Every shop has stuff it doesn't do. Maybe you print but don't embroider. Maybe you've got a six-color press but no DTG. Or a big order lands the week you're already slammed. A job comes in that you can't do all of, and it feels like you either turn it down or send the customer somewhere else.
You don't have to do either. A lot of shops just work together. You do the embroidery a printer can't. They do the printing you're set up for. Everybody keeps their customers, and nobody turns away work.
Work with other shops
Find a couple shops that are good at what you're not. An embroiderer if you print. A bigger printer for when you get busy. When a job comes in that's part yours and part theirs, you keep the customer and send them their part. Your customer gets the whole order from you.
Shops have always done this. The annoying part was the hand-off: retyping specs into an email, guessing what they'll charge, calling to check on it. That's the part we fixed.
What makes it work
- Clean hand-off. They get the sizes, the print details, and the art. You don't retype anything, and you can see where the job is without calling.
- Price up front. You know what they'll charge before you quote your customer, so the invoice doesn't surprise you later.
- Clear roles. You keep the customer and send the bill. They run the production.
- Same terms every time. They set their rate once, so every job you send them prices the same way.
How it works in InkTracker
You invite a shop by email. They accept, and now you can send each other jobs.
Pick an order, or just some lines like the caps and not the tees, and send it over. They get the specs and the art. (Yes, they see the art, same as any shop making your goods.) Your customer's info and your prices stay with you, since they don't need those to run the job.
It shows up on their board as a real order. You see their progress on yours, and you get a heads-up when it's done.
They set their own prices, by method and quantity, and they can charge different shops different rates. When you send a job, their price fills in. You can change it, they confirm it, and that's what they bill you.
You see that price while you quote. Tag a line as theirs and it shows your cost and your profit on that line before the quote goes out. So a job that's 100 printed shirts and 50 embroidered hats prices in one quote, and you can see what you make on each part.
When it's done, they invoice you like any other customer, the same way you'd bill anyone else. And if one order needs two shops, you can split it: hats to one, shirts to another.
You don't have to do everything to take on everything. Line up a few good shops, make it easy to trade work, and there's not much you have to turn down.
Common questions
- How do I find shops to work with?
- Start with shops you already know — the embroiderer you've sent work to, the printer you've called when you're slammed. It works best with shops that are good at what you're not, so you're trading work instead of competing for it. Invite them by email and they accept.
- Do they see my customer?
- They see the art and the job details so they can make it, so if there's a logo they'll see it, like any shop printing your stuff. Your customer's contact info and your prices aren't in the hand-off, since they don't need them to run the job. You're still the one the customer deals with.
- How do we agree on price?
- They set their own rates, so their price fills in when you send them a job. You can change it and they confirm it, so you both know the number before the work starts, and that's what they bill you.
- Can I split an order between shops?
- Yes. Different lines can go to different shops — hats to one, shirts to another. The same line can't go to two shops, so nothing gets made twice.