When running a vinyl business, be sure that you price your vinyl properly. All projects are not created equally for a standard price.
Your vinyl and overhead costs might be low, but you need to account for all the little things and time you aren't paid for. The proper pricing allows for the all the time you spend with the customer, from start to finish, mistakes, and little upsales and bonuses you offer. All your marketing expenses also need to be considered. Also, when you undercut your prices, it damages the entire vinyl market because your customer expects the same costs elsewhere.
You will find that pricing retail vinyl is all over the board ... from people that charge by letter and square inch, to those that charge by linear foot. Personally, we discourage these pricing strategies because it causes an enormous amount of grief, frustration, and time that could be used elsewhere. For the Oracal 631 vinyl, our simple answer is that we charge around $10 a square foot. A little more on smaller projects and a little less on bigger projects. This pricing provides a fairly safe profit margin, unless it is a large quote with small lettering. Customers seem to be okay with this reply. When a customer wants a more specific price, it is generally because they don't want to be overcharged after the order.
So we offer these rough tips in pricing vinyl, specifically for the Oracal 631 Exhibition Cal Vinyl:
1- If an order fits within a 12"x 12" area, the retail cost runs $10 - $15 (depending on the customization and weeding time - costs of wood, tiles, easels, etc. are added to it)
2- If an order fits within a 12"x 24" area, the retail cost runs $15 - $20 (depending on the customization and weeding time - costs of wood, tiles, easels, etc. are added to it)
3- If an order fits within a 24"x 24" area, the retail cost runs between $25 - $40 (depending on the customization and weeding time - costs of wood, tiles, easels, etc. are added to it)
4- If an order fits within a 24"x 48"area, the retail cost runs $50 - $70 (depending on the customization and weeding time - costs of wood, tiles, easels, etc. are added to it)
If using the Oracal 751 Premium Cast Vinyl for exterior use, your retail costs should almost doublewhat is listed above. Exterior vinyl costs more and is harder to work with.
We cannot emphasize enough, the importance of properly pricing your retail vinyl projects. Otherwise, you will quickly burn out and become frustrated with a business that is meant to bring you an excellent income and great satisfaction, even in the remotest of geographical areas.
**** If you encounter a customer who is struggling financially, may we suggest that you exchange services, or have the customer pay half in money and half in services. It is a wonderful way for both you and the customer to do a fair transaction without hard feelings. Some of the services we have personally exchanged vinyl lettering for have included plumbing, electrical, construction, haircuts, childcare, garden produce, homemade products, cleaning, and weeding ...****
