Price of a promotional pen: model, marking and volumes

The price of a custom pen combines the pen itself, the marking of your logo and the effect of quantity. Because the product is simple and light, the marking can weigh relatively more than on a bulky product: a choice of technique or colours is quickly felt in the total.

Further down, the live price block gives the starting point of the pens family: the simplest pen, ordered at the highest tier, without marking. The pen is one of the safe bets for tight budgets, alongside the tote bags and confectionery presented on the low-cost promotional products page.

But a cheap pen that writes badly or breaks does your image a disservice: it ends up in the bin, logo and all. The right trade-off is therefore not always the lowest price, but the lowest price for a pen that will actually be used, day after day.

Two similar-looking pens can belong to different price levels. The differences come first from the material: plastic, metal or alternative materials, with more or less elaborate finishes — matt or gloss surface, soft-touch, chrome parts. They then come from the mechanism: simple push-button pen, twist pen, pen with a stylus for touch screens.

The colour of the barrel also affects the result. On a dark pen, a dark logo cannot be read; on a transparent or brightly coloured pen, the contrast of the marking must be checked. The product page lists the available colours, and the proof shows you the exact result.

For mass use — reception, trade shows, pens left out in a lobby — a simple, reliable model is enough. For a gift to a client or an employee, the metal pen, possibly presented in a case, moves into another category: the writing sets sub-family brings together these higher-quality models, with their own price logic.

On a pen, two processes dominate. Pad printing is the precision marking for small products and curved surfaces: a flexible pad follows the shape of the barrel or the clip as it applies the ink. As in screen printing, each colour corresponds to a pass. A one-colour logo remains the most economical configuration, and often the most legible on such a narrow surface.

Laser engraving applies to metal or wooden pens. It applies no colour: the material itself is marked, for an understated and permanent result. The question of the number of colours therefore does not arise, and the result is particularly suited to pens given as gifts.

The choice follows from the pen selected and the image you want. The pen’s product page only shows you the processes applicable to the selected area. For a multi-colour logo on a plastic pen, several pad printing passes or a digital process may be offered depending on the model: compare them in the configurator.

The marking area of a pen is small: a few centimetres on the barrel, even less on the clip. Its exact dimensions are shown on the product page, with the maximum number of colours accepted. This constraint affects both the price and the result.

A complex logo, reduced to this size, loses its details: small text becomes illegible, thin rules fill in when printed. It is better to use a simplified version of your logo, or simply the brand name, possibly with the website address. This simplicity often reduces the number of colours, and therefore of passes, and therefore the price.

Should you mark both the barrel and the clip? Two areas are two markings. This is justified if each area carries different information, for example the logo on the barrel and the website address on the clip. The configurator displays each area at actual scale: you judge legibility before approving the proof. Our team then checks every print before manufacturing and flags precisely those texts that are too small to remain legible on the product.

Pens are rarely ordered one at a time. Their volume pricing grid is therefore particularly useful: the marking set-up is spread over a large number of items, and the unit price falls at each tier. The full grid and the minimum quantity are shown on every product page.

To size the order, list all the uses for the year rather than a single event:

• trade shows and events, where pens are handed out in large numbers — the promotional products for trade shows page offers complementary products;
• reception and customer contact points, where pens regularly disappear;
• meetings and training sessions, with a matching notebook;
• mailings, slipped into a letter or a parcel.

Grouping these needs on the same model and the same marking often makes it possible to reach a more favourable tier. The configurator shows the exact price for each quantity, and your quote can be downloaded straight after.