Pantone matching

[Maxie]

We get a lot of customers who demand Pantone matching.
Some are small orders so the printing cost does not cover the extra time involved.
They also send us CYMK, Hex and all sorts of other color options.
We usually put the CYMK in Corel and then read the Pantone Spot Color.
We are using M3.
Usually what we see on the screen is not a exact match to the Pantone swatch, we work according to the Pantone book.
What do others charge for Pantone matching?    Do you have a minimum or charge per color?

[Doug S]

We charge $25 per match here.

[Colin]

This is an awesome site for color info to pantone conversions:  https://codebeautify.org/hex-to-pantone-converter

It gives you all the pantone colors that are close on the color wheel as well.

Depending on the shop, I have seen pantone mixing charges from $5 to $15 per color.  In my old shop we would wave mixing fees on orders above 150/200 pcs.

[Frog]

$7.50.
With any colors not submitted as Pantones, (or when I have doubts as some matches are better than others), I put the burden of approval on the customer.

[Sbrem]

We're $10.00 for the match; we use the Union Maxopaque system. We also tell customers that they will be dead on, and that's that. The only people that would know that are the designers and printers. Needless to say, that they are extremely close. We probably all have similar disclaimers; "What you see on your computer is not the real thing, only close..." With a PMS book, you have the actual licensed colors printed by offset printing onto a coated stock (we don't do the uncoated colors unless asked specifically) then you mix completely different base colors, and screenprint them onto cloth. How close can the average shop, not a specialty shop, be expected to get for short money anyway?
We have no complaints on color matching either. We just have to let them know that their expectations may be unrealistic, and that everything will be fine

Steve