Top 12 Things Decorators Should Include in Their Pricing

f you think you’re leaving money on the table with your print shop’s pricing, you probably are. “Unfortunately, many shop owners don’t know how to price,” says Marshall Atkinson, business consultant at Atkinson Consulting and Shirt Lab Tribe.

“They base it on the shop down the road and then increase their prices by 5%. But that has nothing to do with the reality of you running your business, and how much money you want to make an hour, if everything’s running.”
- Marshall Atkinson, business consultant at Atkinson Consulting and Shirt Lab Tribe

Whether you're a seasoned printing pro or just starting out, it’s always worth taking a second look at how you price decorating services. We asked industry pros what printers should include in their pricing – their in-depth list should help you ace your estimates and unlock a new level of profitability.

”Got a client who's all about that color matching life? Or they want the bling of specialty inks? Those extras deserve a place in your price tag. Remember, it's not just about the basics – it’s about being street-smart in the world of printing costs.”
- LaTonna Roberson, owner of T-Shirt Shop Dallas and consultant/coach at Lady Print Boss Consulting

Pricing Basics Upfront

It goes without saying that before you get granular with everything you should charge for, you should understand pricing basics. At the ground level, you’re charging the customer for the blank, the cost of decorating it and then adding on a mark-up percentage to make a good profit margin.

There are other formulas to use in your specific shop to figure out a base level of what you need to charge to pay your bills and make a profit. For example, calculating your monthly operational expenses includes what you shell out simply to run a business, such as rent, utilities, internet, insurance and so on. Besides overhead, another important factor is taking into account your labor costs, or the amount of hours you spend on a job, and your materials.

“It's smart to think beyond the basics when crunching the numbers for your printing business. Sure, you've got the usual suspects like blank costs, overhead and artwork expenses covered. But don't forget about the real-world stuff like spoilage – we all have those ‘oops’ moments in printing, right?”
- LaTonna Roberson, owner of T-Shirt Shop Dallas and consultant/coach at Lady Print Boss Consulting

What You Should Include In Your Pricing

“Everyone always talks about $500,000 in sales, to which I say, ‘OK , what’s the profit?’” Atkinson says.

“That top line number is a vanity metric. You might have only made a profit of $50,000, or 10%, on that half a million. But if you sell $1 million and make $300,000 or 30% in profit, you’re doing really well.”
‍- Marshall Atkinson, business consultant at Atkinson Consulting and Shirt Lab Tribe

Check out 12 items you might not be including in your pricing that can really contribute to your upping profit percentage.

1. Your value:

When it comes to pricing, one of the biggest areas experts say print shops overlook is their worth. ”Our industry is rampant with shops racing to the bottom just to grab work,” says Lucas Guariglia, co-founder and CEO of Rowboat Creative.

“While staying aggressive and in tune with what the market can bear, you shouldn’t sacrifice the intrinsic value your company built over the years. We offer services large brands and musicians seek out, and don’t sacrifice that value in a race to the bottom.”

“If a customer claims another company will do the job for way less, we let them go. Nine out of 10 times they come back saying they had a terrible experience, but we all know you get what you pay for.”
- Lucas Guariglia, co-founder and CEO of Rowboat Creative

2. Consulting time:

This means different things for different shops – whether you’re scheduling an initial meeting for a potential large client to tour your facility, see lots of samples and talk about their goals, or whether you’re doing all this for a company ordering five printed shirts.

“While consultation fees don’t necessarily move the needle for order value, it can set the precedent for the type of shop you run and the level of business you deal with. That’s why consulting time is something you should consider building into your pricing, since it’s a wonderful way to protect your team’s time.”
- Lucas Guariglia, co-founder and CEO of Rowboat Creative

3. Artwork creation:

Whether you’re using a template to create a logo, tweaking a design or creating wow-worthy custom art from scratch, charge accordingly for the value of what you provide. Some shops with in-house artists keep artwork pricing low, but the graphics are what compel end-users to wear or buy the decorated garment.

Besides covering your costs to produce the artwork, whether in-house or contract, add on a healthy profit for the creative work in part based on the number of shirts they order.  

4. Seps and digitizing:

Besides artwork creation or editing, part of your graphics fee can include screen-printing seps or embroidery digitizing work to prep the file to print out or sew out at the highest quality.

5. Number of colors and print locations:

Pay attention to the number of colors in your screen-print designs and charge accordingly – a one- or two-color design will cost less to run than five-color artwork. If you’re printing on a darker garment and use an underbase layer, build that into your pricing.

Another great upsell is more than one print location, like the front and back of a shirt or cap. If you combine print with another technique like embroidery for a multimedia design, that’s also an upcharge opportunity.

6. Better-quality apparel:

As you’ve probably seen in your print shop, people are often willing to pay more for a well-fitting, soft retail shirt vs. a cheaper, ill-fitting, rough shirt. You’ll make a higher profit margin on a better-quality shirt, so explain the benefits to buyers. Display samples in your shop and create digital presentation materials that show the value of investing in branded shirts that people wear more often and for longer.

7. Samples:

“If you're whipping up samples before a big order, that time has to count in your pricing,” Roberson says. “After all, time is money, and you're putting in the effort to make things shine.”

8. Hang tags, labels and packaging:

Lots of clients value “retail add-ons” like custom labels, hang-tags and unique packaging to enhance their branding. Special woven or printed labels inside tagless garments are another unique element lots of clients like to give something a premium feel.

Schools or teams with lots of individual orders also value individualized packaging or poly bagging to make it easier to distribute items. While you can charge a nominal fee for regular packaging, offering an additional service like this is a great way to upsell and increase your revenue.

9. Shipping costs:

No matter how you slice it, you’ll pass on shipping costs to your customers. However, some printers have found – and stats show this – that customers may be four to five times more likely to purchase if you offer free shipping.

However, that should translate to higher per-product costs since you’re taking on the shipping. If you go that route, you can divide the average shipping costs by the number of items and then add that to the product cost. If you’re paying $20 to ship 50 tees, that’s 40 cents per shirt you’ll add to the customer’s pricing.

10. Order quantity:

As a buyer increases their order quantity, do you apply bigger and better bulk discounts to incentivize them? While you’ll need to run the numbers to ensure you’re still making a profit, passing on some savings can help you increase your order size and value overall.

11. Credit card fees:

“Don’t forget the under-the-radar stuff like chargebacks and those pesky credit card processing fees that can chip away at your profits,” Roberson says. “It's like a game of pricing chess!”

12. All the other extras:

Earlier, Roberson mentioned other special items that might come up during an order like exact color matching or specialty inks. Carefully review each order and include any charges for those extras, since they’ll start to add up. You don’t want to lose out on profit, because you’re not charging for that value you offer customers.

Don’t Settle for the Pricing Status Quo

Once you know you’re charging for all the right things in your pricing, don’t just set your pricing list and forget it. Mark your calendar to review your pricing on a regular basis, such as every six months.

“Pricing should be based on the value you give your customer,” Atkinson says. “Shop A can sell a shirt for $10 and Shop B sells it for $20. You should know what it costs you to the penny to produce a shirt – and that’s where formulas can help.

However, you’ll be more profitable if you don’t price just based on a formula, but instead, base it on the unique value you're offering customers.

‍