As a part of my service I often source and order print for my clients. On occasion a new customer will approach me for a print job and say “How much do you charge for flyer?”

In many cases people have never ordered print before and have no idea as to how print pricing works. Like most things you buy, quality and quantity correlate with the price and swaying the specification here or there will ultimately also adjust costs.

Below is a short and basic guide as to what to think about when ordering print:

Print Type: Digital & litho

Digital is usually for 500 or below copies (short run). It’s cheaper and quicker for a short run as there is less setup time and expense involved for the printer. Although accurate the finish is not as good as litho but great for a quick turnaround on a small run. If you’re planning on having some letterheads printed professionally and then overprinting them through your own laser printer, remember that some digital prints are ruined when passed through a laser at a later stage.

For a longer print run of 500 or above a litho print process is used. Litho is ultimately cheaper when printing a large quantity and the longer setup process is justified.

There are many more pros and cons for specifically using each process which are dependant on the individual job.

Usually each individual print house will determine and setup the options available for you, so you don’t have to worry too much about the processes if it’s an everyday print job.

Quantity: The more you buy the better deal you can source. Printers usually have special offers on set items which will save you money rather then going for odd number quantities.

E.g. You may want 300 letterheads, 100 compliment slips and 500 business cards. This is regarded as three separate jobs. Effectively a printer may offer a special package which will be cheaper such as 500 of each for one set price.

Quality: Quality can be determined in many ways from the print process to the finishing of a product, but one major factor is Paper Weight:

Paper weight is measured in g/sm (grams per square metre). Each document usually has a rough standard weight: e.g.

Letterheads & comp slips 100gsm

Business cards 300-400gsm

Flyers – 300- 400 gsm

Leaflets – 70 – 200 gsm

To simplify, the higher the GSM the thicker the material and the better quality the product should be. 70 gsm being very thin copy paper and 450 gsm being thick artborad (card). As the GSM rises, so will the price.

Don’t always go for the highest GSM, think about what your purpose of print is and determine the cost effective solution.

As well as paper weight there is:

Paper Type: Depending on the final product each print house will have a paper type which they use as a standard. Going for something different makes it a custom job (see custom jobs for more details)

Sizing: Some print materials come in various sizes e.g. Leaflets (A4, A3 folded, A5, DL etc). The bigger the size of a particular product, the more it will cost.

Colour: Colouring also affects the price. A printer uses four colours Cyan, Magenta, Yellow & Black (CMYK) to create all other colours on the document. Print can be ordered in 1, 2, 3 or 4 (full colour) specific colours. The more colours used increases the pricing. With the use of digital printing full colour print prices has reduced costs so many printers now offer a full colour print as standard.

Double sided: Printing on one or both sides alters the cost.

Finishing and Custom jobs: All in all anything which is custom (not listed in a price list or not regarded as standard) will cost more.

- custom shapes

- folds

- finishes

- spot varnish

- Paper types

In most cases people do not realize that a small customization ultimately bumps up the price due to the setup of the document, so if you want something even slightly different you will have to pay for it!

Splitting Jobs: Buying 5000 flyers is cheaper then buying 2 sets of 2500. If you want 5000 flyers with two different designs, this will be considered as two different jobs and you will be paying for 2 x 2500 price rather then the 5000 price.

Conclusion: Each print house vary their service so this is a just a guide as to what to think about when ordering print. Each category above will change the final price of a print run so be specific with your print requirements and budget to source the best deal for you.