What are setup charges?

A setup charge covers the preparation work required before a single item is printed — creating screens, mixing inks, and configuring the press for your specific artwork. This happens once per order, regardless of quantity.

You may also hear it called a "screen charge" or "plate charge" — these all refer to the same thing. Setup charge is simply the broader term.

What Setup Actually Involves

Before your logo ever touches a product, there's a substantial amount of skilled prep work. The majority of labor on any print job happens at the very beginning:

Screen or Plate Creation

Your artwork is converted into a physical screen or plate — a precise, one-of-a-kind template used to apply ink consistently across every item.

Ink Mixing & Press Setup

Ink is mixed to match your imprint color, the press is calibrated, and test prints are run to confirm alignment and quality before production begins.

Art Preparation

Your logo is reviewed, optimized, and prepared for the specific printing method and product — ensuring it will reproduce cleanly at the imprint size.

The Truth About "Free Setup"

Some companies advertise "free setup" — but setup is never truly free. The labor still happens; it just gets priced differently. Here's how it works:

A Real-World Example

Transparent Pricing

$0.50/each

+ $25.00 setup fee

= $75 total (100 pcs)

"Free Setup" Pricing

$0.75/each

+ $0.00 setup fee

= $75 total (100 pcs)

The $25 setup cost ($0.25 per piece at 100 units) is baked into the per-piece price. Same total — different presentation.

There are two legitimate scenarios where you genuinely pay no separate setup line item:

Distributor-Absorbed Setup

Some suppliers roll the setup cost into their wholesale pricing to distributors like us, allowing us to pass it along as "free setup" to you — while the cost is simply built into the product price.

Full-Color Digital Printing

Digital printing works like a high-end inkjet printer — no screens are created. This is a genuinely different pricing model where per-piece cost covers everything, similar to printing at home.

Our commitment: However pricing is presented, we guarantee to match or beat any competitor's total order price — setup included.

Questions about pricing or setup fees?We'll walk you through exactly what you're paying for — and make sure you're getting the best total price.