Donate SIGN UP

What Equipment Do I Need To Start A Printing Business?

Avatar Image
Kath08 | 15:28 Thu 21st Apr 2022 | Business & Finance
11 Answers
I just want to start my own printing business because I have the opportunity to get good printers at affordable prices. Tell me, what else do I need to start, besides printers? Thank you

Answers

1 to 11 of 11rss feed

Best Answer

No best answer has yet been selected by Kath08. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.

For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.
What sort of printing?
Question Author
DTG printing for t shirts
As this post comes from a new member, I hope that we're not going to see another new member posting soon, with the 'perfect solution' to the questioner's needs. (i.e. the old two-part spam trick).

However, assuming for the moment that this is a genuine post, then there's not really a great deal more needed other than:
1. Suitable premises to conduct the business from (or, say, planning consent to operate the business from home) ;
2. An appropriate power supply to operate the printing machine(s) and any other equipment needed ;
3. Limited company status if there would otherwise be a major risk to the business owner's finances if anything went wrong ;
4. Possibly third-party business insurance to cover risks such as a customer suing on the grounds that a T-shirt, or the inks used on it, has resulted in a skin problem ;
5. A contract with a courier company to be able to despatch items at the lowest costs ;
6. Depending upon the scale of the operation, possibly some packaging machinery (although, initially, just a supply of cardboard boxes, etc might be all that's required) ;
7. A banking arrangement to accept payment by debit/credit cards ;
8. A stock of T-shirts, in a decent range of colours and covering all sizes from a small child's one up to an XXXL ;
9. Loads of stock designs which customers can choose from and modify ;
10. Software which will allow customers to design their own products online ;
11. A website, with an online sales facility, to sell the T-shirts through; and/or
12. An account with an online sales platform (e.g. Etsy or Folksy) to sell your products through.
^that sounds easy enough..I think I'll start myself!
PS: You'll also need to study the market, to find out what your competitors are charging for similar products. For example, I had this T-shirt printed for a young friend's birthday:
https://postimg.cc/JH1sGmPv
As you'll see, it didn't cost me a lot:
https://www.smartphoto.co.uk/photo-gifts/t-shirt-with-photo
You'll have to be able to compete with those sort of prices, so it might take quite some time to recoup your capital expenditure on the business!
Question Author
Nothing personal, but it's fun to hear about the two-part spam trick and see a random link to a t-shirt site :)

It's better to see insurance company recommendations of course (thanks a lot for this tip! I didn't think anything of that at all), or links to manufacturers of quality T-shirts or some useful software, because I want to offer my personal prints.
Buenchico is a respected poster on here. His answer with a link does not break Site Rules.
Countless spammers post on here and another/or the same one with different name answers
Question Author
I'm not saying that a spammer :) It just turned out funny :)
Good answer, I’m even writing that I didn’t think about insurance.
I think your designs will your main USP; if people like them it may permit you to sell at higher prices than the competition.
-- answer removed --
-- answer removed --

1 to 11 of 11rss feed

Related Questions

Sorry, we can't find any related questions. Try using the search bar at the top of the page to search for some keywords, or choose a topic and submit your own question.