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Pricing for print shops

Practical Pricing guidance for apparel print shops. Worked examples, checklists and numbers, written for owners who run the press themselves.

How to price DTG printing per garment

Ink, pretreat, cure time and waste, added up honestly, then compared against screen print to find your crossover point.

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How to price screen printing (with a worked example)

The full formula, then 100 black tees priced line by line so you can see where the margin actually is.

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How to price embroidery by stitch count

Stitch count is the only honest basis for embroidery pricing. Here is how to build a per-thousand rate, and what to charge for digitising.

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DTF gang sheet costing, down to the square centimetre

Transfer work lives or dies on sheet utilisation. Here is how to cost by area, and why per-design pricing quietly loses money.

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Setting rush fees without losing the customer

A rush fee is not a punishment, it is the price of displacing other work. How to structure one that customers accept.

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Setting a minimum order quantity that protects margin

An MOQ is a margin tool, not a gate. Why a minimum order value usually beats a minimum quantity, and how to pick the number.

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Quoting to win the job without racing to the bottom

Speed, specificity and structure beat price on most enquiries. What to put in a quote so it does not get compared on one number.

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How to benchmark your own pricing (without guessing)

Published industry averages are close to useless for a single shop. Here is how to build a benchmark from your own jobs and read it honestly.

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Looking for how to do something in Printer's Friend? That lives in the guides. Choosing between tools? See the comparisons, or look a term up in the glossary.

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Take the pricing pack with you

Everything in the pricing posts, condensed into a PDF you can keep next to the press. Free.

  • One formula per decoration method
  • 100 black tees, priced line by line
  • The seven numbers to watch weekly