Typical volume discounts

[Erik Anderson]

The situation:
I covered a private auto event and the coordinator wants to purchase a quantity of 50 5x7 prints to send out as a thank you to the participants. The prints have the event and his business logo (a sponsor) on them.

I'm comfortable with what to charge for one, but as I usually deal with one or two prints per client, I'm curious:

What is a 'typical' discount applied to purchasing multiple prints? Note this is different than my previous question about a discount across multiple IMAGES found here for reference (http://community.automotivephoto.net/forums/showthread.php?t=671&highlight=volume+discount)

[Todd Corzett]

I tend not to offer discounts unless it prompts someone to buy more images. Is it all the image, or different images? If it's the same image with 50 prints it requires far less work from you than 50 different prints... so a discount makes more sense. My printer gives no discounts for 50 prints of different images, so I don't think I would either... unless it requires no more work from me than 50 of a single image (ie. nothing more than batch resizing/sharpening required). You have to feel the client out though... if you say no discount will they drop the whole order? If you say no discount will they only order 25?

As for numbers... I don't really know... but it really depends on what your margins for the prints are (you don't want to loose money on the deal).

-Todd...

[Erik Anderson]

I tend not to offer discounts unless it prompts someone to buy more images. Is it all the image, or different images? If it's the same image with 50 prints it requires far less work from you than 50 different prints... so a discount makes more sense. My printer gives no discounts for 50 prints of different images, so I don't think I would either... unless it requires no more work from me than 50 of a single image (ie. nothing more than batch resizing/sharpening required). You have to feel the client out though... if you say no discount will they drop the whole order? If you say no discount will they only order 25?

As for numbers... I don't really know... but it really depends on what your margins for the prints are (you don't want to loose money on the deal).

-Todd...

One images, 50 copies of the same image (with some logo additional and a bit of photoshop). 50 is the number, it won't be less. I get 15% off prints at this quantity.

I'm planning on my invoice to show:

50 images (regular price)
Volume discount (discount)
Prep and editing (prep work cost)
Invoice Total

[John Waugh]

I give a 10% discount on bulk orders of the same image.(20-50), 15% on 51-100 and 20% on 101+
I get quite a number of requests for bulk prints this time of year. The discount tends to bring back the same clients year after year as well as generates new ones. The discount corresponds to the cost from my printer.
I still have the same post processing fee, and I increase the shipping and handling to reflect the Fed Ex Ground.