low balling is getting out of control in my area

[Shawn (EIP)]

Kind of makes me want to run my head through a brick wall... just when I get my prices up to a decient rate (still too cheap for most of you guys) I get hammered buy a few other shops here pricing a lot lower and out bidding my price qoutes, losing jobs and good customers. The other shops that I will not name print some very nice stuff but man... just because your getting free shipping and shirts for under 2 bucks again from TSC doesnt mean it's time to go back to 2009/2010 pricing. I refuse to get out of bed for what I use to be charging. Maybe it's a inner city thing... Shopping for best deal is going to get alot more common and simply banging out really good prints isn't going to matter as much as price.

[Frog]

Shopping for best deal is going to get alot more common and simply banging out really good prints isn't going to matter as much as price.

unless you can change the focus of your marketing to a different clientele.
In my town, a similarly sized (and quality) burger can vary from $4.50 -$9.00. A lot of it is in the presentation.

[Shawn (EIP)]

It's funny when I get customers that come to me asking for thier artwork files so they can use the cheaper guy, "whoops, sorry I'm on a new computer, I only have your screens and no you can't have those". 

Maybe I need to add some neons to my shop and have a free t-shirt toss... One of my competitors holds an annual music fest in which many of the bands I have printed for play. I'll loose a few jobs and then they'll come back when they screw something up.

[JBLUE]

It's funny when I get customers that come to me asking for thier artwork files so they can use the cheaper guy, "whoops, sorry I'm on a new computer, I only have your screens and no you can't have those". 

Maybe I need to add some neons to my shop and have a free t-shirt toss... One of my competitors holds an annual music fest in which many of the bands I have printed for play. I'll loose a few jobs and then they'll come back when they screw something up.

Bands suck. I get them all the time looking for the cheapest thing. I give them a price and and they try and grind it down. I send them packing. Stick to your guns and tell them no thank you. My cost is my cost.

[Fresh Baked Printing]

In my particular big inner city market, they're printers that are waaay more expensive than me and they are busier than me. Price your product for you, not for your competition, rather it's lower or even higher than the the "other guys".
I would be interested to know how long the undercutters, who are apparently working for free, will stay around?
I get that are are auto shops than make pennies per print and rely on volume. My niche is the 50-1000 piece market with great service and fast turnaround.
I used to chase the undercutters but stopped doing that a year and half or so ago. The last year and half, I'm working less but making more.
I used to hate turning down ANY business, but now I have zero problem NOT working for free.
You have to mentally get beyond the "other guy" and work on your niche and price point that works for you. Don't get dragged down by the "other guy", mentally or financially!

[mooseman]

Someone will always be cheaper than you and by the same token you can easily be cheaper than everyone else ........decide which side of the equation you want to be on and stick to it
mooseman

[jsheridan]

Do yourself a favor and order up a dozen of those cheap shirts and put them in your sales kit. When the time comes for sample presentation it becomes a tool to present my quality. I ask them to tell me how the shirt they're wearing feels, and how would this feel.. I hand them a waterbase discharge print on black with bright colors and ask if they have a problem paying a few cents more for this kind of quality, or if you're happy with this.. point at their shirt and or hand them the crappy cheap guy shirt, you can keep getting this for the same price.

That pitch snagged 3 clients away from other printers.. 2 of whom got the art for me and the 3rd is about to 

[RICK STEFANICK]

Could it possibly be the other guys are dealing with lower overhead and can therefor produce product at better prices. We do it everyday and its not lowballing. I call it smart business. Pricing should be based on your overhead and what it takes to make money, if you lose a bid and you priced it based on your required margin to make money then you did your best. i'm just sayin..

[Shawn (EIP)]

Could it possibly be the other guys are dealing with lower overhead and can therefor produce product at better prices. We do it everyday and its not lowballing. I call it smart business. Pricing should be based on your overhead and what it takes to make money, if you lose a bid and you priced it based on your required margin to make money then you did your best. i'm just sayin..

Nope I'm 100% positive my overhead is lower, I'm a smaller shop and rent is dirt dirt cheap 340.00 a month includes all utillities. It's more about snagging up customers from other printers and keeping the press spinning.

[RICK STEFANICK]

I understand.That's unfortunate but happens also.   

[Command-Z]

Don't race to the bottom, it's a race you can't win. Nobody does.

Instead focus on being better, not cheaper. Lowballers' business is based on a steady flow of first-time customers, few repeats. That's because the customers are:

a) Low-budget one-orderers whose first orders will likely be their last

b) Potential repeats who won't return because they will be unhappy with something. Quality and service aren't sustainable if all they offer is price.

You don't want the a's anyway. The b's will find you and stick with you.

There's still plenty of work for everybody out there. Let the bottom feeders do their thing and be a big tuna.



PS... And tell them NO, the art files are yours, unless they want to buy the copyrights. $$$

[tpitman]

The printer who bases his prices strictly on what for the moment might be low overhead, such as a garage printer, will find himself up the creek if his circumstances find him in need of a more expensive place. Better to consider overhead you might find yourself with and be competitive with other shops rather than suddenly have to explain to your customers why you suddenly have to raise your prices so much. The ones that came for price will disappear. In the meantime, the use the income from low overhead to finance better equipment, or marketing.

[Prosperi-Tees]

I am pretty much in the middle of the price market. The only time I get competetive and try to win orders are 1 color prints on white shirts since its so easy and fast otherwise I stick to my prices which are not the cheapest but not the most either.

[Fresh Baked Printing]

Hey Prosperi-Tees, I noticed your Facebook URL. Get the vanity URL, you have enough likes to get one now from Facebook!

[blue moon]

plain and simple . . . what do you offer that others do not?
how much is it worth?

If you do not offer anything, than find something that will make you different (art, print quality, shirt quality, delivery, turnaround time, connections to producers, something, anything!).
Throw an open house, invite ppl to mingle and make connections. They will buy from you just to stay in touch and potentially meet ppl that can offer them gigs or help them get a contract or recording time or what not. . .


pierre