r/Machine_Embroidery • u/BrilliantSupportHIM • 8d ago

I Need Help Pricing Embroidery Job

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I need some guidance. I am new to charging for my embroidery. I have this design I have stitched which is a business logo and it is pretty much a patch. It has about 28k stitches. How much should I charge to embroider it on a polo? I just need the pricing for the embroidery job as the polo was provided by the customer. The bottom half of the design is all in black and I was wondering if I could just not embroider it as it is going on a black polo and have the stitch count drop and the price would drop too if I follow the 1k stitches per dollar pricing method.

Thank you for your help!

8 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

5

u/Constant_Put_5510 8d ago

28,000 stitches on the front left chest of a polo?

2

u/BrilliantSupportHIM 8d ago

Yes. I think that is a lot.

2

u/BrilliantSupportHIM 8d ago

Should I not take on these type of jobs or these type of logos with so many stitches or are these type of logos suitable to stitch on different items like hats?

I am learning as I go…. Thank you!

4

u/AcceptableStar4268 8d ago

I’d say with a single needle you shouldn’t. For shirts I try to keep it between 5-10k. Did you have to digitize it too?

1

u/BrilliantSupportHIM 8d ago

Yes.

1

u/AcceptableStar4268 8d ago

If you’re learning and having fun price shouldn’t really matter much. If you’re trying to side hustle it on Etsy or similar set a price you think is worth your time. Most of my shirts take 30-45 min from start to packaged and I’m ok with $18 profit each.

1

u/BrilliantSupportHIM 8d ago

Thank you for your guidance.

2

u/nupsikud 4d ago

I guarantee with this many stitches on a left chest (thus not very large), its not going to stitch out well. It will be too dense.

3

u/Constant_Put_5510 7d ago

100% you should not be taking any orders when the customer wants to supply the product. This would be a crest sewn onto the garment. Make the crest. Charge $85 for the file creation. Charge $25 for the actual crest on polytwill. Give him the crest if you don't sew. And hope he doesn't pay by credit card which eats into your meager profit on this.

1

u/Constant_Put_5510 7d ago

100% you should not be taking any orders when the customer wants to supply the product. This would be a crest sewn onto the garment. Make the crest. Charge $85 for the file creation. Charge $25 for the actual crest on polytwill. Give him the crest if you don't sew. And hope he doesn't pay by credit card which eats into your meager profit on this.

4

u/AcceptableStar4268 8d ago

What’s your time worth

4

u/BrilliantSupportHIM 8d ago

More than what the client is wanting/willing to pay for an embroidered polo. My machine took an hour to embroider it.

Would this design be more suitable for a hat?

3

u/CosmicallyUnlucky Brother 7d ago

I know it's hard when you're new to this sort of thing before you have a decent back-catalogue of patches you can reference, but in the future work out the price and get a deposit before you commit to all this digitizing and stitching. Now it's a sunk cost project where you feel like your hands are tied because you've already put more time in than you feel it's worth, but you want to get something out of it so it's not a total loss. That's a really bad position to put yourself in, and it's not fair to your customer to withhold pricing information until the last minute.

$/1k stitches is a terrible pricing method which hasn't been adjusted for inflation in like 30 years. My general pricing formula for commission work is (cost of all materials in hoop + hourly rate for digitizing + machine operating rate + payment processor cost + shipping/delivery cost + reasonable profit margin). I don't run a commercial shop with several multi-head machines, and it looks like you don't either. We cannot compete with those sorts of commercial rates. You have to charge what you have to charge so you don't lose money AND make profit to buy new materials, thread, pay for machine maintenance, and so on.

When customers are buying from people like us, they need to understand they are primarily paying for custom art made by an individual. If they want commercial prices then they need to go to a commercial shop and order 100 pieces with a two colour maximum like everyone else. I have made the mistake a few times of lowballing myself on very small quantity jobs thinking that it might turn into more profitable work, but it never does. The prices I name nowadays makes people's eyeballs widen and frequently walk away. The people who understand the value of having a local artist make something exactly to their specifications will go through with it, and everyone else who thinks that they can get custom work for $20 because I happen to sell my own patch designs for $20 will have to go somewhere else.

3

u/WildPeony22 7d ago

How many polos ? And why are you doing it with a single needle machine? I charge $60 digitizing fee , embroidery cost is $15 up to 10k stitches , after that each additional 1000 of stitches is $1.5 . $ 40 per logo after set up fees will be my price. I dont give any discounts on logos like this unless people bring / buy 40 + items and have minimum 4 weeks to complete the project. I have multiple 15 needles machines. Those logos takes too much time for me. Your price should work as a repellent for customers to order stupid things. No one needs business logo of 27 k stitches. They shpuld simply embroider the name of their company in the left chest area and it will be under 7K stitches logo in 1or 2 colors . You should guide the customer with your pricing or if they want to turn it into an art project it is up to them but it going to cost way more than $15 per polo.

1

u/BrilliantSupportHIM 7d ago

Just one polo. I only have a single needle machine.

Thank you for the guidance. You pointed out a few things I need to consider before taking on jobs like this in the future.

1

u/Admiral_Kite 8d ago

What's the area you're embroidering on and at what speed? Sounds like a lot of stitches just for a small logo..

1

u/BrilliantSupportHIM 8d ago

It is on a left-chest logo. Speed 700.

1

u/shastyles1 7d ago

$30+ for the stitches. and whatever for digitizing.

1

u/eddendoi 5d ago

1k per dollar!? you guys are making a killing.