Lower ink pricing!!! Would it matter?

[scott316]

I wanted to find out if we lowered our ink pricing would more people take the chance and try it? We have been trying to get our ink cost down, and if we do I would like to lower my price. I want to know if you guys think it would be worth it?

We have change up our ink line by making colors brighter and softer. We have matched a lot of the main Wilflex colors with Excalibur ink.

Below are some sample pricing we are looking to try and hit. Would this make you guys try ?


List/Discount
500 National Red    63.92/51.5
500 Lt Royal   59.92/49.75
500 Scarlet   63.92/51.5
500 Dolphin Orange  62.75/49.85


Scott Thompson
Spot Color Supply
404-583-4903

[blue moon]

to us, the quality of the product is first and foremost! Price is only a secondary issue. We pay significantly more for premium stuff in few cases.

As far as the inks, we are 100% Union ink shop (for several different reasons). If that was not the case, I would gladly give it a shot.

pierre

[Frog]

I was introduced to Excaliber inks a few years back when I bought some equipment and supplies from a now defunct SoCal company. I got four gallons of black and white as a bonus.
It was good stuff.

Otherwise, Excaliber is kind of a regional thing. I think that if folks in your area try it, they will probably be happy, and a discounted price can only help.

On the other hand, ink is a one of those "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" things. People change because of problems or easier availability more than price alone, (as Pierre also said).

[scott316]

to us, the quality of the product is first and foremost! Price is only a secondary issue. We pay significantly more for premium stuff in few cases.

As far as the inks, we are 100% Union ink shop (for several different reasons). If that was not the case, I would gladly give it a shot.

pierre

Pierrel
Thanks for your imput on the subject.  We are working to make the quality of the ink better and better. We have improved
the brightness and thickness. We are always looking to make our products better. What are some main things you look for in ink to make it better than another brand.

[scott316]

I was introduced to Excaliber inks a few years back when I bought some equipment and supplies from a now defunct SoCal company. I got four gallons of black and white as a bonus.
It was good stuff.

Otherwise, Excaliber is kind of a regional thing. I think that if folks in your area try it, they will probably be happy, and a discounted price can only help.

On the other hand, ink is a one of those "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" things. People change because of problems or easier availability more than price alone, (as Pierre also said).

Frog

Well I am glad to here that you liked the ink back when you tried it. Do you remember what white you tried?

What do you look for in a good ink ?

[Frog]

I was introduced to Excaliber inks a few years back when I bought some equipment and supplies from a now defunct SoCal company. I got four gallons of black and white as a bonus.
It was good stuff.

Otherwise, Excaliber is kind of a regional thing. I think that if folks in your area try it, they will probably be happy, and a discounted price can only help.

On the other hand, ink is a one of those "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" things. People change because of problems or easier availability more than price alone, (as Pierre also said).

Frog

Well I am glad to here that you liked the ink back when you tried it. Do you remember what white you tried?

What do you look for in a good ink ?

The white that impressed me was Arctic White. I was quite happy with it, and wish that I had gotten more, but untried whites are a real critical pig in a poke, and when offered the freebie four gallons, I opted for more of the black than the white.
I am sure that like most inks, if it even still exists it has been reformulated to comply to the new regs.



As for what I look for in an ink, in a word, printability, and I can only judge it by performance on a manual. Next, comes local availability as cross country shipping of ink can add significant cost and time.

[bimmridder]

I'm with Pierre. Quality first. then support/service, THEN price!!!

[Socalfmf]

I think ink cost is really not a consideration.   what we look for is how does it print. how fast does it print.  then cost. 

if you have to mess with something for too long you are losing more money than if you bought the more expensive better product.

just my thoughts

sam

[ScreenFoo]

I'm not trying to say price doesn't matter, but basically any new product we bring in results in at least moderate labor charges testing and making sure it will work as it should.  Almost everything I've been pushed towards on price has been falling right in line on value points--so you start figuring, if it's expensive, you probably won't have problems.  If it's inexpensive--you might.

Not saying by any means that that is always the case, but, if you have to try ten inks to find an inexpensive one that works well, you probably aren't coming out ahead unless you buy in rather large quantities.

[blue moon]

to us, the quality of the product is first and foremost! Price is only a secondary issue. We pay significantly more for premium stuff in few cases.

As far as the inks, we are 100% Union ink shop (for several different reasons). If that was not the case, I would gladly give it a shot.

pierre

Pierrel
Thanks for your imput on the subject.  We are working to make the quality of the ink better and better. We have improved
the brightness and thickness. We are always looking to make our products better. What are some main things you look for in ink to make it better than another brand.

we use numerous ink types depending on the substrate and short of activator do not add anything to them.
Union carries a high opacity, med opacity and sim process inks. They all have to deliver in their category. So for Maxo ink, buildup is not an issue, but sim process inks have to be flawless there. Maxo has to cover nicely without an underbase, but not be a squeegee climber; same for the white. In the end, it gets judged by what happens while it's on the press. If it is not delivering or we are having problems, we try to find an alternative (which is often not an option if you are staying in one family of products like we are).

Another couple of reasons we are staying with Union:
-we have formulas for many repeat orders we do where the color is critical. Going to new inks would force us to spend hours trying to mix the inks to match the original prints if that is even possible. Color shift would have to be approved by the customer and we would have to go through sampling and approval process.
-having the same ink system for a longer period of time allows getting used to how it performs under different circumstances. For example, this will cover without an underbase on aqua, but not on teal. The color shift is going to be 2 pantone numbers up without ubase, and 1 number in the opposite direction with. Some colors shift more than others and have limitations. We know the mesh count adjustment we have to use on occasion for yellows and golds. All of this is slightly different with different inks and learning to take advantage of the current inks avoids a new learning curve and produces better long term results.

All this said and done, we have on several occasions looked into switching (and have switched some products away from union, DC and whites primarily) when it was called for. But there had to be a problem first that we could not work out.
Discharge inks we just went with what was supposed to be the best and Union was not it (not that they were bad, just something else was supposedly better and the sources were pretty reliable). The price was never really a factor in deciding which DC ink to use. We also eventually tested few different samples and have few more to go before we commit to one brand.

pierre

[3Deep]

I 'm on the fence I do shop price, but all my inks are Union colors and WM plastics white inks, if an ink is good then price want matter I'll make my money back 10 times.

Darryl

[ZooCity]

No, it really shouldn't matter.  It's just that some brands have skyrocketed in cost lately which is where you're seeing all us printers grumbling. $120 for a gallon of ink is going to make anyone consider switching to another brand. 

But I'm with Pierre and others- no need to change unless what you have becomes inconsistent or improperly manufactured (why we stopped buying QCM) or the ink system you have doesn't offer it (silicone inks, etc.).

Our best response to higher plastisol costs has been to learn DC and WB printing and it's saved epic (get it?) amounts in supply costs for us. 

[KevWilso]

hg