Print calculator for wide format & Flatbed.

[KaranGrewal]

Hi,
I would strongly recommend SHOPVOX. software. I been using it from 7 yrs. you will never go back to excel again. Not expensive and it will do lot more then just job costing.

 

[ColorCrest]

Hi,
I would strongly recommend SHOPVOX. software. I been using it from 7 yrs. you will never go back to excel again. Not expensive and it will do lot more then just job costing.

Care to say what features you especially like about shopVOX?

 

[Pauly]

Hi,
I would strongly recommend SHOPVOX. software. I been using it from 7 yrs. you will never go back to excel again. Not expensive and it will do lot more then just job costing.

How does shopvox do its product calculations?

 

[White Haus]

Pauly,

If I may suggest: try our software - (Sevit Print Shop Manager (SPSM) ). For digital print only there is SPSM Digi, if you don't need full version.
Demo has no time limits, the only limit is that it calculates everything with 0 result.
I can answer any questions regarding it, would be glad to help you with configuring\setting it up (support@sevit.ca) .

P.S. English documentation is work in progress, should be completed soon.

Is this a one-time purchase? I'd be interested in testing this out.

 

[ColorCrest]

How does shopvox do its product calculations?

It’s easy to find a recent video of theirs at YouTube named "A Profitable Sign Pricing Formula"…

However, I noticed a significant but common mistake near the end where the video host has confused markup vs margin. (The calculation does not resolve to 20% markup as he thinks.)

 

[Humble PM]

Yes. One-time payment for perpetual licence, unlimited seats, one database.

Looks like a nice product, but several of our (larger) customers would drop us the moment they saw where the software originates.

 

[ColorCrest]

If I may suggest: try our software - (Sevit Print Shop Manager (SPSM) ).

Are you a merchant member here at Signs101?

 

[GB2]

It’s easy to find a recent video of theirs at YouTube named "A Profitable Sign Pricing Formula"…

However, I noticed a significant but common mistake near the end where the video host has confused markup vs margin. (The calculation does not resolve to 20% markup as he thinks.)

He refers to his calculation as 20% profit margin and that being the case, I think his calculation is correct....except for the fact that 2040+910+800 = 3750 and not 3780 as he states and uses in the calculation.

 

[ColorCrest]

He refers to his calculation as 20% profit margin and that being the case, I think his calculation is correct....except for the fact that 2040+910+800 = 3750 and not 3780 as he states and uses in the calculation.

I calculated the following using Omnicalculator dot com ...

https://www.omnicalculator.com/finance/margin-2-sets

 

[GB2]

Ha....I did the same thing! Only perhaps we used different calculators, here is the one that I thought matched his senario, this was the Margin Calculator:

 

[ColorCrest]

Ha....I did the same thing! Only perhaps we used different calculators, here is the one that I thought matched his senario, this was the Margin Calculator

Agreed and I found my mistake after I reviewed the video narration more closely vs the video graphic. I initially assumed his markup was 20%.

I'm happier now is this cleared up.

 

[ColorCrest]

Not to beat up on shopVOX, but I am as curious as the OP about how the software calculates products.

I did watch another of their videos published at YouTube. The video describes quoting the same type of channel letter sign product only there seems to be a difference between the results, mainly because of markup values or "?". I'm wondering what pricing principle changed between the short time of the two video releases.

Quoting a narration clip from “Building A Channel Letter Product inside ShopVox PRO”...
“We can see here on this particular job that, with all things being equal, we are almost 53% profitable. Here, our total cost on this job is $2516 and we're charging the customer $3831. This is just our pricing for our industry, for our territory. This is how we are able to stay competitive.”

But a year later quoting a narration clip from “A Profitable Sign Pricing Formula”...
“How much profit do you want at the end of the year in a percentage? Typically I like to be anything above 15%. Here I will enjoy a higher percentage profit and loss statement just like anybody but I have to be realistic. We don't make 30, 40, 50, net profit on these types of jobs. So, I have to make sure I maintain my profit margin. So, in this example I'm just going to take a quick 20% profitability margin here."

 

[White Haus]

Looks like a nice product, but several of our (larger) customers would drop us the moment they saw where the software originates.

Yep, and understandably so. I tried downloading and using the trial but all I get is errors in Russian. Uninstalled and moving on..........

 

[KaranGrewal]

Care to say what features you especially like about shopVOX?

we are using the pro version of Shopvox. everything is good except the job scheduler and calendar is a little cumbersome to work with. we use it for pretty much everything from purchasing, quotes, CRM, online design proofs, outsourcing orders, and job installs to invoicing. I wish it had a full accounting module built in. and better inventory management.

 

[Pauly]

we are using the pro version of Shopvox. everything is good except the job scheduler and calendar is a little cumbersome to work with. we use it for pretty much everything from purchasing, quotes, CRM, online design proofs, outsourcing orders, and job installs to invoicing. I wish it had a full accounting module built in. and better inventory management.

having everything in 1 software, although it sounds nice, sometimes it's better not to.

It's better to have software being excellent at 1 job, than being average at a lot of jobs.

 

[KaranGrewal]

having everything in 1 software, although it sounds nice, sometimes it's better not to.

It's better to have software being excellent at 1 job, than being average at a lot of jobs.

Agree Pauly, but on the other side, software that offer features that can handle a project from start to finish saves lots of time in data entry, easy to update material costs. and best part is employee from different departments within your business can stay in sync.

 

[Triggerforge]

Im looking for software that can calculate your prints.

Something that i can enter a list of stock, paper, vinyls, corrugated plastic, banners etc in it
list Printers specs
then tell it your print size and quantity and it'll tell you what it costs.

I don't care to much about other features, just looking for the pricing part.

I've created my own excel calculator (as some here may know), but it's limited by my knowledge in excel. Although it's pretty advanced, sometimes i need to spend hours on it trying to make it do something particular or debugging an issue after making a modification.

I use a google sheets I had a buddy set it up with a master price list and drop down menu for pretty easy calculation.

 

[Pauly]

I use a google sheets I had a buddy set it up with a master price list and drop down menu for pretty easy calculation.

not going to lie, that's a bit hectic. if it work for you, that's great.

Here's a screen grab of what we're currently using.

It runs on our server, so only accessible at work or VPN.
It connects to a database Via API that stores all the data for the stock list, print pricing etc. all products are created in there. It's easier and economical than hard coding the products.

The "price calculator" does all the calculations. I've made it so you can input up to 3 different quantity amounts to compare pricing.
it's still work in progress but i like the way it's working.

The settings page is where i and enter the API key and table settings. so essentially i could set this up on another server with another DB and not need to hard code anything.

 

[ColorCrest]

Here's a screen grab of what we're currently using.

One enters size and quantities to calculate the price(s.) Easy enough.

How does the effort get saved and correlated to a quote or work order, likely invoiced, and then likely referenced at a later time?

 

[Pauly]

One enters size and quantities to calculate the price(s.) Easy enough.

How does the effort get saved and correlated to a quote or work order, likely invoiced, and then likely referenced at a later time?

That's all it's suppose to do which is all i need it to do.

the result of that will onto our online/ecommerce platform to build our products.
Our ecommerce platform connects to our other platforms such as accounting, automation etc.
We enter our jobs into the back end of our ecommerce platform, so our customers can log in, upload their files direct to their jobs, track orders etc etc.

It also allows us to do research into other stock, products etc to see how viable and competitive we can be.
And, it allows us to research new equipment and see how much we can gain with specific products.

...
given enough time, sure i could implement an order system that could create an order, send it to xero to create an invoice and automatically send to a customer.
But i'll never use it.