How do you structure your pricing for vehicle magnets?

[kcollinsdesign]

$6.00 sq. ft. plus layout/design/admin fee plus shipping fee. My minimum is $25.00 for 15 minutes or less, so if the client comes in with ready art, 2x 12" x 24" will cost $49.00 plus shipping. Usually I have to do some layout, so total price would be approx. $99.00 plus shipping. I don't make much on these, but my prices are competitive and it is a convenience for established clients and a foot in the door for new ones.

Note that I outsource this work.

 

[OhioSigns]

If a new customer walks in the door wanting a set of 12" x 24" magnets they generally will end up costing them about $90. Design time is billed by the hour and you can figure you will spend an hour between actual design time and the time spent initially taking the order and going back and forth with the customer making changes. The magnets by themselves are $45 for a set if a customer re-orders or provides print ready artwork. I also do not offer any warranty as you have no idea how the customer will take care of them, put them on a dirty vehicle or if they will try putting them over a body line, etc. I print on 3M 40C with 3M 8508 overlaminate mounted to 30 mil Magnum Magnetics. To me using cast films seems like overkill for magnets. I usually tell the customer magnets are short term by nature and should be replaced every 2-3 years if they are used 100% of the time.

 

[JTBoh]

IF we could sell magnets all day at $90, we'd be retired.
There isn't a huge need for them, anymore, especially since all major manufacturers are switching to aluminum truck doors.

We still sell a set for $90, and people still pay it. We maybe average about 2 sets a week.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

Ya'll are excited about $90 magnet orders? Must be some tough markets out there...I'm focused on the bigger fish.

 

[kcollinsdesign]

Nobody's getting excited about a small order for magnets. But if helping this client can get you a foot in the door, or if it is an established client, I would certainly do my best to fulfill the request.

PS: The client probably already knows he can get a pair of 12" x 24" magnets for around $35.00 by shopping online. In fact, I point that out to them up front. Chances are, however, they do not want to spend the time figuring out how to order them, and have only a vague idea how to prepare the art. Printed magnets are just a commodity; it's the service you provide that they are looking for.

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

Nobody's getting excited about a small order for magnets. But if helping this client can get you a foot in the door, or if it is an established client, I would certainly do my best to fulfill the request.

PS: The client probably already knows he can get a pair of 12" x 24" magnets for around $35.00 by shopping online. In fact, I point that out to them up front. Chances are, however, they do not want to spend the time figuring out how to order them, and have only a vague idea how to prepare the art. Printed magnets are just a commodity; it's the service you provide that they are looking for.

I disagree. In my experience, nothing has ever come about with a magnet customer. That's a door that I wouldn't even want to put your foot into.

 

[Pixels Are Bad Mmmkay?]

Ya'll are excited about $90 magnet orders? Must be some tough markets out there...I'm focused on the bigger fish.

Not everybody is a full service commercial sign shop. We don't do electrical signs and we don't do installation. We simply make non-electrical signage for retail to the end user and what they do with them is up to them. For us, a magnetic sign order is just as good as any other order.

I disagree. In my experience, nothing has ever come about with a magnet customer. That's a door that I wouldn't even want to put your foot into.

We do apparel screen printing as well as business forms and offset products, so in our case the opposite is usually true.

 

[kcollinsdesign]

Not everybody is a full service commercial sign shop. We don't do electrical signs and we don't do installation. We simply make non-electrical signage for retail to the end user and what they do with them is up to them. For us, a magnetic sign order is just as good as any other order.



We do apparel screen printing as well as business forms and offset products, so in our case the opposite is usually true.

Same here. Although I enjoy the challenges of sign design, that's not all I do. Branding and business marketing graphics is a bigger part of my business.

 

[FireSprint.com]

We suggest a retail price of $6-10 per square foot. Depends on contour cutting etc.

 

[jimbug72]

We have been at $90 for a pair of 18" x 12" for at least the past 10 years. Maybe 5% of the folks who inquire about magnets thinks that price is too high.

 

[BUCKY]

If you're in a retail or supply type business you only have to order products and sell products. On a typical set of magnetic signs I may spend 15-30 minutes taking to the customer before they decide that's what they want to buy. Then another 15 minutes for them to decide what they want on the signs. Now we start trying to lay out this magnetic to make it read easy and include all the info the customer wants on it. (usually too much) Then 80% of the time they want to see a proof first, so we have to wait sometimes a few days for an approval. Then 9 times out of 10 we have go back and make changes to the design. Once approved we can then use our equipment that we pay dearly for to produce these 2 small magnetic signs.
BTW we sell our 12"x24" magnetics for $85 per set. No design/layout/setup fee...that's all included. There is a lot more to consider than just how much your material cost is. Sign painters back in the day charged $100 to letter 2 truck doors with only $1.50 worth of paint.

Close graphix45, 25 years ago it was $150- $175.00 to hand lettered 2 doors using a couple colors with $1.50 worth of paint and materials. If we broke out the airbrush... "boom" it went to $250.00.
These days we have more costs with less profit. Gotta love the sign business!!!

 

[Oroscoe]

Cost of goods times 3. Adjust accordingly to your area. Been doing it for 20 years and has worked just fine.

 

[kcollinsdesign]

Close graphix45, 25 years ago it was $150- $175.00 to hand lettered 2 doors using a couple colors with $1.50 worth of paint and materials. If we broke out the airbrush... "boom" it went to $250.00.
These days we have more costs with less profit. Gotta love the sign business!!!

Yeah, but it takes skill and years of practice to hand paint professional quality graphics. I charge $250 and up for hand lettering a set of doors. I rarely do it because modern automotive finishes require specialized treatment and paint technology. Most typically, it will be an old-school hot rod or part of a restoration project, and I will use specialized urethane paints and paint the graphic before final clear coating.

 

[unclebun]

I work for a sign supply place and I based it off what we charge our customers for supplies. I get that there are other overhead costs I just didn't realize what kind of margins you guys are getting. On my end of the industry getting a 30% margin on anything is rough let alone 1000%. I'm not saying you were gouging or anything. Just surprised.

And your reasoning on the price is exactly why sign pricing has gone down the tubes with the advent of digital printing. The $90 price does include a normal markup on materials by doubling the cost. But the bulk of the price to the retail customer is not in the cost of materials; it's in the service provided and the advertising value. Too many people have entered the sign business green, without any experience and without any mentorship from an experienced sign professional, and they price things based solely on the cost of materials. Thus they have removed the professional and service parts of the sign business as well as the advertising value, making it nothing but a commodity.

There's a big difference in how wholesale bulk materials (what you sell) are marked up and priced compared to design and advertising pieces (which is what signs are)

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

And your reasoning on the price is exactly why sign pricing has gone down the tubes with the advent of digital printing. The $90 price does include a normal markup on materials by doubling the cost. But the bulk of the price to the retail customer is not in the cost of materials; it's in the service provided and the advertising value. Too many people have entered the sign business green, without any experience and without any mentorship from an experienced sign professional, and they price things based solely on the cost of materials. Thus they have removed the professional and service parts of the sign business as well as the advertising value, making it nothing but a commodity.

There's a big difference in how wholesale bulk materials (what you sell) are marked up and priced compared to design and advertising pieces (which is what signs are)

I agree, if you priced magnets what they should be... material + your design time + time interacting with that client (Opportunity COSTS) then you'd have magnets costing hundreds of dollars. That could be off-putting to people and you run the risk of getting bad online reviews. I myself just don't even offer magnets because I know what my time is worth and I don't want to run the risk of some customer leaving a bad review because of a magnet snafu. But then again, I charge ~$150/hr because I'm an installer, and other shops may be happy with working for ~$30/hr so they can have it... I'm in a different business then them and I understand that and I don't need to compete.

 

[Solventinkjet]

And your reasoning on the price is exactly why sign pricing has gone down the tubes with the advent of digital printing. The $90 price does include a normal markup on materials by doubling the cost. But the bulk of the price to the retail customer is not in the cost of materials; it's in the service provided and the advertising value. Too many people have entered the sign business green, without any experience and without any mentorship from an experienced sign professional, and they price things based solely on the cost of materials. Thus they have removed the professional and service parts of the sign business as well as the advertising value, making it nothing but a commodity.

There's a big difference in how wholesale bulk materials (what you sell) are marked up and priced compared to design and advertising pieces (which is what signs are)

Oh believe me I understand the industry and all of the newbies coming in and undercutting everyone. My job for the last 10 years has entailed going to sign shops all over the country so I see my fair share of top quality shops and also the guys working out of their garage selling banners for $1 per square. I would never open a shop and price things lower than market value. I just didn't realize customers were willing to pay so much.