Canvas printing from home

[craiged18]

Hi All,

I am looking into starting up a home canvas printing business and would like any input available.

I will be doing this as well as my current job and would like to do this evenings and weekends.

I am looking at a Epson Stylus Pro 9800 as the printer.

• Is it acceptible to get a refurbished one? I have seen them for less than 2k.
• Does anyone have this printer?

I was maybe looking at having 2 fronts for the business.

The budget canvas sold on ebay

Better quality canvas and stretchers etc sold through a website.

• Does anyone have any advice as to if money can be made in this way and if anyone is currently doing this, advice on printer to use, canvas etc?

• Estimated costs on production and selling price would be of real benefit.

• How easy is the scretching of the canvas?

I know there are many people already doing this, would I be another small fish in a large pond?

Thanks for your help.

 

[sysops]

This is a hugely saturated market. The very low cost of entry has meant that there are literally thousands of people with large format printers sitting in their spare rooms. The supply outweighs the demand by an order of magnitude.

I think if you can come up with something innovative to print, something that will differentiate your service, then go for it. Otherwise I doubt you could make it work.

 

[Blade Printers]

As above - just look at the prices people are selling canvases for on ebay. You'll really struggle to complete unless you have a niche product.

Cheers John

 

[craiged18]

This would be prints that people have sent to be, so their images. Not just prints of profesional images?

Still the same view?

I have calculated that I could produce a A2 canvas for around £3-4 and they seem to be selling for close to £20 on ebay and through my own website maybe more.

The costs would be buying supplies in medium quantities.

Obviously price of printer needs to be taken into account and postage, which I am finding difficult to get a price on.

Is there anyone on here doing this that could share info on costs and margins?

 

[sysops]

I have calculated that I could produce a A2 canvas for around £3-4 and they seem to be selling for close to £20 on ebay and through my own website maybe more.

A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.

A quick search on ebay turns up several A1 print services for £14 delivered. Work out your paper & ink costs for an A1 print, add £3.50 for a tube + postage. What's your margin?

How many a day do you need to sell to make a living?

 

[Blade Printers]

Everyone's costs would be different due to overheads, and I doubt a competitor will openly give his/her buying and selling prices freely on a website.

I also doubt you can print an A2 canvas for £3/4 - are you talking solvent inks here which will last over time?

Don't forget to factor in your inward delivery costs/vat on your inks and canvas supplies, your costs to accept a payment - if ebay, listing fees, final value fees, and paypal charges. You want to be factoring in a % to cover depreciation on your printer and any loan charges which you pay to get up and running.

Once you do all this, there'll be little left for a wage and even less if you want to keep the tax man sweet!

 

[arcon5]

My business was in canvas printing, you CAN make a lot of money from it if you get it right (unfortunately I tried to run before I could walk, an inexperienced business man and fell flat on my face - as portrayed in my other thread).... but a 24x16" (18mm depth) can be produced for about £5 using pigment based inks, 380gsm 100% cotton canvas and fir-pine stretcher bars, compatible inks. (In fact it can be produced for about £4ish if you choose the right printer and become an import partner with a supplier).

The hardest part is finding a supplier of decent canvas at a good price, the rest is easy.

However, the costs to produce the item (as you have already pointed out) is not the only thing to consider:

- printheads @ £40ish per head (4-6 heads for most large format printers)
- maintenance, such as servicing, change of belt, etc. Call out fees are about £150+vat for the first hour then £100 per hour after that. A major repair can cost a small fortune.

On to inks:

if you use genuine HP inks then expect the cost to rise by a couple more quid.

if you use compatible, be very careful - there are different grades of pigment, using the wrong ones can wear your print heads in as few as 2 or 3 prints, can destroy your tubes and cause other damage.

I know because in 2010/2011 I made the mistake of changing suppliers and lost about £2,000 cash in the process, including engineer costs, wastage, etc. Plus about a further £4k in down time and refunds at the busiest time of the year!


As far as eBay is concerned. I used to rake in about £2.5k per month from them. I made a fair amount of money from it, but I constantly questioned whether it was worth it - eBay customers for custom products are a nightmare!!


Other than that, it's very labor intensive:

- customers don't understand resolution and image quality
- customers don't check 'previews' and 'samples' properly when asked for approval, then you have to clean up after them (this costs you money)
- customers expect you to perform miracles with their photos - for free

You need to understand and consider

- colour management and workflow
- colour profiles and calibration
- moisture content in bars which can cause warping
- I could list a million more things

Saying all that, it is fun! It is rewarding!

I will never forget the time some lady was brought to tears in-store when her photo of her deceased husband was restored and printed on canvas.

 

[Blade Printers]

Good info there - do you still print canvas?

I looked at adding it to my print shop but decided not to due to exactly what you mentioned about running costs - and problems when things go wrong with the printers.

Cheers John

 

[Blade Printers]

I could list a million more things

You forgot to mention that you need to be an expert in PhotoShop

 

[visagephoto]

I have calculated that I could produce a A2 canvas for around £3-4 and they seem to be selling for close to £20 on ebay and through my own website maybe more.

As previously stated you would have to include the cost of the printer, Canvas, stretchers, Inks & UV protection coating or laminate (there would probably also be some wastage caused by print/canvas/file problems etc), and if your customers were sending in prints you would need a high end flatbed scanner.

You would also require a reasonably powerful PC/Mac with suitable software to handle large image files and any required file/image interpolation & manipulation.

You would also have to source suitable oversized cartons and include plenty of protective packaging (ie. polystyrene, bubble wrap etc.) for mailing the finished canvasses and include postage costs, I'm not sure of the postage costs but my lab charges £13,50 + vat for a 30"x 20" canvas bond.

 

[arcon5]

You forgot to mention that you need to be an expert in PhotoShop

Yes, you need great knowledge of Photoshop. It is by far the most powerful bit of software for managing colour profiles and output. not only that, you need a decent monitor which shows the 'true' image - because if you supply to professionals they will not stand by sub-standard prints.


Customers can be very indecisive if you do it face to face, which justifies the margins in many cases.

The longest I ever spent with a client was 3 hours - and he only spend £120ish. I didn't mind though as it was a slow day, a casual worker was there to pick up my slack and he brought back repeated business .

Sometimes though customers will spend a good part of half hour just choosing two photos to take advantage of your '2 for £x offer' - you can try every trick in the book to speed them up without being rude and some people just couldn't be hurried.

You should also factor in presentation boxes.

As far as varnishing & protection is concerned, this is not always necessary (unless you are using a polyester canvas) for most prints. However if they have deep dark areas of black for example, it's very easy to see where oily hands have been touching it so a varnish is recommended.

A decent computer (as mentioned) is a must. Files being sent to print will consume a lot of memory, add photoshop and a sub-standard computer will not perform well enough.


Now on to stretching the canvas...

this is very easy.. but even easier to get wrong. If you stretch it unevenly you will cause creases. For canvas wraps (white edges), preferably use a device such as easymate if your on a budget otherwise amateur stretching can mean the image edges are not straight and curve from uneven tension (if this makes sense).

 

[Spock]

If you are going to start a canvas print website be prepared to spend thousands on SEO and marketing to even have a sniff at getting some sales. I'm afraid you are going to have a big wake-up call if you don't do some thorough research. We've been doing it for over 5 years now and it's sooo competitive already.

 

[Moneyman]

I have to agree with the others. Almost dialy groupon offers and some big boys a re in the game. i have a company that does DNA based graphics on canvases i am inundated with offers to do them for almost nothing. the market for printing on canvas has collapsed.

 

[stitchup]

What a lot of defeatist attitudes on here! Lets all just give up huh!

There will always be people who'll churn out any product cheaper than you can! Searching Ebay for ANY product/opportunity will reveal those who are willing to do it for next to nothing.

The skill is in your marketing and much more. If you listen to all the 'prophets of doom & gloom' on here you'd just go back to bed and die.

People with enthusiasm, energy, ideas will buck the trend.

 

[Spock]

Why did you bump this thread from April? :|

 

[stitchup]

Because I was searching, discovered the thread, read it and thought I'd comment!

Why not?

 

[daveforge]

Hi, I'm interested to know nearly 10 years later has this market become completely saturated now?

 

[Mark T Jones]

Hi, I'm interested to know nearly 10 years later has this market become completely saturated now?

Saturated markets are for people who don't understand niches

 

[HFE Signs]

As above - when a market becomes saturated you have to find your niche to make it successful, this is your biggest challenge. I would avoid ebay and any other platform where people tend to go for the cheaper. Also build into your cost things such as courier damages/losses. I think you can make a business out of this but your niche is key here. Good luck

 

[daveforge]

Seems the local commercial printer has gone for larger machines that print on flat beds.

Saturated markets are for people who don't understand niches

Hi Mark,

I was looking at your signature do assist companies with finance for fitting out?

 

[Mark T Jones]

Seems the local commercial printer has gone for larger machines that print on flat beds.

Hi Mark,

I was looking at your signature do assist companies with finance for fitting out?

That's exactly what I do