pricing your crafts

Over the years i have stuck to one idea and that is to produce a product people want yet make it affordable for them to have. at the beginning of every project i write down every penny it took me to produce that item, then i multiply that by 3. if that makes the item too pricey then i decide if it is worth my time and effort to continue to produce that product for sell, or simply to use this idea as gifts for friends and family. when you craft for profit you must remember, you're not always crafting the project you enjoy the most, but the one that will bring you the highest return.

Angela
north Carolina

Pricing

I have been interested in how other crafters price their merchandise. I'm not completely sure a set rule is always best. I have been doing this a lot of years and I have found that the market area, other crafters, and eye
appeal all have a lot to do with what we can get for our items.

I always look around at others and see what they sell items similar to mine for, and also I visit craft shows and shops and notice pricing, quality,& materials.

I wholesale many items I make to shops and those prices are usually doubled for retail.
Therefore we have to be careful about the cost of the materials in those items.

As a rule, craft show prices are about 75% of
what a shop retail would be. Also, if an item sells too fast, then the price may be a little low. If it doesn't sell, then it may be a little high.

I have also found eye appeal is very important. If an item catches the eye of the customer - that is more important than the price. Display often helps eye-appeal, too. If your space looks good and draws people to it, then your merchandise will sell and you should be able to make a good profit.

Quite a bit has been said about tags and this is also important. They don't have to be fancy, but eye-appealing. I started out cutting tags out of brown grocery bags with pinking shears and printing each one separately. I have finally advanced to computer-made tags which look good and I can have a variety of tags - one for each different item or category of items - and many different colors and print styles.

I feel that we should all make our crafts of high quality materials and workmanship,then charge a fair price. The consumer will buy when the item is good and the price is fair.

Happy crafting and selling!

Claudia

Pricing your crafts

The guide line that I was told was double the cost of your supplies if you
pay retail and triple it if you buy wholesale. If doubling or tripling the
cost of my supplies is least than $1.00 I mark it $1.00 at least.
Sometimes you can go higher if they are unusual or involve a lot of time.
This is the formula that we have been using for the Craft fair we do once a
year and Generally make between 800 and 1000 dollars each year. We also try
to keep most of our prices under 10.0

Getting Started

In these uncertain times it would be great for all of us to start multiple streams of income.

The best time to do this is part time while you are already employed. The best thing to do is something you love - in my case crafts.

I have written a series of articles on how to get started moving from hobbyist to seller. It covers many topics from discovering if a market exists for your craft, to pricing, finding affordable supplies and much much more.

It is a free mini-business course for crafters or anyone else looking to start a small work at home business. You can find it here: http://www.theartfulcrafter.com/craft-business.html

I hope you pay a visit.