Setup Fee

A setup fee is the one-time cost a supplier charges to prepare their decoration equipment for a specific design. In promotional merchandise, this covers the physical preparation required before a single unit can be produced - creating a screen for screen printing, digitizing artwork for embroidery, or preparing a plate for pad printing. Setup fees are charged per decoration location, per color, and sometimes per design file, and they appear on your supplier invoice in addition to the run charge for each unit produced.

Typical Setup Fees by Decoration Method

Setup fee ranges vary by method and by supplier, but common benchmarks across the industry are:

• Screen printing: $20 to $50 per screen, per color. A three-color design printed in one location means three screens and three setup fees, charged once per production run. Reorders using the same screen are often charged at a reduced rate or waived.
• Embroidery: $20 to $75 for digitizing a new design file. Digitizing converts artwork into a machine stitch file. This fee is usually charged once and waived on repeat orders where the same file is already stored by the supplier.
• Pad printing: $25 to $50 per color. One plate is created per color; fees apply per color per run.
• Laser engraving and dye sublimation: Setup fees are typically minimal or zero because these methods use digital files rather than physical screens or plates.
• Debossing and embossing: $50 to $150 or more for a new die. Die tooling is custom-manufactured and durable; this cost is usually charged once per design and stored for reorders.

When building a quote, treat setup fees as a recoverable cost on first orders and note the reorder advantage explicitly in your customer communication. Quoting setup fees as a separate line item - rather than bundling them into the per-unit price - makes the reorder economics transparent and gives customers a clear reason to return.