started. In the last one there's a pricing excel spreadsheet in one of the posts.

http://www.t-shirtforums.com/vinyl-cutters-plotters-transfers/t9963.html
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/heat-press-heat-transfers/t11104.html
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/general-t-shirt-selling-discussion/t8268.html


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## Coyote (Nov 15, 2006)

I played around with my pricing for a while and finally came to a sweet spot with this:

$5 + 10 cents/sq. in. Therefore:

6"x6" = $5 + (6x6x.1=$3.6) = $8.60
12"x1" = $5 + (12x1x.1=$1.2) = $6.20
18"x24" = $5 + (18x24x.1=$43.20) = $48.20

I used to charge by the linear inch, but it made long thin decals too expensive. These are all for custom designs though. When I'm at a show and crank out a bunch of the same thing to sell on the table, I drop the price a bit.

...Mat


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## mystysue (Aug 27, 2006)

Ok one of the deciding factors for me would be.. Did i have have to take time to design or tweak the design so it would cut correctly. A 6 x 6 decal in our shop would cost between 10 -20 and we sell them all the time. One thing to take in concideration is the fact that many vinyl shops have a mim order amount. At my shop anything that we make comes with a 20.oo Minimum so if they were just buying that one sticker it would be 20.00. This is quite common in sign and vinyl shops and has to do with covering you for the time involved. People need to understand that anytime you are doing a one up of something it is labor intensive. Do not sell yourself or your products cheap. Now for us the tape that we apply is figured into the cost of what we sell and we do not charge extra for it, and i believe that is true of any of the shops i know of.


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## COEDS (Oct 4, 2006)

I have been playing with the issue of what to charge. I like coyote's method. I think there should also be a minimum charge too. We need to remember our time is money. I caution all that being too far on either side of the average is harmful to sales. Just mt two cents worth. I encourage others to post their charges too ......... Thanks JB


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## Coyote (Nov 15, 2006)

Oops! I also should have mentioned that additional work, like tracing JPEGs into vectors cost more. I generally charge $20/hr for "art fees" in that case.

I also knock off 25% on any orders of 5 or more of the same item. At that point I've already done the layout/art work and I'm just repeating.


...Mat


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## mystysue (Aug 27, 2006)

I think that many of you would be interested in finding out what Sign shops charge for differant things like this.. As in if we can get that price so can you..
Our shop art charge is 85.oo an hour.. but if its justa simple vecorization that can be whipped out in illy real quick we dont charge that much, so for some things its just on a case by case. Or if its just typed words, there would really be no art charges.
There is more harm done to the sign industry and the T-shirt biz by undercharging than many people realize. So Please relly look into how much you are charging.

We dont knock much off for when they are doing alot of them .. mabe like 10%. We explain to the customers that each one is made individually so they are priced accordingly


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## Charms4all (Jan 29, 2007)

Coyote said:


> I played around with my pricing for a while and finally came to a sweet spot with this:
> 
> $5 + 10 cents/sq. in. Therefore:
> 
> ...


Thank you for all your input.. I do have one question on this statement though.. So the $5.00 is your labor fee and the 10 cents is how much the vinyl costs per sq inch?


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## Charms4all (Jan 29, 2007)

I fogot to ask this..
The mathamatic equation.. (i know i spelled that wrong) would it be...
10 yards x 24 in = 8640 inches divided by the cost (25.00) equals 332 then do you take the 332 divide it again by 8640,... well shoot i dont think i did it right, but anyone out there know the how to set up the math for it.. 1st grade level??


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## hammered (Apr 14, 2006)

For digital clean up and raster to vector conversions, I charge $35 for the first hour and 30 per hour after that. Also, dont forget to add in for complex designs. Nothing sucks more to find out all your profit went out the window by spending 5x longer weeding than you factored in.


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## RestoringYourMem (Aug 30, 2006)

Coyote said:


> I played around with my pricing for a while and finally came to a sweet spot with this:
> 
> $5 + 10 cents/sq. in. Therefore:
> 
> ...


What about 2 color designs, do you just add an additional $0.10/sq.in. for the additional colors or do you add an additional base also?

Thanks
Lloyd


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## Coyote (Nov 15, 2006)

When I do multi color designs, each additional color is an entire new decal. I don't do installations, just make and sell the decals. It's up to the customer to install them. So, if they order a 3-color decal, they walk out with (and pay for) 3 separate decals ready to install.

I don't charge extra for complicated designs. However, I do limit how small I will make a particular decal. Something simple, like blocks or circles that require little weeding I can make pretty small. Something with a lot of detail I'll make larger (and obviously charge more).

One rule of thumb I came up with:

"if it's hard to read, it's hard to weed - and - if it's hard to weed, it's hard to read"

It goes both ways and works out well for myself and customers alike. I don't like weeding tiny areas and the customer will not be happy with tiny little high-detailed images on the back of their cars that you can't even make out what the image is supposed to be.

...Mat


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## RestoringYourMem (Aug 30, 2006)

Mat,

I like your basic pricing structure, I think I am going to using something similar. I do have a couple of customers who have requested multi-color decals and are expecting them to be "assembled" prior to picking them up, so all they have to do is apply one decal, so I will just have to adjust my pricing accordingly. One more question on your basic pricing is it for intermediate vinyl or premium cast vinyl?

Thanks
Lloyd


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## Coyote (Nov 15, 2006)

I've been using Oracal 651 intermediate. I've thought about moving up to cast, but can't really justify the added cost.

...Mat


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## treadhead (Jul 26, 2006)

Charms4all said:


> Hi there, I am sure this question has been asked before, but....
> I have a new vinyl cutter, and the pricing cd was not in my package and is on its way BUT..... I need to know how much a 6in by 6 in single color vinyl decal would cost me, and you know those little squares on the back of the vinyl, can someone tell me if four of those is a square in, and if so how much does it cost me for one of those squares? The price i paid for the vinyl is roughly 18.00 for 10 yards by 24 inches...
> But i also need to know how much extra to charge for the clear tape that goes with the decal, (roughly cuz i am not sure what that cost me) (it came in the package)
> 
> ...


I've gotten a few quotes on 3"x6" window decals and 6" x 6" window decals. The 6" x 6" were as low as $.66 each...weeded and ready to apply!!! No quantitiy was specified in quote but I did ask to quote as though I order 12 each for every order. These are wholesale prices that I would probably resell for around $5 each.

So..I'm a bit confused on why there is such a big difference??  I'm going to review my quotes to make sure I'm not missing something.


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## rusty (Feb 9, 2007)

I can't imagine somebody selling a 6"x6" weeded decal for .66 cents. That must be a typo. Most people charge more than .66 cents just for the weeding itself.


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## brad (Feb 23, 2007)

I sell hundereds of decals based on 1/2 of a square foot 6"x6" or 2 "x12" whatever the cace may be. I sell them for $6.00 each or 2 for $10 at fairs and come out pretty sweet. Vinyl is cheap.You can get 100 decals out of a 10 yard roll. Thats $500.00 a roll. Stick to the $10.00 a square foot method its easy and profitable. Oh and people buy the decals. Thats a plus!!!


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## treadhead (Jul 26, 2006)

rusty said:


> I can't imagine somebody selling a 6"x6" weeded decal for .66 cents. That must be a typo. Most people charge more than .66 cents just for the weeding itself.


You're probably right Rusty...

More than likely, I've got a decimal point in the wrong place!!


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## RestoringYourMem (Aug 30, 2006)

brad said:


> I sell hundereds of decals based on 1/2 of a square foot 6"x6" or 2 "x12" whatever the cace may be. I sell them for $6.00 each or 2 for $10 at fairs and come out pretty sweet. Vinyl is cheap.You can get 100 decals out of a 10 yard roll. Thats $500.00 a roll. Stick to the $10.00 a square foot method its easy and profitable. Oh and people buy the decals. Thats a plus!!!


Brad,

6"x6" is a 1/4 square foot, you are actually getting $20 a sqft at this rate, which is in line with in line with Mat's pricing, except his smaller decals go far a little more with his $5 base.


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## brad (Feb 23, 2007)

OOPS your right.
Did I mention Im taking medication LOL !!!


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## oddhuman (Jul 27, 2006)

This is some helpful information. I am starting out in the custom vinyl biz and I like matt's pricing. I love this forum


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