# Pricing out for contracting embroidery



## BudsDuds (Jan 8, 2008)

This is sort of a vent...I have a customer that brings shirts in for me to embroider, or screen. He walks in with 100 pcs for a 17,000 stitch design, 3 colors. I price it out at $6.25 each. I thought I was fair on my pricing, but he comes back after a few days and said he has another price of $4.75. I know I should have thicker skin, but it really pissed me off. I spent nights in my store for this guy to get his stuff done..literally, brought an air mattress in to get it done for him, and now he is pulling his stuff for a low ball price...What do you guys think? Is my price of $6.25 too high for 17K stitches on a fleece jacket?


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## GrandTee (May 9, 2012)

No. I Think it's a fair price. We would be a little more depending on the customer. Especially at only 100 units.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

6.25 is "insane"....4.75 is still high...3.00 is more like it....If you are close and he need them quick, you may be able to add a premium.....


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

We always add spiff on customer supplied items since we lose out on the profit on the garments. I don't think your price is unreasonable. Let him walk and he will be back when the quality and turnaround are not there


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## BudsDuds (Jan 8, 2008)

royster13 said:


> 6.25 is "insane"....4.75 is still high...3.00 is more like it....If you are close and he need them quick, you may be able to add a premium.....


Really? 17,000 stitches? Heck, most in the area won't even hoop a thing for under $5...and yes, I am very local...


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

and they probably do not 100s of heads running 24/7 like the large contract folks.....


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## hbapparel (Jan 16, 2012)

No way, $6.25 is on the money. Royster is always thinking everybody's pricing is too high. He must live an area of impoverished workers.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

hbapparel said:


> No way, $6.25 is on the money. Royster is always thinking everybody's pricing is too high. He must live an area of impoverished workers.


The price I quoted is available in most parts of the US....I just looked at price list from Cleveland....3.00 for 100 piece for 20k and 25.00 for digitizing....


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

5 B's - contract embroidery, sewing, embroidered t-shirts & hats


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## hbapparel (Jan 16, 2012)

5bs does it for that cheap and so do some others, but they do crappy work and even worse customer service. Get what you pay for. Our embroiders are some of the best in the country and we pay for it.


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## chuckh (Mar 22, 2008)

I recently quoted a very similar job at $6.50, 140 shirts 17,000+ stitches. No problem from my customer. 

If you are exclusively a regional or national contract embroiderer, then you are out of line. If you are running an embroidery business and taking in some contract work on occasion, then I think your pricing is fine. If you are establishing a long term agreement with this customer for regular contract jobs, then you might consider a little negotiation.

A lot depends on how many heads you are running and how quickly you can process the order.


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## BudsDuds (Jan 8, 2008)

Thank you for the thoughtful response. Yes, I have done plenty of work for this guy in the past and he is always nicking and dimming me. I like the guy, but geez... I think I will have a talk about this with him. He didn't pull his jackets yet, said he would come back for them today. He may just be playing a "see how low I can get him" game. I would rather him say, can you do for "$____" and then I say yay or nay...


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## BudsDuds (Jan 8, 2008)

royster13 said:


> 5 B's - contract embroidery, sewing, embroidered t-shirts & hats


I appreciate your input royster, but understand, I am a small shop and have a single head 12 needle. If I had multiple heads, no problem, but it takes roughly 20 minutes per jacket. In fact my machine just broke down this week. The power supply craped out... cost to replace, $400. This type of expense has to always be factored in somewhere. I know I don't have to justify my pricing to you, but rather just explaining my rationale. Seems other posters here agree with me, which is comforting..


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## kal6150 (Jan 22, 2011)

We use 5Bs for our bigger orders. Never had an issue, but you do pay. Direct from their latest catalog. Digitizing is $5/1000 Stitches so you're talking $85. 17000 Stitches for 100 garments is $4.75 each. For rush orders, 5Bs adds a premium of 75% for same day, 50% for 1 day, 30% for 2 day and 15% for 3 day turns. You've spent the night, but be generous and say 2 day turnaround. Add 30% to the $4.75, that's a $1.43 premium for a total $6.18. If you amortize the digitizing fee, add another .85 to the total. Of course, 5Bs has a heck of a lot more overhead, but your pricing looks OK to me. We don't haggle on price and we don't come down to anybody elses prices. We do give inentives on followup orders. I would stick to my guns with this customer. Everybody knows you get what you pay for. Chances are, he'll be back.

Sent from my SCH-I405 using T-Shirt Forums


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

BudsDuds said:


> I appreciate your input royster, but understand, I am a small shop and have a single head 12 needle. If I had multiple heads, no problem, but it takes roughly 20 minutes per jacket. In fact my machine just broke down this week. The power supply craped out... cost to replace, $400. This type of expense has to always be factored in somewhere. I know I don't have to justify my pricing to you, but rather just explaining my rationale. Seems other posters here agree with me, which is comforting..


I understand your rationale......But at the end of the day the 2 parties have to agree on price or there is no sale....If you need the work, you have to adjust your prices to where he is a willing buyer...If you have lots of work you can hold firm and see what happens...


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

kal6150 said:


> We use 5Bs for our bigger orders. Never had an issue, but you do pay. Direct from their latest catalog. Digitizing is $5/1000 Stitches so you're talking $85. 17000 Stitches for 100 garments is $4.75 each.
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I405 using T-Shirt Forums


Are you saying they do not use the price list they have posted on their website which says 3.50???


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## kal6150 (Jan 22, 2011)

I'm sure they honor that pricing, but that is a promotion. I was quoting from their hard copy catalog. 5Bs is a big place. I wouldn't expect a small shop to be able to keep up with 5Bs promotional pricing. I'm still of the mind that each business owner needs to set their own pricing.

Sent from my SCH-I405 using T-Shirt Forums


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## oldstunt (Mar 22, 2008)

I'm not very good at beating around the bush so here goes. $6.25 for 17k is very fair for a customer bringing in their own garments. If I had bent over backwards to please this person like you have and he played the old I'll go some were else game. I would gladly shake his hand and say it has been nice doing business with you see yea.
Sometimes a door will close but another will open.


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## api (Nov 22, 2009)

BudsDuds said:


> ...it takes roughly 20 minutes per jacket. In fact my machine just broke down this week. The power supply craped out... cost to replace, $400.


 
I am a newbie in the embroidery business but - with all due respect - something is wrong with your business model. If you do 3 jackets per hour (with $6.25/jacket) you will make $18.75/hour. You have some overhead, need a new power supply, and also, you "brought an air mattress in"... 

Unless you are printing $100 bills on an other printer while your embroidery machine is stitching the jackets, you are in a wrong business. (I would call it "Galley Slaves Inc.") 

Seriously - in my opinion - a single head embroidery machine cannot compete with large companies in the CONTRACT EMBROIDERY field. You need more heads and/or a different business model. I think... but I can be wrong.


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## GrandTee (May 9, 2012)

We used to run 80 heads 3 shifts a day. Contract embroidery is a tough business to be in. Been contract only shop for over 20 years now. Almost all of our customers use us because we do quality work, not because were the cheapest. Also we can turn around their jobs within days if need be for them. We never miss event dates for our clients. If he's not happy with your price let him walk. Not worth your time.


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## BudsDuds (Jan 8, 2008)

Well he came and took them out. I am disappointed, but I guess when you are in business, you have to grow thicker skin... He did leave his screen printing with me, so it's nothing personal.. good to know...


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## Rickster (Aug 23, 2012)

BudsDuds said:


> Well he came and took them out. I am disappointed, but I guess when you are in business, you have to grow thicker skin... He did leave his screen printing with me, so it's nothing personal.. good to know...


Okay your price seemed a bit high but there are a lot of factors involved. 

I gotta say about 15 years ago I had the exact same customer you described. One day this exact situation happened and he picked up his jackets/ shirts. When he left I said I am not doing contract work anymore. I was just sick of it. I tell you it was the best decision I ever made

You should see the faces of the guys that come in now and try to get me to do contract work. They can't believe I'm turning them away. Some will even argue with me about it. "I do xxx amount a year" Lol. I bet you do but I don't do that type of work

Hope that eases you a bit


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## A1WHITES (Nov 19, 2011)

Ok here my two cent. First his price is not too high. Second I don't care if you have a single head or multi head. It takes time to setup and finish the garment. And finally if you can't make a decent profit why do it.


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## selzler (Apr 4, 2007)

I would be at 6.50. I have a guy that always wants it to be cheaper the last time he came in I told him that I'm 3 weeks behind and raised my price by 15% and he still went with me. try it he maybe playing a game I look at it I could be getting some sleep and still having orders coming in


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## philipfirth83 (Aug 17, 2012)

I would be £2.55 ($4.15) here in the UK for 17000 stitches.


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## Blue92 (Oct 8, 2010)

The better half quotes 17K jobs in that quantity at $5.75 each and is raising the price in the next month.

That is in the Central Ohio market.

She is running a single head, 12 head and 15 head machines.


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## jimumfan (Oct 24, 2014)

You can't always look at what other price for the health of your business. For instance, there's no way you can offer the same prices on a 100 piece order if you have 6 heads and your bidding against a shop with 36 heads. Do what's right for your shop, do a great job, exceed your customer's expectations and you'll do fine.


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## Robertstringer (Nov 20, 2019)

BudsDuds said:


> This is sort of a vent...I have a customer that brings shirts in for me to embroider, or screen. He walks in with 100 pcs for a 17,000 stitch design, 3 colors. I price it out at $6.25 each. I thought I was fair on my pricing, but he comes back after a few days and said he has another price of $4.75. I know I should have thicker skin, but it really pissed me off. I spent nights in my store for this guy to get his stuff done..literally, brought an air mattress in to get it done for him, and now he is pulling his stuff for a low ball price...What do you guys think? Is my price of $6.25 too high for 17K stitches on a fleece jacket?


On such a small order I would’ve been higher than that he’s asking you to work for Chinese money which I’m sure is where you got the quote from do you want to work for nothing I would let him go


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