Bulk dvd production - what's your margin?
 

Around 50% of my corporate and government clients request bulk production of branded DVDs, usually in addition to a version of the video we've produced for web/intranet delivery.

Typically, my clients request 100 or 200 disks, although some have required as many as several thousand. I have a DVD duplicator, so we burn the data onto the disks in house: we also pack the disks, sleeves (inserts) and cases. However I have professional printers screen or thermal print the sleeves and disks (meaning I don't have to invest in costly gear, and we're guaranteed high quality products).

We charge a fee for designing the disk face and sleeve. However, I've always kept mark-up on material costs of the dvds to a minimum. Typically, in addition to our design fee (which is the same whether 20 or 2000 units are ordered), I pass on the wholesale cost of the branded disks, sleeves and cases; then I add about $0.50 per unit for duplication and packing, which we do internally.

All up (including design work), for 500 screenprinted disks, duplicated and packaged in plastic cases with full colour inserts, we end up charging around US$3.50 per unit.

I figure the client has paid good money for video production (shooting and editing), and this is an added service we like to offer the client at a good rate to encourage future work (ie: output costs are not prohibitive, you can easily ship 1000 units).

But maybe I've got it all wrong. Maybe I should view this as an area to make a healthy margin. What's your approach?

Re: Bulk dvd production - what's your margin?
 

If they are booking your video services because of the quality you offer then you sell the disks at no real profit then you are cheating yourself out of revenue.

If you are using the duplication services to land more production work it may be justified.

In my opinion $3.50/disk is too low for 100-200 silk screened disks. Even a little low for 1000.

In retail items with a low selling price in the range under $5 have to be marked up at least 100% over cost to make it worth your time. I would start at about $8 for small quantities and slide down to no less than $4 for the really large orders.