Ordering printed promotional magnets: what to specify
Size, thickness, lamination, bleed and quantity band, in one checklist, so a printer's quote can be checked against something.
See all guidesWhat to specify before you order
A printer can only quote against numbers. Give them each of these before you ask for a price, and you avoid a second round of emails when the first proof comes back wrong.
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Finished size
State the trimmed dimensions in millimetres. A5 and A6 are common shorthand but a printer still needs the exact width and height.
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Material and thickness
Name the material (flexible magnetic sheet, hard ferrite, or a printed insert set into a plastic or epoxy dome) and the thickness in millimetres. A thin promotional magnet and a thick one behave very differently on a fridge door, and the thickness also sets the unit cost.
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Corner style
Square corners or a radiused corner, and if radiused, what radius. This is a cosmetic choice but it has to be set in the die-cutting tool, so it needs deciding before origination.
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Lamination finish
Gloss, matt or none. Lamination is the clear film bonded over the printed face to protect it from scuffing and fridge-door grease, and the finish affects both how the print looks and how long it survives.
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Artwork bleed and safe area
Bleed is the printed area that runs past the finished edge so that trimming variation does not leave a white border; the safe area is the inset zone where no text or logo should sit, in case the trim shifts. Ask your printer for their bleed measurement in millimetres.
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Proof format
A digital proof shows colour and layout on screen; a physical proof shows how the finished thickness, lamination and corner actually feel. For a first order, ask whether a physical proof is available before the full run is printed.
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Quantity
State the number of units per design. Unit price typically falls as the quantity rises, but the relationship is not linear, and a printer's price bands are the only way to see where the next step down sits.
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Packing format
Bulk-packed, individually bagged, or set into a card sleeve. This matters for anything handed out at a counter or posted individually, and it is often priced separately from the print itself.
This list covers the specification. Read the section on quantity bands for what these choices do to cost, and confirm every figure against your own printer's tolerances before you sign off artwork.
How magnet pricing typically moves with quantity and material
Why the unit price falls as the run gets longer
Printing a magnet involves a fixed setup cost, covering the print file setup and the die-cutting tool that trims each magnet to its finished shape. That cost is much the same whether the order is for a few dozen magnets or several thousand, so it is spread across however many pieces come off the run. A short run carries a heavier share of that setup cost per magnet, which is why the price per unit drops sharply between a first small order and a repeat order at a higher quantity, then levels off more gently as the run gets longer still.
Material changes the shape of the curve
A flexible magnetic sheet magnet is the cheapest material to print on, and the one whose unit price falls furthest with volume, because the sheet itself is inexpensive relative to the setup cost that volume is diluting. A hard ferrite-backed magnet with a printed insert, or a neodymium-backed magnet, carries a higher material cost per piece that does not shrink in the same way as quantity rises, so the gap between a small order and a large one is narrower for these than it is for flexible sheet. Lamination, the protective film bonded over the printed face, adds a per-unit cost on top of the base material regardless of how many are ordered. You can read more about how each material is built in What a Fridge Magnet Is Made Of, and Which Kind You Are Buying.
What this means for an offer you have been given
A quote should move down as the material moves from neodymium-backed or epoxy-domed toward standard flexible sheet, and as the quantity rises through the bands a printer normally works in. Cost guidance published anywhere, including here, is indicative and moves with material prices and print capacity, so a figure with no date attached to it is not worth comparing against. The way to check an offer is in the right territory is to ask what quantity band it applies to, what material and thickness it assumes, and whether lamination and the cutting tool are included, then confirm the answer with your printer directly.
Questions to put to a printer before you order
A UK printer needs six things settled before an order can be quoted properly, and asking for them up front avoids the back-and-forth that delays a job by a week. Each one is a separate decision.
Material
State whether you want a flexible magnetic sheet (ferrite bound into a rubber or polymer sheet), a rigid hard ferrite disc, or a neodymium-backed magnet fixed to a printed insert. Most printed promotional magnets, the kind handed out by takeaways, tradespeople and estate agents, use flexible magnetic sheet because it is cheap to cut to shape and light enough to post. A neodymium fixing is only worth specifying if the magnet needs to hold something heavier than paper, such as a set of keys or a tool. See what a fridge magnet is made of for how the layers differ.
Thickness
Give a thickness in millimetres. Flexible magnetic sheet is commonly supplied at 0.4 mm, 0.6 mm, 0.75 mm or 0.85 mm, and the thickness is what determines whether the finished magnet holds itself to the door or slides down under its own weight, let alone a sheet of paper. A 0.4 mm magnet is fine for a card that sits flat with nothing pinned beneath it; a menu or calendar magnet that has to hold something else in place usually needs 0.6 mm or above. Check the numbers in will it stick before you settle on a figure.
Lamination
Lamination is the clear protective film bonded over the printed face, and it is what stops ink scratching or fading from repeated handling and the general grease and condensation of a kitchen. Ask whether the standard finish is gloss or matt, and whether either is available at no extra cost, because printers differ on this and it is not always the default you'd assume. A magnet that will be handled daily, such as a takeaway menu on a fridge door, benefits from lamination more than one displayed once and left alone.
Proof format
Ask whether the proof supplied before print is a digital file (a PDF showing layout and bleed) or a physical printed sample. A digital proof confirms layout and text but not colour, because screen colour and printed colour are not the same thing. If the job matches a specific brand colour, ask for a physical proof before the full run goes to print, and confirm with your printer what colour matching process, if any, they use.
Delivery timeline
Get a written turnaround time that separates proofing time from print and delivery time, since these are often quoted together but run to different clocks. A supplier who gives a single combined figure has usually not separated out how long you'll wait for your own sign-off on the proof, which is the stage most likely to slip if artwork needs revising.
Checking the supplier
The British Promotional Merchandise Association (BPMA) keeps a member register of promotional merchandise suppliers who have agreed to its code of practice. Checking a supplier against that register before committing to an order is a five-minute step that tells you whether the company is one that has signed up to an external standard. It does not replace asking the six questions above, but it is a reasonable check to run alongside them.
Once material, thickness and finish are settled, confirm the artwork itself is ready: use the artwork size and resolution checker to confirm your file will print at 300 dpi before you send it to a supplier.
Before you send a file to a printer, check it will print
A file that looks sharp on screen can still print blurred if it falls short of 300 dpi at the finished size. The checker tells you before a printer does.