Digitizer Advice

Flint54 · August 10th, 2011, 08:59 AM

A digitizing "Preparation charge" IS part of the sale to the customer, time is a value that needs to be compensated, just as shipping charges roll into material and product costs. When you do an order for a dozen shirts for a customer that wants them shipped to them don't you charge for shipping?

Also I don't see how $10 per design is a deal breaker, if you are down sizing and laying off the person that does your digitizing a cost of $10 per design with a weekly cost of $100 is a lot more inexpensive than what your previous employee was costing your business! Our charge is $40 per design and goes for 1 item to however many they want. If they do not want to pay the prep charge then they will not be a customer. Just part of doing business.

widners · August 10th, 2011, 09:43 AM

Yes and no. I see where you are coming from but think of it like this. Don't you try to find the most affordable shipping for your customer? Yes I pass on the expense to the customer but that doesn't mean that I don't care how much that expense is. I think we are on the same page, I don't think $10 is a lot but in your example you were thinking back to the days of $20 per k or something like that.

I look at the overall price to my customer and try to keep the costs down so I can provide them a quality product at the best price possible. That means I try to find the best quality for the best price in everything I provide them, digitizing, products, shipping, etc. Of course we pass on the costs but if you and I are both providing a quality product and I was able to seek out and/or negotiate better pricing on everything which made me $20, $50 cheaper then who looks like the better option?

Again I think we are on the same page, I don't think $10 is to much and I am not criticizing what you charge either. I am just pointing out that finding good quality products, digitizing or anything that we do for the best possible price is what I would strive for for my customers.

nametags · August 10th, 2011, 10:18 AM

10$ is a deal.

Competition keeps the prices even in your location.

Even the very apparel companies I buy from offer embroidery, directly competitng with me, their customer.

Gilligan · August 10th, 2011, 12:02 PM

Yeah, but if you are trying to save some dollars shipping do you go with this guy because he's a few bucks cheaper?

widners · August 10th, 2011, 01:54 PM

I know where you are trying to go with your post but this is not what we are talking about. We are talking about delivering a quality product at an affordable price. I was merely making reference to the fact that just because you pass the cost on to your customer doesn't mean that you don't care what the price is. I find that part of my job is to produce a quality product at affordable price. If I don't deliver on both of those items I do not believe I can or will be successful in my business.

Edit: and for the record I have no problem paying for quality work. I was not saying anything about anyone's pricing in this thread. I am just trying to point out that you still have to care what the pricing is even if the customer is paying for it.

shirtprints · August 10th, 2011, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AllEmbroidery

Hi,

I am in need of urgent advice. We were using inhouse digitizer till now.

But due to decreasing orders, now we want to outsource digitizing and reduce costs.

We will have 10 or 10+ orders per week to outsource.

I have tried Steve (gnizitigid@gmail.com) and taken 4 trial orders, work seems ok but prices are $10 per design which seems high for us. Is any one using Steve, how he is for doing business.

Can you advice me any digitizer which charges less because we really want to decrease digitizing costs.

If you can advice me any good digitizer with less costs, that will be great.

I use Steve for my digitizing and vectoring. His quality and turnaround are incredible for $10...and I do about the same volume you are talking about. To think that $10 is high for the amount of work I think is absurd. We have our own digitizing software (both Melco and Wilcom) and I wouldn't even think of using it now. We also find that because of the service and price that Steve gives us, we are more prone to "gamble" on a customer, offering to do a sew out of their design that they only pay for if they like it. I have gotten so many orders doing that, and $10 investment is a no brainer.

Gilligan · August 10th, 2011, 04:36 PM

Sure... but come on.

I will GLADLY pay 10 bucks... You better be pretty busy and have a REALLY good (and stupid) digitizer that you can do better than 10 bucks.

I mean... that is minimum wage (once you factor in payroll overhead).. *40 hrs a week is $400/week. If you aren't turning out 40 designs a week you are losing money. If your guy is that good and turning out 40 designs a week for min wage then you also may be able to get the government to subsidize his pay because his IQ probably qualifies as mentally retarded.

widners · August 10th, 2011, 04:40 PM

Like I said, I agree with you on that!

davidoakeas · August 11th, 2011, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shirtprints

I use Steve for my digitizing and vectoring. His quality and turnaround are incredible for $10...and I do about the same volume you are talking about. To think that $10 is high for the amount of work I think is absurd. We have our own digitizing software (both Melco and Wilcom) and I wouldn't even think of using it now. We also find that because of the service and price that Steve gives us, we are more prone to "gamble" on a customer, offering to do a sew out of their design that they only pay for if they like it. I have gotten so many orders doing that, and $10 investment is a no brainer.

I like your idea of free sew out to customer, i think it can increase business.

davidoakeas · August 11th, 2011, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flint54

Our charge is $40 per design and goes for 1 item to however many they want. If they do not want to pay the prep charge then they will not be a customer. Just part of doing business.

My clients will never pay that and if yours are paying $40, those are very good clients.