Digitizer Advice

karensdigitizing.com is my website. I charge more than the overseas digitizers but you get quality service and I only speak english, so no communication problems.
I have 10 years experience in the embroidery industry. First 5 years, worked at an embroidery business located in Waco, TX. Last 5 years, owned my own business. Have worked with embroidery machines such as: SWF and Barudan. You can also contact me at for questions or quote on digitizing or embroidery.

Thanks,
Karen Castillo
Karen's Embroidery & Digitizing

$10 Digitizing Fee per design, Wow!
After reading same, if $10 designs sew out correctly, digitizer followed directions well and there is not undue time spent going back and forth to get what you initially requested, then I don't know how could you possible beat the price comparing to In-House cost of Apples-To-Apples.
In House Costs include:
Either you and/or your Employee's timethe
Cost of Digitizing, Image, Graphic Software and on going upgrade fees.
Shop Over head costs, etc.
I just don't see how In-House could be less expensive or any other digitizer for that matter.
After reading this String, I know I am wasting my time doing my own digitizing, I could not begin to compete with $10. Does this $10 Digitizer do a Test Sew Out or do you work for the Digitizer, do the Test Sew Out, then have to contact Digitizer for Fixes to correct design, to get what you initially requested, do another test sew out, etc. until you get what you initially asked for?
Let me know, if later is not the case, then I Give Up doing my own ditizing, I'd be crazy not to pay $10 to get what takes hours, sometime a day or more.
Perhaps, these $10 are just simple lettering?
What does a Complex design cost?
What does a Jacket Back Cost?
Is there fee then based on Stitch Count, not complexity, Quality?
Wow, $10, I can't believe that.

I've used Steve many times. He does good work. He's dependable, and his designs are good. Sure I've had some edits and changes, who doesn't. He's fast on turnaround as well.

I also use a couple of other digitizers, as everyone should have 2 or 3 they use. Never keep all your eggs in one basket. We don't ask digitizers to only work for one embroiderer, so they shouldn't expect ALL of anyones business. I also use Brent, "harleydude",,,and he's done a fantastic job too.

I've paid $20 and $25 for designs that were terrible even with 2 or 3 edits. No more though, those people are on my "not" list. So it's not at all about price. Or the fanciness of the web page either.

And, while communication is vastly important, communication doesn't matter if the design continues to be bad. It only takes one or two designs to see how it plays out for me, no matter where they're from. As far as non-US digitizers, if I send a design back for a change or edit, and they don't understand what I want after 2 tries, I'm done with them.

While most times you get what you pay for, if someone is wanting to get their name out with good feedback, that's the way to do it. Volume instead of per item profit.

IF the initial poster thinks $10 is too high, what do you think it should be then? Seriously? One poster above mentioned jacket backs. The price for doing jacket backs is even more broad than standard digitizing. Again, I've paid $20-$25 for jacket backs that were great, and I've paid $50 and $75 for ones that were terrible and got my money back.

I don't like paying per thousand stitches. It's too easy manipulate. And, the complexity issue is something that's in the eye of the digitizer. What's complex to one, may not be to another. Skill level and experience have more to do with it in my experience.

Overhead, that's part of the business. If you try to make back 100% of everything in each job, you'll soon be without business from anyone. That's true in digitizing, and any other business. It's like calculating the price for electricity and thread break.

Sew outs,,,,sure they're nice. But how much are you going to charge me to do a sew out, if any, and how much of that is included in your price. If you do one, and it still comes back for changes or edits, the sew out didn't help. If not, and I do the sew out, then I have to wait for the edit change anyway.

In my opinion, every time I log on here it seems I see a new digitizer. That's fine. But, if you question anyone's ability or skills, the best way to find out is give up a few bucks, give them a try, and then you'll know. I just hope my business continues to grow so I'll have a problem with too many digitizing jobs to do! LOL

And, lastly, I don't digitize past the lettering program that came with my machine. Based on the training and understanding of what is involved, and knowing there's folks out there that are good at it and do it for a very reasonable price, I won't start digitizing either.

What is $10 to you? Don't you charge your customer for that with mark up? ten bucks is squat I would and do pay much much higher than that for quality work.

Lets go back a decade or so when it was as high as $20 per thousand stitches no matter the stitch count, hell it used to be even higher than that.

A digitizing "Preparation charge" IS part of the sale to the customer, time is a value that needs to be compensated, just as shipping charges roll into material and product costs. When you do an order for a dozen shirts for a customer that wants them shipped to them don't you charge for shipping?

Also I don't see how $10 per design is a deal breaker, if you are down sizing and laying off the person that does your digitizing a cost of $10 per design with a weekly cost of $100 is a lot more inexpensive than what your previous employee was costing your business! Our charge is $40 per design and goes for 1 item to however many they want. If they do not want to pay the prep charge then they will not be a customer. Just part of doing business.:cool: :cool:

Yes and no. I see where you are coming from but think of it like this. Don't you try to find the most affordable shipping for your customer? Yes I pass on the expense to the customer but that doesn't mean that I don't care how much that expense is. I think we are on the same page, I don't think $10 is a lot but in your example you were thinking back to the days of $20 per k or something like that.

I look at the overall price to my customer and try to keep the costs down so I can provide them a quality product at the best price possible. That means I try to find the best quality for the best price in everything I provide them, digitizing, products, shipping, etc. Of course we pass on the costs but if you and I are both providing a quality product and I was able to seek out and/or negotiate better pricing on everything which made me $20, $50 cheaper then who looks like the better option?

Again I think we are on the same page, I don't think $10 is to much and I am not criticizing what you charge either. I am just pointing out that finding good quality products, digitizing or anything that we do for the best possible price is what I would strive for for my customers.

10$ is a deal.

Competition keeps the prices even in your location.

Even the very apparel companies I buy from offer embroidery, directly competitng with me, their customer.

Yeah, but if you are trying to save some dollars shipping do you go with this guy because he's a few bucks cheaper?

I know where you are trying to go with your post but this is not what we are talking about. We are talking about delivering a quality product at an affordable price. I was merely making reference to the fact that just because you pass the cost on to your customer doesn't mean that you don't care what the price is. I find that part of my job is to produce a quality product at affordable price. If I don't deliver on both of those items I do not believe I can or will be successful in my business.

Edit: and for the record I have no problem paying for quality work. I was not saying anything about anyone's pricing in this thread. I am just trying to point out that you still have to care what the pricing is even if the customer is paying for it.

I use Steve for my digitizing and vectoring. His quality and turnaround are incredible for $10...and I do about the same volume you are talking about. To think that $10 is high for the amount of work I think is absurd. We have our own digitizing software (both Melco and Wilcom) and I wouldn't even think of using it now. We also find that because of the service and price that Steve gives us, we are more prone to "gamble" on a customer, offering to do a sew out of their design that they only pay for if they like it. I have gotten so many orders doing that, and $10 investment is a no brainer.

Sure... but come on.

I will GLADLY pay 10 bucks... You better be pretty busy and have a REALLY good (and stupid) digitizer that you can do better than 10 bucks.

I mean... that is minimum wage (once you factor in payroll overhead).. *40 hrs a week is $400/week. If you aren't turning out 40 designs a week you are losing money. If your guy is that good and turning out 40 designs a week for min wage then you also may be able to get the government to subsidize his pay because his IQ probably qualifies as mentally retarded. ;)

Like I said, I agree with you on that!

Doesnt much of this depend on where in the World the original poster (or any of us for that matter) is located? Sounds like we are all generalizing based on OUR neighborhoods, but they might be somewhere that minimum wage is no where near 10bucks with taxes.

Wherever we live I hope we are educating our clients that the setup/digitizing/artprep, etc is WORTH something. Many other industries have kept their initial setup charges intact but for some reason in the embroidery industry we have made it seem SO computerized as to be virtually telling our clients that our digitizing and set ups have no perceived value. I am fortunate to skip much of that by trying to concentrate on custom one of a kind or very involved embroideries where the skill level and hand work along with computerized embroidery still has a value to the client. But 22 years ago THAT SAME PERCEPTION was held in our hat . shirt , and jacket embroidery.....

Providing an affordable product makes that product available to markets that it wouldn't be feasible for if the prices were to high or the perceived value was to high. I do understand what you are saying though. We have to keep a balance of quality and affordability while still making a living.

Sometimes the perception of such high value can cause you to lose a target market. There is a balance that has to be met. Same in many fields of business.

If $10 is of same quality for 20000 stitches design as i pay to someone $30 based on stitches prices, i will sure like to save $20........

Must be nice. Like I said if you are only processing orders of hundreds it seems less relevant. I can't see anyone ordering a dozen caps and paying $140 just for their digitizing. Or a church group ordering 6 polos and paying $140 for their digitizing. Like I said you lose a whole market or two with prices like that and if you don't care to service those markets then it is probably a good thing.

Its not good thinking spending high amount on digitizing when you can get same quality with less prices

You must have some customers with deep pockets in this economy.

Good luck.

We are looking for EDS3 program with isa cart and the dongle
if any one want to sell it please contact with us

Would like to know if you found any one....

Hi.... if you are still looking for a cheaper digitizer, we can offer you $8.00 flat rate for left breast logos as long as your volumes are 10+ per week.

Try http://www.embroiderydigitizing.net or http://www.megri.net, i am paying them less than $8 and quality is top. We send 4+ design per week to them

LISA
A&m Custom Embroidery
SWIFTWATER

I think i can do in $10 per design in that volume of around 10+ designs a week...

You opinion, Robert Young, and you're entitled to it, and I as well. Now that I know how you feel, I'll make sure I DON"T do business with you. And as other "mom&pop" shops and small timers read your comments, I'd say they may say the same thing. To me, your comments show you care only about the big volume customers. Thats fine,,,,.

At the NNEP show in Nashville, one thing that is nice is you get to talk with other small operators, and their business's. The one thing that constantly comes up, is digitizing. Who do YOU use, and who do you NOT use. Word of mouth can help make you or break you.

I'm small time now, but my business is growning by the month. I may not be a multi machine shop, but so far, my customers keep coming back to me. My sales have grown, and the personal service I give is what they say brings them back to me.

I don't care what your problems are issues are with digitizing, that's your problem on your end. If you don't want to take the patience to work with customers, so be it. They'll soon abandon you and go elsewhere. If you think every second of your time spent on a project should be paid for, good luck,,,you'll soon be begging for business in my opinion.

Big clients come from small clients.

I've said enough,,,,,

I probably should hush, but,,,,,,,,,,

ever took your car to a garage with what you thought was a major problem. After just a few minutes, its out, and they tell you it was just a plug loose, or something totally minor. I have.

Then they give you the bill. Would you take your car back to them if they charged you a full hour of labor and shop charge and all the other crap they throw on the ticket, for 10 minutes of work, and there's other garages around to take the car to? I doubt it.

But you WOULD take it back if they said, "no problem, $10 bucks or even "no charge". Come back when you have a real problem.
This has happend to me many times over the years. Guess where I take my car to. Sure I live in a sort or rural area where this "customer satisfaction" is still important. I'm lucky in that respect.

It seems digitizers are falling into these two groups now, base on what I read here, other forums, and in talking with other embroidery shop and machine owners. The guys that want a penny for every second of their time, and the ones that look toward the big picture,,,down the road business and loyality.

,,,,,now I'll hush, for now!

Nametags... I'm as small as they come (single head PR-650). But I understand Robert's point.

I also own a computer repair/consulting shop. MUCH easier to accommodate when I was mainly doing consulting work and had a handful of larger repeat customers. I knew what they needed, when they expected it, what their budgets/concerns were. I had a relationship with those customers.

Then I opened my repair shop. New people every day... The only thing consistent with most of them is that they want it done YESTERDAY! LOL. Some don't want to spend a dime and others want their computer fixed no matter what the cost. So you are constantly asking questions and feel out each person. This is much more time consuming vs the clients that call up and say "hey, we are having a problem with our front desk computer, think you can come by and take a look at it?"

I'm not saying I don't want the small customers, if I didn't I wouldn't have opened the shop... BUT the repeat/big customers are much quicker to deal with and much more profitable "per hour".

Also... one thing that I've learned... my father was a "no charge this time" kind of guy. Is... if it was so simple why didn't they solve it themselves?

Sometimes the problem is that simple.. but guess what... they are paying for my trouble shooting knowledge.

I had one customer I walked in her house and she said that she had just put in new ram and it wasn't working... but old ram back in and still didn't work. I popped the cover and saw the ram wasn't seated correctly. Put it in properly and poof it worked.

People often bring in computers that won't boot... first thing I do is pop the ram and reseat it... lots of times that's all it is. Less than 10 mins of work. But guess what... they didn't know how to do it.

The thing is... I didn't LEARN that was likely the problem in 10 minutes... that took years of trouble shooting computers and recognizing symptoms. Yes she guided me in the right direction but those were just clues.

The one thing that I did for that client is say "Ok... well you are paying me for an hour... is there anything else I can do for you while I am here". That's the part of my father coming out in me.

BTW, when my father got old shut down his seemingly successful business owing a LOT of money and he couldn't even give the business away.

I can see both sides to this problem. For me it evens out in the long run. I am a small shop myself (2 heads) and I like to take care of the small customers. Sure I sometimes don't make a killing off of every customer and I am not losing money either but I accomodate customers with even very small orders and you know what they do? They tell everyone how great it was that I was so accommodating to them and helped them out. That word spreads and soon I have larger orders because of those advertisers. It works out for me in the long run and I have very low overhead, I am not trying to pay rent on a retail store or anything like that where I have to nickel and dime everyone that comes in.

I don't doubt what you say, or your experiences. But, I stand on my opinions.

Those big clients are usually temporary, they keep looking for better deals and better service. When they find them, you're out the door. And they WILL eventually find a better deal, as they have people whose job is to do nothing but look for better deals.

Then, you'll be looking for those "mom&pop" shops and trying to recruit them, as you'll learn $10 is better than $0.

Time will tell. In my small town area, in just over a year and a half, I've already seen some like me fold up and quit that were there when I started, and some even start and quit since I've been in business.

Oh well, we'll see who's still here this time next year, on this forum, in this business. I may be gone too, who knows.

Nametags.. I'm certainly not trying to invalidate your opinion myself either.

But my largest consulting gig... pays ALL my bills and then some... is a company that has a base in Houston with a smaller satellite office in my town that I take care of. ALL of the employees have come and gone in the last 6+ years that I have been working for them... I'm the longest standing "employee" (though I'm not really an employee as I'm contract) there. I was there before the current boss was there. I have a counter part IT guy that IS the "real" IT guy in the Houston office. I was there before him AND his predecessor! The company recently got sold off from its parent company and bought by another company. I survived that transition also... in fact I got a pay raise in the process of renegotiating the contract with the new company!

If you do your job well and for a fair amount a large company WILL be loyal. For all the same reasons you like them, they like you. They KNOW what they are getting and don't have to wonder if your work will be good enough.

Like I said, I have been involved with this company for a LONG time and yes sometimes they change vendors... but rarely is it just to save a buck. And if it is... then they weren't getting what the expected out of that person to start with. One thing I have seen them change over the years is offshore communication companies... but even in that it is usually because their sales guy leaves and goes to another company and then comes back in and sells them on the new company he is working for. This again falls into a relationship with that person that they have developed... not just cut throat "it's cheaper? I'm sold!" mentality.

Hope that helps.