Buying guide
Print manufacturer vs. print broker
A broker takes your order and places it with a print shop, adding a margin in between. Accent Ship owns the presses and produces your job in-house. Here's what that difference means for your price, your timeline, and who answers when something has to change.
| What matters | Accent Ship (manufacturer) | A print broker / reseller |
|---|---|---|
| Who runs the press | We do — in our own Montréal plant. | A third-party shop you never deal with directly. |
| What you pay | The manufacturer's price — no reseller margin. | Your job plus the broker's markup. |
| Who's accountable | One team, from first proof to delivery. | Messages relayed between you, the broker, and the shop. |
| Turnaround control | We schedule it on our own equipment. | Subject to whichever shop the broker subcontracts. |
| Quality & consistency | Same plant and team on every reorder. | Can change shop to shop between runs. |
| Certifications | FSC® C103925 — verifiable and ours. | Depends on whoever actually prints it. |
What a broker actually does
A print broker doesn't own printing equipment. They take your order, place it with a production shop, and add a margin for coordinating it. That can be convenient — but it puts a middleman between you and the people running your job, and you pay for the layer.
Why buying direct usually wins
Order straight from the manufacturer and you remove the reseller margin, talk to the people who actually run the press, and get the same plant on every reorder. When a deadline moves or a colour needs a tweak, there's no game of telephone — one accountable team makes the call.
When a broker can make sense
We'll be straight: a broker can help when a single project spans many unrelated processes that no one shop offers, and you'd rather not manage several suppliers. For the work Accent Ship produces, that's not the case — it's all made in-house — so the broker layer is cost without benefit.
The bottom line
If your job fits what a manufacturer makes, buying direct removes the middleman's margin and gives you one accountable team — usually a better price and a tighter timeline. Accent Ship owns its presses in Montréal (FSC® C103925).
Frequently asked questions
- Is a print broker more expensive?
- Usually yes. A broker resells another shop's work and adds a margin for coordinating it. Buying direct from the manufacturer removes that layer, so the same job typically costs less.
- How can I tell a manufacturer from a broker?
- Ask who runs the press and where. A manufacturer can name its plant, its equipment, and its certifications — ours is FSC® C103925, in Montréal. A broker outsources the actual printing and often can't.
- Can Accent Ship handle everything a broker would coordinate?
- For the products we make, yes — it's produced in-house by one team, so you get a single point of contact without a coordination markup.
Start your project
Tell us what you're building. A specialist will reply within one business day with questions, a rough estimate, or samples on the way.