The print business··7 min read
How to build a pricing formula for business cards
A complete example, from the press sheet to the price your customer sees — and why it's worth writing down as a formula instead of keeping it in one person's head.
In many print shops, the price of a job lives in one person's head. That works until that person goes on holiday, or until you want to sell online. A written formula solves both: anyone on the team can give a price, and a calculator can show it to the customer.
Step 1: how many fit on a sheet
We start with the press sheet. Take an SRA3 sheet (320×450 mm) with a printable area of about 310×440 mm. A 90×50 mm business card with 2 mm of bleed on each side takes up 94×54 mm. Three fit across and eight down — so 24 cards per sheet.
Step 2: how many sheets for the run
For 1,000 cards you need 1,000 ÷ 24 ≈ 42 sheets. Add waste for make-ready and cutting — say 5% — and you get 44 sheets.
Step 3: cost by component
| Component | Calculation | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 350 gsm paper | 44 sheets × 3.00 MDL | 132 MDL |
| Double-sided printing | 44 sheets × 2 sides × 2.50 MDL | 220 MDL |
| Cutting | flat fee | 30 MDL |
| File preparation | flat fee | 50 MDL |
| Total cost | 432 MDL |
Step 4: from cost to price
Your markup goes on top of cost. With a 60% markup, the price comes to about 690 MDL. The exact percentage matters less than keeping it the same every time: customers compare prices, and a price that changes from day to day for the same job erodes trust.
Step 5: the options the customer chooses
- Quantity: changes the number of sheets, so paper and printing
- Paper: changes the sheet price
- Sides: 1 or 2 changes the number of clicks
- Finishing: lamination, rounded corners, foil — add-ons per sheet or per piece
- Rush: a multiplier applied at the end
Once it's written down, the formula becomes the calculator in your online store: the customer changes the quantity or the paper, and the price recalculates by exactly the same rules your team uses.
Written by The TGPRINT team