It is the first question everyone asks and the one suppliers are most evasive about. The honest answer is that there is no price list, because the same product can differ threefold depending on decisions that have not been made yet. What follows is what actually moves the number, so you can size a budget before speaking to anyone.
Quantity does most of the work
Almost every cost in branded merchandise is a setup cost spread across the run. A screen print needs a screen per color. Embroidery needs the logo digitized once. A custom mold or a custom color needs tooling. Those costs are the same whether you order fifty or five thousand, so the per-unit price falls steeply at first and then flattens.
The practical consequence: the jump from 100 to 500 units often changes the unit price more than the jump from 500 to 2,000. If your quantity is near a break, ask what the next tier costs — the larger order is sometimes cheaper in total.
The product sets the floor
Roughly, and before decoration:
- Under $5 — pens, stickers, lanyards, basic tote bags, simple desk items.
- $5 to $15 — decent drinkware, notebooks, caps, standard tees, phone accessories.
- $15 to $40 — quality apparel, insulated bottles, mid-range bags, tech accessories.
- $40 to $100 — premium outerwear, backpacks, quality leather goods, gift sets.
- $100 and up — executive gifts, engraved or bespoke items, curated multi-item boxes.
These are indicative rather than quotes: material, origin and current freight all move them. Treat them as a way to know which conversation you are having.
Decoration is a real line, not a rounding error
How the logo is applied changes both cost and perceived value. Screen printing is cheapest at volume and gets cheaper with fewer colors. Embroidery costs more but reads as more considered on apparel, and carries a one-time digitizing charge. Laser engraving suits metal, glass and wood, and often looks more expensive than it is. Full-color printing handles complex artwork but is not available on every surface.
Decoration in more than one position — a chest logo plus a sleeve, say — is charged per position, and it is one of the most common reasons a quote comes back higher than expected.
What people forget to budget for
The line items that turn a comfortable budget into an uncomfortable one are rarely the merchandise:
- Freight, especially if the timeline forces air over sea.
- Packaging, if the item is a gift rather than a giveaway.
- Kitting, if several items go in one box.
- Individual shipping, which for home delivery is frequently the single largest line after the product.
- Rush charges, which are entirely avoidable and entirely self-inflicted.
If you are shipping to hundreds of individual addresses, model that cost before you choose the product — it can be worth spending less per item to afford the delivery.
A worked example
Five hundred onboarding kits, each containing a mid-range insulated bottle, a quality tee and a notebook, in printed packaging, shipped to individual home addresses. The merchandise might land around $28 a kit. Packaging adds a few dollars. Assembly adds a little more. Individual domestic shipping is often $9 to $14. The kit that looked like a $28 decision is closer to $45 delivered.
None of that is a hidden cost — it is simply the difference between buying products and running a fulfillment program, and it is much easier to plan for at the start.
How to get a useful number quickly
You do not need a finished specification. Four things get you a real quote rather than a range: roughly how many units, roughly what kind of item, where it is going — one address or many — and your in-hands date. That last one matters as much as the budget, because a compressed timeline removes the affordable options first.
If you have those four, send them over and you will get costed options back rather than more questions.