Outsource Embroidery

I currently outsource all embroidery to a local firm and have no complaints about the work, quality or turn around times but they have just put the set up fees up to £50 from £35. He only charges me £3 per item which I provide. His clients are major corporations and businesses so a £50 fee is nothing infact he most probally doesnt even charge then as they are ordering 100's if not 1000's a year. I have questioned why the hike from £35 to £50. Obviously I know they outsource the digitising but his excuse it that the company they use make additional sticthes to the rear for strengthening so increase the costs. This price is even for basic text!

I dont do enough embroidery to justify a machine, well we are mainly a signage firm, so outsourcing works for us.
Is there anyone on here in the Surrey, South East areawho may be intersted in taking my embroidery work in the future.

Cheers
Iain

£50 seems a bit steep for a regular customer, but I suppose if the embroiderer is paying his staff £10 per hr to deal with the digitising company he has to add that to his costs.

£3 seems reasonable for low volume work ( does that include vat?) so is it worth shopping around?

One option is to source your own digitising and send the files to the supplier.

Alternatively companies like Buy t-shirts Online will wholesale you the garments and provide print and embroidery services - on a slidding scale. You might pay a few pennies more for the garment but digitising is only £15. Never used them for decoration but they were reliable when I bought blanks from them in the past.

https://www.buytshirtsonline.co.uk/embroidery-i71

He is outsourcing the digitising so no costs to him. It was £35 he is telling me the company he uses to digitise has put the price up.
I had a client who came to me with the file as their pervious supplierhad gone bust. My current embroiderer said it was all the wrong format and charge me £35 to have it re done and to be fair my client has said they are better quality than there previous supplier.
I cannot complain really as for £3 with no vat I know I am saving but it is hard to justify £50 to a new client who only wants 2-3 tops a year and can go online and pay half of that.

Hi. 50 pounds is a bit steep but 3 pounds for the embroidery is very good. If I was your embroiderer I would have put the embroidery charge up as thats where he would make his money.
A digitiser would charge around 20 for digitising and the extra backing is BS unless its for beanies which need a bit more stability.

If I was you I would accept his charges as 3 pounds per item is a good price.

My charges are higher per item but cheaper for the digitising.

[QUOTE=Earl Smith;141511]Hi. 50 pounds is a bit steep but 3 pounds for the embroidery is very good. If I was your embroiderer I would have put the embroidery charge up as thats where he would make his money.
A digitiser would charge around 20 for digitising and the extra backing is BS unless its for beanies which need a bit more stability.

If I was you I would accept his charges as 3 pounds per item is a good price.

It is not the £3 per item, I know that is a good deal, as he is not adding VAT I am assuming he is losing it somewhere :tongue: It is trying to explain to a client the £50 set up fee when most places around or online are £15-£20 cheaper.

"""It is not the £3 per item, I know that is a good deal, as he is not adding VAT I am assuming he is losing it somewhere :tongue: It is trying to explain to a client the £50 set up fee when most places around or online are £15-£20 cheaper.""""

Have you talked to the embroidery firm and explained that to him? 3 pounds is peanuts as his actual price is only 2,50 plus VAT. Why not ask him to drop the setup charge to 25 and add extra to the actual embroidery. 5 or 6 pounds is a reasonable price. ( I would charge you 8€ a piece.) That way its more understandable to your customer.

Sorry, I have to write pounds as I dont have the symbol on my German keyboard. :-)

Sorry, I have to write pounds as I dont have the symbol on my German keyboard. :-)

Is that an EU Rule? after the end of this month you could apply for one :tongue:

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Originally Posted by Quinsfan

Sorry, I have to write pounds as I dont have the symbol on my German keyboard. :-)

Is that an EU Rule? after the end of this month you could apply for one :tongue:

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Im sure its on here somewhere, Im just too stupid to find it. CNTL ALT ??? The german alphabet is 3 letters longer so there is no room for the pound.
Ive applied for the symbol along with my new blue passport and free Unicorn rides.

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Originally Posted by Quinsfan

it is hard to justify £50 to a new client who only wants 2-3 tops a year and can go online and pay half of that.

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Are you sure your embroiderer is not trying to guide you toward what constitutes a 'viable' customer. If your guy has a thriving local business maybe he finds the small orders disruptive.

Online companies tend to be either struggling local firms, desperate for new business or very large firms with plenty of staff.

I know that when I used to offer contract screenprinting services to local embroiderers most of the work they sent me was the 'pain in the butt' jobs. I would have turned them away, if they had come through by own doors. I only kept the service going because one job in ten was worth having.

Pw66 you have a good point there about small jobs being disruptive. Last week I finished some of my big jobs but didnt manage to embroider two towels or two firm motives for some customers. This morning, Monday, I was about to start my next big order of 90 pieces and in walks the customer for her towels. Yes they will be done later today but she will have to wait. I had told her they will be ready by end of January but here she is 5 days early. Yes, the small jobs do get in the way but sadly these small jobs can lead to some big orders so I never refuse them.

They may be small jobs but he does get 2-3 of them each month from me. Depends what is small? 10 items per client? Sometimes he has 50-60 items per month.

50 to 60 a month is not a small job. Id try and talk to him about reducing the digitising cost and putting up the price per piece. Thats more understandable for your customer too.
2,50 is ridiculously cheap, that would be his price for 200 plus and still too low.

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Originally Posted by Quinsfan

They may be small jobs but he does get 2-3 of them each month from me. Depends what is small? 10 items per client? Sometimes he has 50-60 items per month.

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Hi Iain, have you thought of using DTG trade print services as an alternative? No minimum order quantity or setup charges.

Would he consider you supplying your own digitised files?

You can get files done for around £10-15 and come with the plan for loading etc. etc. "IF" he is not making any money out of the digitising then surely he would not mind.

I get all my files digitised by netdigitising left breast is £10 plus vat. I charge it out at £20 to customers then £4.50 per item. I'm based in Berkshire so not to far if your still looking.