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Newbie needing advice/prices
First of all let me say Happy New Year to you all, lets hope its a good one.
I’m currently in the printing business as a print finisher, which I’m still learning daily. Its fun I guess but in the new year I plan to pass my test and change jobs.
Long story short, I used to print for people when I left school, had a nice customer base etc and fancy going up in the world with digital printer.
Interested in a solvent printer since I can do almost everything I wish to do, from vinyl, canvas and photo enlargement.
Since I don’t have much money to start me off, could somebody guide in me in the right direction for the cheapest solvent printer on the market, mainly with fair priced ink too. Would be looking at finance of the machine too with extended warrenty or full warrenty offered with the finance deal.
Hope someone can help me on my quest.
Many Thanks in Advance
Brett -
4 Replies
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Hiya Brett.
Well, you’ll probably get as many answers as there are printers out there, but I have been using a Mimaki JV3 for the last year and I will say that I have no idea whether it is the cheapest machine to run but my customers are happy to pay the price for the quality of the output.
Also, we have had no problems with the machine in that time. Switch it on in the morning and it just works. That’s all I ask of any of my equipment.
Happy New Year.
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Brett, I don’t own a digital printer so I am afraid I can’t help a great deal with which would be your best choice of machine but I know enough to know that the cheapest machine on the market may not suit your purposes at all. There is no such thing as far as I am aware as a printer that will do everything really well and economically. You could end up buying a printer that only does half of what you want it to do because you are just to expensive compared to other companys for the other half if you see what I mean.
I would try putting up another post asking members what printer they have and what they use it for, that way you may get a better idea of which machine is best for your actual needs. -
The best trade prices I have come across for print onto vinyl is around £16 M2 so I would start at that as a minimum. This does not include cutting or laminating. I have had competing companies sell for less but surprise surprise, they tend not to be competitors for too long.
Regarding your pricing structure you have to first establish your market position. At Smart Graphics we tend to deal with large PLCs who are very brand conscious. They have large marketing budgets but require tons of servicing and everything has to go through many buyers not just one. As a result our pricing tends to be at the higher end but so is our quality and service.
Next – are you selling to owner managed businesses or to customer who are not spending their own money but money from an annual budget. If the former you will most likely be challenged more on price. My advise is sell up and allow yourself to have to concede a little.
First – have a minimum digital print value – ours is £55.
For small volumes – 1-5 M2 I would recommend £30-40 M2 depending on vinyl, customer type and the like. If you make a separate charge for studio and RIP then reduce this a little.
6 – 25 M2 would vary from £18-£30 M2
Thereafter go down to £16 M2.
To this I add amounts for cutting to shape (£3-£10 m2) and the cost of the laminate with a 50% markup
However the most important advice is that you price for the customer and the circumstances. I often break my own pricing guidelines but take careful notes.
Lastly I recommend price high for unusual requirements – e.g. fitting after 8pm or at weekends. The same applies to digital printing.
I hope this is of some help.
Keir -
Hey I should have read on :o. There is another post on pricing of digital printing and it seems that most of you guys charge more than me. I thought I was expensive so it made interesting reading.
Keir
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