Project record
"If you could do them at $2.05, I'd go with that. Otherwise, let's do the 2-inch."
600 pins, a budget that wouldn't stretch, and the cleanest negotiation in the library.
MN
- Quantity
- 600 pins
- Size
- 2.25"
- Pin type
- Standard pins
- Process
- Die struck soft enamel
The brief
"If you could do them at $2.05, I'd go with that. Otherwise, let's do the 2-inch."
How the design got made
- Beat 1
Asked whether Minnesota could go on the pin at 2.5 or 3 inch, with a little glitter
- Beat 2
Quantity discussed as 600, possibly up to 750
- Beat 3
Wanted the larger size but had a fixed budget
- Beat 4
Named a price and named the alternative in the same sentence
- Beat 5
Settled at 2.25 inch with one blue glitter colour - between the two sizes discussed
- Beat 6
600 pins at $2.05
The full account
The ask
"Can you add a quote for making the MN 2.5 or 3" and maybe add a little glitter? I think we would get 600, but maybe up to 750."
The outline of Minnesota on the pin, bigger, with some glitter. A quantity that might grow.
The negotiation, in one sentence
The larger size came back above what the team had to spend. The reply is the best-constructed piece of negotiation in this library:
"I wanted to go to 2.5 but I can't make that work in our budget. If you could do them at $2.05, I'd go with that for 600 pieces. Otherwise, let's do the 2""
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.
Three things at once, in two lines:
- The constraint, honestly — not "that's too expensive" but I can't make that work in our budget
- A specific number, not a request for a discount
- The alternative, stated up front — if the answer is no, here is what happens instead, and it is still an order
No brinkmanship and nothing to unpick. The supplier could say yes or no and knew the consequence of each.
What it produced
A size nobody started with. Not the 2.5 inch they wanted, not the 2 inch they'd settle for — 2.25 inch, with one blue glitter colour, at $2.05, for 600 pins.
quoted for this order only — quoted for that order only.
That is what a well-set negotiation does. Both sides had enough information to find the option in the middle, rather than one side winning the size and the other winning the price.
The Minnesota outline
Worth noting for anyone considering a state shape: it needs room. Minnesota has an intricate outline, and at two inches — with a logo and text also on the pin — it closes up. The size that made the glitter worth adding is the same size that made the state readable.
The pace
Asked on 20 November, priced on the 25th, settled on the 26th, delivered 19 December.
Why this one is here
Because most price conversations in this archive are a customer asking whether the number can move. This one names the number, names the fallback, and leaves the decision with the supplier — and gets a better pin than either opening position.
Specification
| Team | Hopkins Royals Squirt |
|---|---|
| Sport | Hockey |
| Quantity | 600 |
| Size | 2.25" |
| Process | die struck |
| Fill | soft enamel |
| Pin type | Standard pins |
| Finish options | 1 blue glitter colour |
| Banner included | No |
| State | MN |
| Inquiry | 2024-11-20 |
What this price was quoted under
- $2.05 / pin2.25" · 600 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
- November 25, 2024
- For quantity
- 600 pins
- At size
- 2.25"
- Build
- die struck soft enamel
- Finishes
- 1 blue 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
“I wanted to go to 2.5 but I can't make that work in our budget. If you could do them at $2.05, I'd go with that for 600 pieces. Otherwise, let's do the 2””
Customer, Hopkins Royals Squirt · 2024-11-25 · on setting a price and an alternative at once
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
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 600 pins at 2.25". Send us your roster size and your event date and we will come back with a price.
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