Project record
He proposed $1.40 a pin. The answer was no, and here is why.
A 670-pin Pennsylvania order where the customer negotiated, got a straight refusal with a reason, and ordered anyway.
PA
- Quantity
- 670 pins
- Size
- 2.0"
- Pin type
- Standard pins
- Process
- Die struck soft enamel
The brief
A customer who did his own arithmetic, twice — and got a straight answer both times.
How the design got made
- Beat 1
Opened with a design brief that specified the state of Pennsylvania on the pin
- Beat 2
Customer proposed $1.40 a pin and a $40 set-up fee, and asked to have the total confirmed
- Beat 3 · pivot
Rep corrected him rather than splitting the difference: $1.40 is a thousand-piece price
- Beat 4
Named the $40 as a tariff handling fee, not a set-up fee
- Beat 5
Customer recalculated and asked again: 'so the total would be $1,078.50, correct?'
- Beat 6
Ordered 670 at 2 inch with one glitter colour
The full account
The negotiation
The customer came back with his own numbers:
"We would like 670 pins. At 1.4 per pin, plus $40 set up fee, should come out to $978 total, correct?"
Price shown is what this order was quoted at, for this quantity, size and specification, on this date. It is not a current price list.
It is a reasonable move. It was also wrong on two counts, and the reply corrected both rather than splitting the difference:
"qty 670 2" die struck soft enamel pins with 1 glitter color are $1.55 per pin" "not sure where the $1.40 per pin comes from unless you would order qty 1000"
quoted for this order only — quoted for that order only.
$1.40 is a thousand-piece price. At 670 the price is $1.55. No haggling, no meeting in the middle, just the reason.
quoted for this order only — quoted for that order only.
The forty dollars
The second correction matters more than the first. He had it down as a set-up fee. It is not:
"tariff handling fee is $40"
quoted for this order only — quoted for that order only.
Pins are manufactured in China and are subject to US import tariffs. The Pin Creator states that on the quote rather than letting it surface later on an invoice. It is a small amount on an order this size, but the customer knew about it before he committed, not after.
He ran the numbers again
"OK, so the total would be $1,078.5, correct?"
quoted for this order only — quoted for that order only.
It would. He ordered.
Why this one is here
A customer who checks the arithmetic twice is not a difficult customer. He is a careful one, and careful customers are exactly who you want on a repeat order.
The order went in at 670 pins, two inch, die struck soft enamel with one glitter colour — a hundred more than the 650 first discussed, because once the price was settled the quantity was easy.
Specification
| Team | Avon Grove Bombers |
|---|---|
| Sport | Baseball |
| Quantity | 670 |
| Size | 2.0" |
| Process | die struck |
| Fill | soft enamel |
| Pin type | Standard pins |
| Finish options | 1 glitter colour |
| Banner included | No |
| State | PA |
| Inquiry | 2026-05-19 |
What this price was quoted under
- $1.55 / pin2.0" · 670 pins
Price shown is what this order was quoted at, for this quantity, size and specification, on this date. It is not a current price list.
- Quoted on
- May 20, 2026
- For quantity
- 670 pins
- At size
- 2.0"
- Build
- die struck soft enamel
- Finishes
- 1 glitter colour
- Excludes
- delivery charge, rush fee, import tariff
The banner threshold
This order sat under the threshold, so no banner was included. At the time the line fell at 1,000 pins at 2.0 inches or larger: the size step cost $0.20 more per pin — $1.07 to $1.27 — and brought a free 3ft × 6ft banner plus 100 bonus gold-metal or blackout pins with it.
Worth checking before you commit to a quantity: the bigger pin is frequently the cheaper total order.
quoted for this order onlyAbout the prices on this page
Every figure here is taken from a real quote for a real order. That is the point of it — and also the reason it will not match what you are quoted.
- Quantity moves the price more than anything else
- Size and build are priced separately
- Turnaround changes the total
- Import tariffs apply and are disclosed on the quote
- These are historical
What the customer said
“OK, so the total would be $1,078.5, correct?”
Customer, Avon Grove Bombers · 2026-05-31 · on checking the arithmetic before committing
Questions this order answers
Glitter is a finish, so it applies to any pin type — standard, spinner or slider alike. It is mixed into the enamel of a chosen colour rather than applied on top, so it will not rub off.
It is specified per colour: one glitter colour, or several. Commonly it lands on a single accent area — the shape of a state, a star, a puck. A 1,500-pin association order ran one glitter colour across the whole run; another design used gold glitter only on the state-shaped element.
Sourced — Multiple 2025–26 orders
The pins are manufactured in China and are subject to US import tariffs. This is disclosed on every quote rather than surfacing at invoice.
Shipping method changes the exposure: the fastest air options are tariff-subject, while a roughly two-week freight-forwarding route avoids the tariff entirely. On a deadline with room in it, the slower route is usually the cheaper one.
Sourced — Shipping options quoted, October 2025
Two inches or larger is the working floor for tournament trading — smaller pins get passed over. Sizes run from 2 inches up to 6.
One little league's four orders across three years show the migration in practice: they started at 1.25 inches and moved to 2.0. Larger sizes also unlock the banner threshold, which is why the bigger pin often costs less in total.
Sourced — Sizing guidance across multiple orders; Northern Virginia little league, 2022–2026
No. Every figure in this library is what one team was quoted for one order, on the day they asked. It is published as a record, not as a price list.
Quantity and size move it most: the break runs about $0.20 per pin for every hundred pins, and the range here goes from a 1,500-pin corporate run at 1.25 inch to a 3 inch dangler with glitter. Pin type and finish are priced per pin on top of that — a spinner was $0.65 more per pin on one order, glitter is $0.10 per pin per glitter colour.
Timing is separate again. Six weeks ahead of your date carries no delivery or rush charge; four weeks adds a $40 delivery charge; three weeks adds $40 plus a $75 rush fee. The pins are manufactured in China and are subject to US import tariffs, disclosed on the quote rather than at invoice.
For a price that applies to your order, send your quantity, size and in-hands date and we will quote it.
Sourced — Quoted ladders and fee schedule across the AP Pope, Corona Avengers and Brainerd AHA threads, 2025–2026
Starting your team's pins?
This order was 670 pins at 2.0". Send us your roster size and your event date and we will come back with a price.
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