Shirt re-order pricing

[Stacey K]

I'm still relatively new to apparel. Recently, I've had some orders for 100+ shirts and the customer came back and ordered a few more a couple weeks after the order was complete...quantity under 15. The larger orders had a quantity discount, should I apply that discount to the small re-orders also? For these particular orders I sold the re-orders for the same price as the original discounted shirts as I was not sure what to do. Before this happens again, I would like to know what the general procedure is. I just sent out an order on Friday in which I had ordered prints from Transfer Express. The price difference there is HUGE from 15 to 100 prints. This really got me thinking I better get this figured out quick! Thank you!

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

That should be treated as whole separate order.... minus the original design charge.

 

[Stacey K]

That should be treated as whole separate order.... minus the original design charge.

That's what I was thinking too. Going forward I will need to tell the customer this upfront during the first order. I felt like it was a bit shady since I hadn't explained that upfront. Thank you!

 

[White Haus]

That's what I was thinking too. Going forward I will need to tell the customer this upfront during the first order. I felt like it was a bit shady since I hadn't explained that upfront. Thank you!

I get what you're saying and can appreciate your honesty and you not wanting to surprise your customer, but at the same time it's common sense (in any industry, let alone custom printing) that there is an economy of scale. I don't necessarily think you need to warn every customer that a future order with a smaller quantity will result in a higher unit price. I would just make sure your estimates are clear and show the unit prices and quantity discounts (if applicable).

 

[Saturn]

One easy solution that I use all the time is to start the conversation or email with, 50 are $, 100 are $$, 500 are $$$—Even if they're just asking about 100. This should soothe any moral dilemmas (since the per piece price is right there for the figuring) and can also lead to larger orders if they see that there's an unexpected savings for doing more!

 

[WhiskeyDreamer]

I have a pricing sheet I use that the client is able to see when they're placing the order. It's broken down by the amount of colors printed per side and quantity of garments. If the client changes the order size mid-order and it goes into and out of a price break, then their cost is changed.

Personally, I have a 12pc minimum on screen printing with the first break at 36, second at 72 and last at 144. If a client is ordering 34 shirts, I'll tell them to bump to the 36 and get the quantity discount. If they come back and order 12 shirts instead of 50, the cost per piece is going to reflect that.

 

[jimbug72]

We would treat it as a separate order and priced according to the new quantity. As White Haus said, there is no real need to explain this in advance to the customer. It costs you more per garment to do smaller quantities, so it should cost the customer.

If you go to the store and buy a 16 pack of batteries, get home and find out you actually needed 24 batteries you don't go back to the store expecting to get a 8 pack of batteries at the same price per battery as the 16 pack.

That being said, if it is a good customer or the the re-order is following a large run that was a simple 1 or 2 color imprint that is still set-up we may be willing to work with them on pricing.. But we screen print. If you're buying transfers that leaves you less wiggle room to appease the customer and leave room for a worthwhile profit.

 

[iPrintStuff]

I’d treat it as a new order. That way they can’t come back every couple of weeks and add a few extra. If they ask about it, just say there’s the same amount of setup for 15 shirts as you’d need for 100. (I.e load a roll of HTV and wander off - or however you’re printing them). So naturally it’s cheaper per unit on setup if you do a larger order (and that’s consistent throughout HTV, sublimation and especially screen printing)

Even your stock levels might need replenishing after an order and it’s cheaper per unit for you to buy 100 and not 15. Then as you mentioned, you wouldn’t get any such discount etc if you ordered online, either.

We just have upfront pricing with price breaks based on quantity.

Basically, if it costs you more, it should cost the customer more!

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

Like others have said... you may want to make a price chart

 

[d fleming]

I don't go to screen for less than 25 pieces. Anything smaller than that is heat press quantity and price is significantly higher.