YOUTH Soccer Team Pricing?

Hello, i have just gotten an offer to possibly be doing a soccer little league

team for a lady who i had shot senior photos of her daughter.she says there are

12 teams and around 100 kids. she would like a price list for packages. what

should i do? they want statuettes, buttons, sports cards, and i've decided to

order everything from mpix.com. which is the site i use for ordering prints for

clients. what should i look at pricing wise? i'm not sure what i should take

into consideration.

 

 

3" buttons are 1.56

(12) sports cards are 7 bucks.

5 X 7 statuette is 16 dollars.

 

any tips on how to go about shooting so many kids? package sizes? i'd really

like to get into this. i have a couple friends who coach for football teams and

want me for next season.

 

any advice would be helpful. thanks.

If they want the typically posed team shots, you could shoot it for between 50 and 75 bucks each, as picture orders are practically assured. 5x7 prints could go for $12.50, and 8x10s for $25, 11x14s for $40. Additionals of the same image can go for less. (Proud parents and grandparents are usually willing to pay.

For packages, find a package printer. The mechandise should be marked up a minimum of 1/3rd, in my view. If these are uppermiddleclass kids, you could charge a bit more, and a bit less for lowermiddleclass kids. Any other costs and expenses must be added on. Don't forget all the pre and post shooting time and effort, like showing proofs, making appointments, possible reshoots, transportation, accounting and insurance, etc. Think it out thoroughly.

well what about statuettes and buttons? maybe people could order those later? would i charge 50 - 75 for each kid? plus the cost of prints? you think people would pay that? or could i just got ahead and treat it as school pictures where there's a line of kids. each one has a check/cash for their package and i put them in the pose, shoot, then later send them what they ordered? i'm not sure. i haven't been to a shoot with this amount of kids. thanks for the input.

My advice is from the perspctive of a parent who has purchased school photos.

 

You could create packages similar to school photos; a team shot and an individual kid shot in their soccer uniform. You would need to move fast, though, as even 1 minute per kid would require close to 2 hours of shooting. What price? Probably $30 - $50 for a package. Small pack might be an 8x10 team photo, a couple of 5x7 individual photos, and a sheet of wallet size. More expensive packs you could add an 8x10 individual and an 11x14 team shot (if the economics work out).

That's what I love about this forum. You get exactly what you pay for in advice. 50-75 each? ! *

 

My studio shoots thousands of soccer kids every year from mid May to the end of June. Sometimes as many as 700 in 4 hours. I think when you check out the competition, you'll be pretty surprised. And that's the first thing to do, find out what the other bids are.

 

Most T&I guys that know their stuff get $20 to $30. per player for an average pack, taxes in. The coach (sometimes more than 1) gets a free print and they normally want free plaques for sponsors. Some parents will buy nothing or minimum, usually $10-15 range. That's for guys that are good. I know others that get low teens average per player.

 

Over half of our orders are personalized with player name and/or team name. Make an error and you've got a customer that will be angry. All of our data comes straight off the league database so there are almost no errors.

 

If you shoot clean and know your stuff, you can make money, if not, you can ruin your reputation. I spent 2 hours this morning with a hockey league that is suing the photographer they had this year. They are just now getting delivery of teams that were shot in Oct. last year. This is no sh*t. I saw the packs that were delivered. Mistakes in every one we opened. WOW.

 

Do your homework. Good luck,

 

Doug

thanks a lot guys. i have pricing down. the only thing that scares me is organization. i don't want any mistakes and am really trying to get into photography full time. and tips on what kids order what and delivery info? thanks for the advice.

If you would like you can give me a call (800 660 4906)and I would be happy to help you out as far as organizing your work and creating packages.

Listen to Doug he is right here, let me guess this wasn't the 80K league hey.

 

Cheers

Mark