How Much???

Question

Storybook Crafts

Thursday, August 13, 2009 11:41 pm EDT

My wife and I have recently decided to start going to shows and we are not sure how to price our crafts. We have been making and selling to friends and co-workers, but didn't price our "stuff" very high, just barely covered the cost of materials. Like I said we are new to this, and being recently retired, we are ooking to try and supplement our income by doing what we love to do. We make smaller type woodworking such as footstools, gumball machines, hand poured candles and a rather unque type of wreathe. With the economy the way it is we don't want to price the merchandise too igh and don' want to be too low either. We have our first show at a local small town festival in October and w want to be ready. If anybody out there can give some hints, we would be forever grateful. God bless all of you and good luck.

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Answer 1

I am in the same boat. I am interested to see responses from this discussion. My friends and co-workers are forever telling me I am selling way to low. I want to keep my prices reasonable with the economy and all but, I would also like to make it a profiting business. Good luck to you

Answer 2

I have to tell you, pricing drives me crazy. I think there are two prices that you really need to know in order to even begin. The first is what will a willing buyer be willing to pay for the piece. This is not an easy number to really find and you have to do some market research to find out. Give a piece to a person who is friendly, but not necessarily a friend and say "What would you expect a piece like this to cost?" You'll get all sorts of different prices, but you'll learn what the public thinks when they see the piece. Then you need to know what it actually costs you to produce, including a reasonable wage for your time to make it. What is your fixed costs (the room in you house, the electricity, the insurance, etc.) What is your material cost per item. How long does it take for you to make it and what is a reasonable wage for that type of labor. If it costs you twice what the public thinks a piece like that is worth, you have a marketing challenge. You MIGHT be able to change their mind about the value, but it'll be interesting. If the two prices, allow for a decent margin on top of the cost (INCLUDING the labor) then you aren't working just trading labor , but you have a real business. At least that's my current approach, subject to change without further notice.

Answer 3

Pricing is not easy. What you have to do is price your items fairly but firmly. I do not mark up so I can run sales, I do not mark down because at one particular show things aren't moving. People will remember your marking things down and wait until they get a better price. I will run special sales if I get components to a certain item at bargain prices, but I make it very clear it is a special sale and will not be repeated when supply runs out. As to pricing over all you have to do two things first. You have to decide what you want to be paid an hour for your labor. Let us just say $10 for use as and example, then you have to figure out your over head. Gas, electric, rent, shipping you paid on the items you use, packaging, tagging materials. Then divide it by 30 for the days of the month and then by the number of pieces you think you make a month. Let's just go with $2.00 for over head. Now when pricing retail you take the cost of materials you used and times it by at least 3 (you can go as high as 5 if you'd like). Let use say the cost of materials to make the item was $4.00. The formula would then be $4.00 x 3 = $12.00 + $2.00 over head and $5.00 (one half hour of labor) = the cost of the item $19.00 Now I know in real life you deal with pennies so just round UP to the nearest whole figure, example if it had totaled up to 19.69 I would make the price $19.70 or you can make all your prices end in .95 it is up to you :) And NEVER use the word cheap! Get use to using inexpensive. Or better yet a special value. Remember if you don't make people think your product is worth the price they won't. Always accentuate the value of your craftsmanship and the quality of your components.

Answer 4

Very excellent examples here suzy35! Pricing is a problem and has been a problem since Art and Craft became something more than a hobby among friends. Your formula is right on target. I would caution new vendors to evaluate the cost of vending as well...we tend to ignore booth fees, travel and lodging when pricing our products, but choosing which items to carry and in what proportion sometimes changes when adding these costs into the equation. I average my costs based on past events and when the returns are consistently low or lower I replace the event or change my inventory to reflect a local interest. When you have many high quality mid-large size items you have to be competitive, yes, but you are not there to give them away just so you can go home empty. I believe that looking around at other vendors who have similar work helps give you a boost of confidence also. Never use those words suzy35 mentioned...NEVER! Lean heavily on HANDCRAFTED or ORIGINAL DESIGNS (if they are, of course) or WORKSHOP CRAFTS or LIMITED EDITION or anything that imparts the fact (truthfully, please) that they can't find it at the Flea Market or Wal Mart! And by all means do handouts of literature to back up your quality. Don't behave as though THEY were setting the prices. Good luck and check back with us often on your venture...kneff/ inNOVAtions Studio

Answer 5

you guys are close but kneff is right never use the low class words that suzy did. i tried all kind of priceing things. I started to low then went higher and was still not selling well until i went to about 40% or 3 to 5 times higer on my product then i started sellin well. so head ome good advice and start pricing at a higher level. it save heart ach and time. if your work is good theproducted will sell itself , and by the way another way to increase sales as i found out th hard way was to take a good look at how you display your product. that was a big plus for me when i change how i displayed my work. mybooth is an on going adventure so i add or change things as i learn. yur friend in business. cindy

Answer 6

we have found that many times pricing a product higher will increase sales . try to find the "sweet spot" for each product you sell . have teaser products that are really nice and much more expensive than other products in your display . you'll love it when you do sell your high priced items, but customers will want to buy lower priced items to satisfy the urge to own your work.The science of sales is not pressuring your customers to buy but relieving the pressure not to buy. we have price ranges from 5 - 150 dollars . it is good to have items under 20.00 for Christmas.... stick to your guns until you are sure what your product sells for. don't drop your prices as a result of a bad show, there is always next week! once you see a pattern of numbers (sales) they tend to be fairly reliable . but this will take time to work out . if you sell larger wood products i have found a larger display POPS AND GETS PEOPLE LOOKING. YOU GOTTA HAVE THE POP IN YOUR DISPLAY! do what you can to get products at eye level . PRICE EVERYTHING. Take credit cards , first national processing is reliable taking plastic will increase sales 30 % we are in a recession . i have expected total sales results to be 40% less during recession we have been tempted to lower our prices but i thank God we did not or our sales may have been worse . you can carry more lower priced items during , i have found customers will buy two or three " cheaper items" instead of a pricier item and still spend the same money. many times we make more profit as a result .

Answer 7

I found all of you to have good ideas for pricing. Doing shows is a small part of my business, as my "real" job keeps me from getting too far from home. Luckily, I live in an area that has a lot of shows in a workable area for travel. I'm glad that how merchandise is displayed was mentioned too. I found in past shows that too much stuff on display can overwhelm customers. For the next show I do, I feel much better about how I price my merchandise. Thanks for the great ideas.

Answer 8

One of the biggest problems of new crafters is where they buy their supplys. If you expect to go to the large corp. retail craft and hobby stores you will be paying waaaayyy to much to start with. Get a tax number--in most states they cost nothing--just remember to file even if you have no sale for a quarter.Now you can start buying wholesale and still you must be aware --shop around for prices and minimums. Be very cautious of internet sites that claim to be wholesale. I found one the other day that wanted 1.50 for a plastic pot I wanted and did more research to find that same pot for .60. amother word of caution--Flea Markets are usually a very poor venue as people are looking for cheap.

Answer 9

Price is always an issue. A quick general rule of thumb is to triple the price of the product. You will at least get your money back, untill you can figure all the other time, gas ect..that was mentioned earlier on this thread.

Answer 10

There are a lot of great ideas here for the Newbie. My wife & I sell to the Motorcycle crowd and we also do regular fairs & festivals around the great state of Texas. It is not the priceing structure that has been hurting my sales, It is the local economy that is killing us. People are just not buying reguardless of the price that you put on an item. We have been doing this for three years, The first year was great but the 2nd & third year, We took a hugh loss. But keep your chin up. Someday things will get better. Bill Conner-Katy, Tx

Answer 11

All your ideas are good, but if you sell your product too low people will think that it's cheap, produce a quality product that you would purchase if you saw it. Check other products to see what they're selling for, price within range, also always have something that all ages can buy. Remember that children like to buy gifts and things too. Give out business cards that you will make special orders. On products that cost more to make, even the price out with something that cost lest to produce and most of all (do not copy) be original, make each item different so that the customer can say nobody has anything like this, it will make your product something to be treasured and passed on to future generations.

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