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Anyone doing bumper decals for car dealer lots?

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Colt

New Member
laserman70 said:
You dont want to buy them and resell them....
then look at ur suppliers catalogs.
Figure it out like we all do...
the gentleman is trying to tell you what most people do..
If you think that its cheaper to do it all yourself.. lol u dont value yourself much..
your time is worth more..
if undercutting people is your idea of business, good luck...
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I already had it figured out. I cut them out and sell them. Was just asking for a general price dealers are paying for cut decals so I had a general idea.

I can't make any money buying retail and marking it up. I'd make more doing it myself. I could do nothing, or cut and sell. 500 stickers at $1 a piece would pay for my cutter.

Undercutting would be the only way to get the job. If a dealer is paying $1 a sticker, why would they change what they are doing to buy them from me for $1? The only way is if you are cheaper. It's the way it works. Undercutting is the same thing as being competitive. I could undercut and try and get the job, or do no job.

What vinyl are you guys using for bumper decals that have small text? Does calendard work fine for that or does it need to be cast.
 
Mosh

Mosh

New Member
Shadowglen said:
I think you need to give your mom back her cricut cutter and look for a different way of supporting yourself.
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Our local dealer pays 30 cents a decal, and he thinks that is too much, he wanted me to do them, NO WAY!!
NO WAY you are going to match die cut prices with a plotter. BTW does your mom know you are using her machine???

As far as vinyl, I would guess the cheapest you can find.
 
signage

signage

New Member
I have some questions for you.

How much is the vinyl and transfer tape going to cost you?

How long is it going to take you to cut these in your plotter?

How long is it going to take you to weed them and what about the ones that don't weed correctly?

How long is it going to take you to mask them?

How long is it going to take you to cut them into individual decals?

Might just want to look at the jobs at McD you will be making more per hour than you are with these decals doing them yourself.

How are you selling the next job while you are doing all this work?
 
Mosh

Mosh

New Member
500 @ 30 cents is $150...enough said. I wasted $150 of my time reading this thread...
but if you are living at home in the basement and just need some "bud money", I guess go for it!!!
 
Caitlin

Caitlin

New Member
I would suggest a different avenue than pursuing small dealerships... we have done these jobs and as others have said, the weeding headache is hardly worth the time and effort. Especially when you get to 500+ repetitive, tedious decals you will be wishing you had either not opened that door or charged more for your time, and as you've said, you can't charge more and still be competitive.

There are many other things you can use your plotter for which will make you more money, save you time, and at the end of the day you will still enjoy your job.
 
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Shadowglen

New Member
Caitlin said:
I would suggest a different avenue than pursuing small dealerships... we have done these jobs and as others have said, the weeding headache is hardly worth the time and effort. Especially when you get to 500+ repetitive, tedious decals you will be wishing you had either not opened that door or charged more for your time, and as you've said, you can't charge more and still be competitive.

There are many other things you can use your plotter for which will make you more money, save you time, and at the end of the day you will still enjoy your job.
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Waisting your time with this one. He does not listen to advise! He has been told the same thing by several people and he is just holding out until someone tells him it is a good Idea.
 
Caitlin

Caitlin

New Member
Shadowglen said:
Waisting your time with this one. He does not listen to advise! He has been told the same thing by several people and he is just holding out until someone tells him it is a good Idea.
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Oh well. Some lessons are best learned the hard way :rolleyes:
 
Mosh

Mosh

New Member
OK do it and let us know how well you did. BTW are you just a kid? Cause you sound excited about the idea of making $1,500....
 
S'N'S

S'N'S

New Member
Working out your costs for 500 stickers @ 2"x3" isn't that hard.
1. Laying out said sticker in your sign program x hourly rate.
2. Calendered vinyl about 24' x 2' + markup
3. Mask about 24' x 2' + markup
4. Cut one and weed it and multiply by 500 x your hourly rate.
5. Add a guesstimate of how long it will take to cut sheets into individual stickers X hourly rate
= your price.
I don't bother with these sorts of cut vinyl jobs as I charge $100 hr labour + markup on goods puts these out of any price range acceptable to most stingy customers, so I get them done elsewhere and mark up 50-100% depending on job.
Think that's about it.
 
Techman

Techman

New Member
I would feel like I was scamming someone if I marked up and sold stouse.com decals to a dealer when I could have just told the dealer to go to stouse.com and order themselves. And I'd bet the dealer would probably be pissed if they found out and would probably bad mouth you to everyone.
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They got no business going to stouse. They are not in the trade. You should never give away your sources to a client. Why give away yoru job so someone who would never appreciate it.
HUH?? That is what stouse is for. To get wholesale items for you to sell to the dealer and make the largest profit you can get..
Who cares about what a dealer might say. Never live in fear of what a customer might say. Especially a car dealer. Who has a worse rep than they? Oh I forgot Real Estate agents do..
 
A

Atomic DNA

New Member
If I were you, I'd charge .50. That way you are guaranteed to be the cheapest and have his business for life. Think of all that money! lol

Oh, and about your comment about that being the only way to be competitive. Delivering on or before the time agreed upon, the general way you present yourself, your design skill set, your "like-ability" as a human. These are just a few ways to to get business from your competition. The fact that you are cheaper than your competitor may even be looked as though you don't value your time and you'll do anything for any price. No respect there.
 
C

Colt

New Member
Techman said:
They got no business going to stouse. They are not in the trade. You should never give away your sources to a client. Why give away yoru job so someone who would never appreciate it.
HUH?? That is what stouse is for. To get wholesale items for you to sell to the dealer and make the largest profit you can get..
Who cares about what a dealer might say. Never live in fear of what a customer might say. Especially a car dealer. Who has a worse rep than they? Oh I forgot Real Estate agents do..
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I can't buy wholesale.
 
Techman

Techman

New Member
'm a sole proprietor. So I don't have to get those IDs and don't plan on it.
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Then how do you pay your sales taxes? You are not a real business. How do you plan to be a business unless you act like it? If you are not acting like one then you will never get the respect you are looking for. Do not ruin it for the others by referring them to wholesalers. Don't be a dabbler. It show you are merely a tourist wandering through looking for a few souvenirs,.

Get somewhat legal and get your wholesale accounts and earn a living.
 
SlightlyChilled

SlightlyChilled

New Member
First change your tag name. Your making people with the real name Colt"like my self" all over the world look dumb.
And yes you can buy wholesale I did it when I first started.
 
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