Art fee vs setup fee: what your print shop is charging for Two line items, two different jobs.
An art fee pays a designer to fix or redraw your artwork so it can be produced: turning a blurry logo into vector, separating colors or cleaning up a file. A setup fee pays for preparing the production itself: burning screens, making a foil die, digitizing for embroidery or setting up a machine. If you send a print-ready vector logo, the art fee usually drops or disappears; the setup fee doesn't, because the machine still has to be prepared for each design.
What an art fee covers
- Redrawing a low-resolution or blurry logo as vector.
- Separating colors for screen printing.
- Converting text to outlines, fixing open paths or rebuilding a damaged file.
- Small changes you ask for, such as a new color or layout.
What a setup fee covers
- Screen printing: making a screen for each color.
- Embroidery: digitizing the design into a stitch file.
- Foil and debossing: making the die.
- Signs, laser and CNC: preparing materials, toolpaths or the machine for your file.
Side by side
| Art fee | Setup fee | |
|---|---|---|
| Pays for | Work on your artwork file | Preparing the production run |
| Who does it | A designer | Production staff or a digitizer |
| Can you avoid it? | Often, by sending print-ready vector art | Rarely; each new design needs setup |
| Charged again on reorders? | Usually not, if the shop keeps your file | Sometimes not, if screens or dies are kept |
How to avoid the art fee
Send the shop a real vector file: AI, EPS, SVG or a vector PDF, with text converted to outlines and colors named. If you only have a PNG or JPG of your logo, getting it redrawn as vector once means every future shop gets a clean file.
Not sure what to send? Which file to send, by who is receiving it.
If you run the shop
Shops can hand customers a one-page explanation of why vector artwork matters, so the art fee doesn't feel like a surprise. We made one you can send as it is: it carries no logo or branding.
Download it here: Why we need your logo in vector (PDF).
Get it redrawn as clean vector, set up for the job.
A designer redraws it by hand as closed paths, with the colors and layers your process needs, in 24 hours.
Need something custom? Email hello@vectorwiz.com
Frequently asked questions
Why is my print shop charging an art fee?
Usually because your artwork isn't ready to produce: it's a low-resolution image, it isn't vector, or the colors aren't separated. The fee pays a designer to fix it.
Is a setup fee the same as an art fee?
No. A setup fee pays for preparing production, such as screens, a die or embroidery digitizing. An art fee pays for work on the artwork file.
Will I pay the art fee again on a reorder?
Usually not, if the shop kept your fixed file. Keep a copy of the vector file yourself so any shop can use it.
How do I get my logo in vector?
Ask whoever designed it for the AI, EPS or SVG file. If nobody has it, a designer can redraw it by hand from your best image.
Tanvir Chowdhury
Runs production operations at VectorWiz. Writes about file briefs, intake, and the production-side details shops learn the hard way.
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