Quote needed for coasters

[gocoastergo]

Hello all,

I am looking to have some glass coaster printed with my own pictures.
I would like to have 20 different coasters printed as a sample and have options to print 4,8,12+ of each design at a later date.
The glass coaster should measure 10x10cm minimum and have pads under.
If a cork base is available, but please quote separately for this option.

I will prefer to have 1 sample created first (1 image) before doing the first 20.
I will pay for any sample/postage incurred.

Any questions/quotes by PM please.

Thanks

S

[gocoastergo]

Am based in the UK.

[gocoastergo]

1 week and no response?

[bms]

Not sure how many people have 100mm square glass coasters "on the shelf" to do the odd sample. You might find this needs to be ordered in from a supplier and then printed, so the costs of doing the odd one will be very high. We don't sell 100mm square glass coasters - Graeme do you?

[Justin]

Transfer Press so them, I have some here. Not sure on prices yet as I've only a few in to sample but I could certainly print some for you. They have the small rubber feet on but I don't use cork backings.

[gocoastergo]

Thx for the above response.
So any of you happy to propose a price for my initial quote above?
IF 900X900mm are easier to find, I am flexible.

thx

[John G]

Don't think anybody is going to offer you a coaster at 900mm x 900mm :lol: what size table do you have ;)

[gocoastergo]

oops yes, sorry 90x90mm or whatever they come up at....

[JSR]

The main problem with glass coasters is that availability changes as often as you change your socks.

Just when you get one size and style sorted out and make it available to customers, that size/style disappears and a different one pops up to replace it. One minute they're smooth, then they're textured, then they're a different texture, then they're smooth again. One minute they're 120mm sq, then 108mm sq, then 100mm sq, then 150mm sq.

It's incredibly annoying, particularly when customers come back for a repeat order and you have to let them down. Someone could do your sample(s) for you but, when you come to order later, that particular coaster is likely to be unavailable.

The latest glass coasters are not as good as what we used to have either. I'm having a real tough time getting a nice vibrant image out of the print. Results used to be superb - almost too vibrant - but now the coating seems to have changed because the resulting print appears almost washed-out. They also seem to take an absolute age to press because you have to be careful not to overheat the white coating (I've had coasters ruined because the coating bubbled up and stuck to the paper in the past). And that's when they don't break in the heat press due to heat shock in the glass.

I find I'm often wasting more than I'm selling just to get a half-decent print, which is why it's pretty impossible to sell them at a sensible price. Being glass, they are also heavy - which pushes up the shipping cost, too, making small quantities a virtual non-seller.

Needless to say, I don't sell too many. And, unsurprisingly, I don't push them as a key product either.

If you're interested in cork backing, the only ones I've found are the 95mm round ones. The cork backing (89mm dia.) is available separately for round wooden coasters, but it works just as well for the glass coasters.

Sorry to sound so negative, but glass coasters are really more trouble than they're worth (to the person doing the printing, anyway) right now - and that's probably why you haven't had people flocking to do your samples for you.

(This is my glass coaster page: http://www.mugsandgifts.co.uk/zshop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=91_106)

[gocoastergo]

Thanks JSR for your advices and opinions..
Really appreciated...