There's a bit of interesting reading if you follow the link.
It definitely pays to remember that there's a big difference between a copy shop and a commercial offset printer. Any online set up would really need to reflect the businesses position in the marketplace and attract the appropriate clientele.
A business running a multi colour A1 press probably doesn't want online customers ordering 250 business cards.......
The questions I would like to ask all those (offset printers) interested are:
How often do you receive enquiries from customers wanting jobs that aren't worth doing?
How do you deal with them?
Tell them no?
Farm the job out?
Refer them to a copy shop?
Quote the job like any other and hope that maybe one day someone will pay $180 for 250 business cards?
I would say that I turn away at least 50% of my potential customers and of the remaining 50% I have to upsell like crazy to get them to order a quantity large enough to justify putting it on the press. Or I try and delay the job until I can gang print it, but the days of two week turnarounds seem to be long gone.
If you're not from the industry and you're wondering why we all don't just buy equipment that can cater to this type of work I would say this:
Firstly, it's a bit like asking an engineering company to build you a treehouse or fix your letterbox.
The online world is pretty heavily saturated with websites offering printing and design services. A lot of them are based in parts of the world where people will work for a few bucks a day.
Graphic design work is costly and time consuming. Quite often the design work is undertaken so as to offer the client 'full service' and completed at a loss which is then recovered in the printing job. The smaller the job, the harder it is to recover that cost.
Externally designed work is quite often problematic.
Love to hear some alternative points of view!!!
