Color Printing - Discount for YE Members

**JLeezer** · 06-07-2008 12:34 AM

I just launched Little Bit of Color, a color laser printing service catering to individuals and organizations in need of small quantities of color copies. As a thank you for all the knowledge I have gained from YE Members, I have discounted everything just for you guys. YE Members can save between 19% and 32% on plain paper or glossy paper, full-page color printing.

The minimum order is 25 pages. All orders receive free shipping. You can either print a whole bunch of a one page document or a few copies of a multipage document.

I'm not sure how long I'll keep this special going; guess I'll have to wait to see how many orders result of this post. Keep in mind, you do not have to use the pages ordered immediately. You can purchase them now and use them anytime in the future.

To receive the discount, go to Step 1: Choose Paper & Quantity | Little Bit of Color instead of following the normal Step 1 link.

Also, please let me know what you think of the idea and website.

Thank you!

**Squandered Halfpints** · 06-07-2008 12:56 AM

As soon a I opened your website I got a "Suspicious Website" warning. It said that this is possible phishing website and doesn't recommend me continuing.

I don't know why its telling me this or how to fix it. I just wanted to bring it to your attention because I'm sure its bad for business.

**JLeezer** · 06-07-2008 08:35 AM

Thank you. I appreciate it. I presume you are using IE7, correct? If you're not, could you let me know what you are using. I'm going to hunt down what could cause that. Thanks again.

**RLorenzen** · 06-07-2008 08:55 AM

The site looks nice. I didn't have a problem with the warning. I will be placing an order as soon as we get our flyers designed.

**Squandered Halfpints** · 06-07-2008 03:36 PM

I just sent a "report this website" to Microsoft marking that "I don't think this is a phishing website." I don't know if this will help. There was also an option for the owner or administrator to send a report that says there is an error in marking my site as a phishing website, you might want to do that. And yes, I'm using IE7

**JLeezer** · 06-07-2008 04:42 PM

Cool. Thanks for doing that and I will definitely do whatever I can to get microsoft off the offensive on this one. I appreciate the help.

**jasaunders** · 06-07-2008 04:43 PM

At $6.78, it seems cheap. With free shipping, how are you making any money?

**JLeezer** · 06-07-2008 05:27 PM

Originally Posted by jasaunders

At $6.78, it seems cheap. With free shipping, how are you making any money?

I'll be real open and honest about the financials here. I've basically figured out my expenses as follows:

Toner, Drums, Fuser, Transfer Belt, and printer replacement cost (estimate) works out to cost about 7.7¢ per print. The paper works out to be 0.8¢ for plain or 3.3¢ for glossy. Then add in the cost of the envelope (for the orders of 25 or 50--orders for 75+ go in free USPS shipping packaging) and the postage ($1.68 or $2.53 for 25 or 50 copies, flat rate shipping for the larger orders).

So, for an order of 25 plain paper copies, the total expenses (without credit card processing) are $3.80. I've figured it will take me about 5 minutes to print and package the order, so I put my profit at $2.50 (or $30/hr). Add those together for a total of $6.30, add in the $0.48 for paypal fees to process the credit card, and we've arrived at $6.78.

While $30/hr seems rather low, keep in mind that as the order size goes up, the profit margin remains nearly the same (my profit on 25 prints is approximately 35%; my profit on 250 prints is also approximately 35%) but the amount of time I actually do anything does not change. If it takes 20 minutes to print the 250 prints, I have 20 minutes to do whatever I want.

Plus, I can connect to my home network from work and as long as I stock everything full before I leave in the morning, I can fire off print jobs while I'm working so they're ready to package when I get home.

This is not a new or unique, I know. That's why I'm not at all concerned with going into a tremendous amount of detail. If you want more, I'll be happy to share. If you have any thoughts, I'd love to hear them. Anyone with some SEO tips specific to this industry? I'd love to hear from you too!

**jasaunders** · 06-07-2008 06:43 PM

Sounds good to me

**OnTheWayUp** · 06-08-2008 04:43 PM

Originally Posted by JLeezer

I'll be real open and honest about the financials here. I've basically figured out my expenses as follows:

Toner, Drums, Fuser, Transfer Belt, and printer replacement cost (estimate) works out to cost about 7.7¢ per print. The paper works out to be 0.8¢ for plain or 3.3¢ for glossy. Then add in the cost of the envelope (for the orders of 25 or 50--orders for 75+ go in free USPS shipping packaging) and the postage ($1.68 or $2.53 for 25 or 50 copies, flat rate shipping for the larger orders).

So, for an order of 25 plain paper copies, the total expenses (without credit card processing) are $3.80. I've figured it will take me about 5 minutes to print and package the order, so I put my profit at $2.50 (or $30/hr). Add those together for a total of $6.30, add in the $0.48 for paypal fees to process the credit card, and we've arrived at $6.78.

While $30/hr seems rather low, keep in mind that as the order size goes up, the profit margin remains nearly the same (my profit on 25 prints is approximately 35%; my profit on 250 prints is also approximately 35%) but the amount of time I actually do anything does not change. If it takes 20 minutes to print the 250 prints, I have 20 minutes to do whatever I want.

Plus, I can connect to my home network from work and as long as I stock everything full before I leave in the morning, I can fire off print jobs while I'm working so they're ready to package when I get home.

This is not a new or unique, I know. That's why I'm not at all concerned with going into a tremendous amount of detail. If you want more, I'll be happy to share. If you have any thoughts, I'd love to hear them. Anyone with some Search Engine Optimization tips specific to this industry? I'd love to hear from you too!

I have a few SEO techniques that i will be using with my site http://www.printox.com. Contact me to exchange ideas.

**JLeezer** · 06-09-2008 03:15 PM

Thought I'd bump this up for anyone not on YE over the weekend. On that note, hope everyone had a great weekend.

**rossco1** · 06-09-2008 03:52 PM

Good work mate...

I would suggest a more cleaner web design. Look to build a brand image...

At the moment your site it looks like its come back from the 2002's :P

All the best!

**JLeezer** · 06-09-2008 05:05 PM

Originally Posted by rossco1

Good work mate...

I would suggest a more cleaner web design. Look to build a brand image...

At the moment your site it looks like its come back from the 2002's :P

All the best!

Yeah, I'm in no way in love with the site. It is just a basic, free template for Drupal. In the past, I've used a lot of blues for my sites and I wanted to change things up a bit. I like the layout generally, but the visual appeal of it does need to be improved a bit. Any specific suggestions would be greatly appreciated (though not necessarily immediately acted upon, depending on the complexity of making the changes).

Thanks for looking at it.

**ScottRobertson** · 06-10-2008 02:43 PM

What do you have worked out for shipping to Canada. Don't need an exact rate, just give me a few ballpark figures on different size jobs. (ie 25 prints, 100 prints, & 250 prints)

**Syntegic** · 06-13-2008 03:22 PM

You should consider expanding your business into a full print shop...granted this can be pricey, but you can lease equipment. If you could get yourself into full scale digital printing and variable data printing you could take on direct mail marketing for customers. Or you could even offer this service and outsource it to a full print shop then mark your prices up 15% or so. It would be a good way to expand and services like this are getting popular.