Photo Name Mats pricing

Create a Post
I don't understand - if they're selling on the internet for $18, why would you give them away for $8? Are all 10 mats the same name? I charge regular mat price plus $1.50 a letter. Unless they were all the same name, I wouldn't give a quantity discount. With only 10, I probably wouldn't anyway. Hope this helps!
kaffeetrinker_2.gif
 
Originally posted by dominoguru2:
How much would you charge this customer.
Click to expand...
I am guessing you are (at least for this order) the wholesale supplier to this e-retailer? If so, I would charge them at least half their retail, if you believe you are making sufficient margin, etc. Only you can calculate that based on your work load, overhead, and COGS.

How did they get their retail if not a markup from wholesale situation???
 
Yes, we would be a wholesaler and the person will retail the mats. This will not be a one time deal but they will return for more mats in the future if it goes well. I haven't told them the price yet becuase it is difficult to determine my cost.
 
well first ? is do you own a CMC?
Do you pay corners or unlimited?
8X20 will give you 8 mats per 32x40
so your cost of board will be less than $1 per mat if ordered in qtys of 8.
I would price these at 1/2 of what they are selling them for (wholesale).
 
I wholesale them at $10, they retail at $19.99 - they eat a lot of corners. This price is using acid free mat and backing board; could do cheaper if used papermats.

I did this for funraiser purposes - schools,clubs,SPCA, etc
 
I sell these by the boat load. All the mats I cut are 8 x 28 and I charge $15 for any number of letters or cut art using Artique mat.

Most of my competitors charge $18 for same.

These are retail prices.

No one has asked for wholesale from me yet. I would base it on how many you bought at a time.
 
I heard that around the Phila area there are kiosks in the malls that will cut the name mat while you wait. I am not positive, but I think that my source said $10.00. Also they can frame it while you wait. Has anyone seen these kiosks? I don't frequent the malls but I believe that one of the mall is the Court at King of Prussia.

Susan
 
We charge for the price of the mat and add 4.00 per opening retail. You are getting charged for all of those corners, you might as well make a profit, so just figure out a way that you can sell them the mats at a bulk price and still make a decent profit.

Also calculate a way you can get several out of one sheet so that you aren't wasting board.

I'd like to add this- 8.00 for even a regular mat is still a pretty good deal (for an acid free mat especially) even without all those extra cuts.

Those kiosks in the mall can probably charge what they do due to low overhead. If all they sell is a ready sized mat and framing while you wait, they probably have very low overhead. If they are selling acid mats, that's even lower and they are probably getting thier mats by the box.
 
I sell name mats 1-4 letters for $15; 5-6 letters for $18 and 7-9 letters for $22. A scrapbook store and a gift shop buy them wholesale at 40% off retail and sell a bunch of them. I keep the stores supplied with generic names like "vacation" "pet" "mom" and they can place custom name orders for the same price. Also offer frames in black, gold, silver and white metal.This time of year the orders roll in.
 
Don't kid yourself on the low overhead of Kiosks. I was recently approached to open one or a retail storefront in a mall for my other store "Infused!" The kiosk space for christmas season (nov,dec) was $10k a month. the 360sq ft storefront was $4000 a month. These certainly are not low overhead coupled with labor for staying open mall hours,common area fees,etc. What are the sales per sq. ft.?? I don't know, but it seems like it would have to be worth it to be in one. I'm still researching this aspect. I think mall locations would be volume sales versus onesey twoseys at a smaller frame shop.

my 2 cents.

p.s. I can usually get at least 3 name mats out of a board depending on size and depending if I let the wizard cut the outsides.
 
We don't sell as many as these as most of you guys it appears, so I can't speak on much authority. We only went through 42,000 corners last December, so most are probably better judges than we

But, we get at least 5 mats per sheet if we cut a new sheet, but most come from "end cuts" of other projects, as does the glass and foamcore.

I can't say we sell many (if any) mats by themselves. Where will your client get it framed? At that Big Box down the street? Great opportunity to get rid of those other "end cuts" too, I guess

Since we are not much of an authority on this, I do love the expertise shared on "low overhead" at these mall operations. You would sure think that these operators with these low overhead opportunities could make money hand over fist during these high traffic times. Now, I will speak with a little authority as every January we get sales figures on these mall kiosks guys. And, I will suggest that almost all of them do more, much more, volume in the two month season than the majority of framers do in an entire year. The calendar guy did about $800k, Hickory Farm did more, a guy selling Bamboo shoots did $300k and a guy selling ornaments (ornaments!) did over $100K

So, let's all look down our collective noses at these great unworthy operators because they surely don't have a clue like most of us

By the way, where do you buy acid mats
 
Any long skinny leftover piece of at least 8 X 18 gets put into a bin and used for name mats. (Mat pieces of over 10 inches get filed, under 10- they get trimmed for name mats, under 8 inches get tossed)

We charge $2 per letter and they get a choice of colors in the bin. (It's a large selection).

Sell quite a few to the local university students. Not a big piece of our business, but I love turning scraps into $$.
 
Like Bob it seems that I don't sell very many either, I sell a good many of em. To date not one has asked for just a mat. I do already have a plan in place for that though. It’s $10 off my full price.

The smallest ready-made size I have is 8x26. $10 off the complete package would be $24.99. That’s really high but this isn't a huge ticket item. I don't worry so much with haggling down to a lower price from $34.99. I think that time is better spent in upgrading to a higher price with better options. I'm sure you could find a way to make this item profitable at $3 each but would it be worth wild? I would think not.

The part I'm most curious about is when you say, "I haven't told them the price yet because it is difficult to determine my cost." That’s confusing as figuring cost is the easy part. How could you possibly NOT know the cost?
 
Hi MaryAnn-Give me the specs and I'll do it locally and we'll use the shipping charges to buy the first round of drinks in Orlando (it's so much easier than just sticking Bob with the tab)
 
Already shipped,just made it to the PO at close of day but thanks for the offer - I'll keep it in mind.

Oh go ahead and stick him anyway. But not in Orlando, maybe in Vegas. We'll be in Greece during Orlando. ;)
 
Maryann-Let's spend some time together in Vegas. I used to live in Greece and was back acouple of summers ago. Might give you some insight

You guys sure take some fun trips with your college group
 
One very very sweet plus to this item is that if you make it "while they wait" they will browse the store for the 5 - 10 minutes while you cut it. My intention was to have the Wiz visible for the customers to watch while it cuts. That wasn't possible but I think its just as productive to have them going through preframed art or print bins instead.
 
I've seen these FRAMED name mats (with glass) selling at carnivals, festivals, etc. and they are GIVING them away! I offer the service, but refuse to give it away.....thus, it's not my "main entree"!!

Just a fyi.
 
Exactly, Jay. One of the great side benefits is thatwe do get them into our stores where we can dazzle them with our friendliness and helpfulness. These same folks just might have a need in the future for some framing and possibly them may remember our speed and friendliness as well as our great prices

I'm guessing that, to many consumers, these might just be the type of things that might help us create that favorable "tipping point" advantage that might make the customer not think of the Evil Empire first
 
Mine are 7" high with 3.4" letters so a standard 3 1/5" photo will fit. I charge $3 per letter period no matter how long it is. Framing is priced according to what frame is selected.
 
Create a Post
Back
Top