# Contract pricing versus retail pricing



## Mtnview (Nov 5, 2009)

For those who do both retail embroidery and some contract embroidery I am curious how much some of you discount from the retail price. We aren't quite to the point of contracting our embroidery services yet but have entertained the thought for the future.


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## zoom_monster (Sep 20, 2006)

Mtnview said:


> For those who do both retail embroidery and some contract embroidery I am curious how much some of you discount from the retail price. We aren't quite to the point of contracting our embroidery services yet but have entertained the thought for the future.


Hi John,
In your case, How much does a thousand stitches cost you?


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## fishnstk (Oct 12, 2005)

John, thats a good question. I once quoted anywhere $1.00 for 500 pieces, I did not get the job some one out bid me at 0.85. People are cheap and want the cheapest price. If your not careful you can really get burned. So I usually quote them by how long it takes to hoop the item what type of backing, stitch count, spray if any, topper. Add them all up and usually charge between $3.50 and $5.00 my labor and also how long it takes to trim the job ie jump stitches if any. You need to think of electricity also to run the machine. So this is only a guess and you can adjust to suit your needs. I pay myself, and yes we do get alot of embroidery.


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## royster13 (Aug 14, 2007)

Unless you are runs lots of heads, it will be hard to give "competitive" contract pricing and still make money.....One of the shops I use has 230 heads and runs 24/7....They have over a dozen digitizers on staff....Another shop I use has over 100 heads and also runs 24/7.....Go sell retail and it will make you more money in the long run....


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## BeCreative (Jul 2, 2011)

good to know!


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## jim55912 (Jun 10, 2008)

We don't offer a discount for contract. We are upfront about it and still do get some contract work. 95% of what we embroider is product that we sold, I honestly can't figure out how contractors make any money.


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## Wrightdesign (Jun 7, 2009)

what is the difference between contract work and retail ? i am confused. i thought i get an order i mark up the shirts and put little more on it with the emb. and do the order ... to me that is retail so what is contract? thanks in advance.


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## zoom_monster (Sep 20, 2006)

Wrightdesign said:


> what is the difference between contract work and retail ? i am confused. i thought i get an order i mark up the shirts and put little more on it with the emb. and do the order ... to me that is retail so what is contract? thanks in advance.


Contract is when you have multiple retailers contacting you to do just decoration on their supplied garments. Your prices reflect your cost for production plus whatever you need to grow you business and keep your shop operating on an hourly basis. You do not mark up the garment, but you do need to cover spoilage and offer a price that is "retail friendly"

If you only have a single head, don't even think about wholesale pricing because you cannot compete with shops that have higher head counts.


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## myfinishingtouch (Nov 21, 2009)

We prefer to supply garments and if we supply the garment we have one price for the embroidery (we do it by the stitch count). If a customer brings a garment to us to embroider we upcharge our pricing by 25%. We do some contract embroidery for a couple of companies and what we do is offer them the price as if we supplied the garment and they seem pretty happy with that.


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## Wrightdesign (Jun 7, 2009)

I can tell you that I do not do contract embroidery. I only have 2 heads emb. machines and I do alot of custom embroidery special t shirts. I every now and then get customers wanting 25 or 50 or 100 shirts or towels of 100 or less. i will do any job no matter how small it is. alot of people around here will not touch anything if they do not meet 12 or more. not me. i will. i charge for it and people do not seem to mind. they pay and are very happy. thanks for the info. hope to see you at the ISS in Ft.Worth


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