thefunkyfelter

Thanks so much for this information! I'm thrilled that you are doing a series of articles on this subject. Product pricing is usually the most difficult thing for me to determine. I love creating my hand felted items, but I am somewhat at a loss when it comes to pricing, even with a formula that I go by.

I always try to consider all the above mentioned things in your article as well as what price the market will allow and competitors' prices of similar items. Sometimes these things don't seem to match up, and I feel that might be selling myself short. So I guess, I'm wondering how to find a balance. Do I price it for my costs, time, etc., but if its too high, it just sits in my shop, or do you have to sometimes let the market for your items dictate price? This is my biggest struggle with pricing.

Thanks again! I know your series on pricing will be helpful to me and many others. I look forward to more info.

bopdotdesigns

this article is very helpful! I like to think of etsy as my retail shop (as a general rule retail is 2X cost+labor). take all of the costs (packaging, materials, tools, etc) and TIME into consideration. and double that amount making sure that you are making a fair wage. always think of the # of hours you have been working.

I think this pricing is very fair to customers too. they understand they are getting a quality hand-made product. I also like to compare similar products' pricing by browsing other etsy sites. in a perfect world, we see that if an item is priced higher there is a higher quality of material used.

ok last comment: I have been very happy with the quality i find on etsy and the prices that go along with them. if a shop has a great balance in price, quality materials and craftmanship it's bound to be a hoot.

shoshonasnow

This is an excellent discussion!

It is also important for buyers to realize that some of us on here also sell in galleries and shops and need to keep are prices on Etsy in check with those prices. Most galleries and shops take a much larger percentage of your sale than Etsy and Paypal fees total up to. I can usually still offer my work a little less than in the "real" world by offering work that is exclusive to Etsy.

Yay! for making a living at what you love!

peelapom

Great topic! Right now my artwork is a sideline, but I would (of course) love to do it full time. Pricing is a HUGE question for me. The work I do tends to be very time intensive, so I have to factor that in, as well as materials, but I also look at artistry. I do both entirely original designs and pieces that have a modification of something else. I charge more for the thoroughly original pieces because they require more artistry. The others require skill and craft, and artistry, but in a different way.

I think how badly you want the sale vs. how much you value you work work also has to come into the equation. And of course -- what the real market value for your work is.

But I ramble! Great topic and I look forward to the rest of the articles and discussion.

RealReal

While I think looking at a shop's competitors is good practice from a sellers perspective it can be a bit of a trap. Nothing on Etsy is a commodity, with the exception of some supplies, things are unique and should be priced accordingly. I know when I am buying, I am not comparing the prices of similar items. I find the item I want and if the price is reasonable I buy it. Often I buy a more expensive item because I believe the price also shows me something about how much the seller values their product.

wonderamy

While I try to be logical about how I price things, I have found at times it's also an emotional issue. With my paintings (which I sold early on in my Etsy seller days), I knew I had priced something too low if I felt like crying when I handed it to the post office clerk! So much of our heart and soul goes into some of the things we make. Pay attention to your gut when you send something off...was the amount you got paid worth it, given your attachment to the piece?

XOHandworks

bopdot-
If "as a general rule retail is 2X cost+labor," how do you figure your wholesale cost? This seems way too low to me ...

Craftiejean

Over the years I have known it to be X3. This is what my momther & great grandmother has always told me. And I have also come across a lot of people that has always done it this way... So if your cost is $5 wholesale would be $10 and retail would be $15..

PicturesofLily

I look forward to the next segment on competitive pricing. I know when I started selling here, I wanted to make sure my prices were not to much higher than similar items from other sellers. I figured if a customer could buy say, some magnets for a few dollars less somewhere else, why would they buy from me? Since the beginning, I have learned to have more confidence in my work. Now, I think that if my prices are a bit higher than those of sellers selling similar items, it's OK, because someone will like what I have enough to pay what I am asking.
How nice it would be to have an incredible, unique item that is in such high demand that I could dictate the price completely. I can dream.

sharonoyoung

I agree with peelapom about the work we do being labour intensive, but sometimes it's not feesable to cost the work according the hours spent on it. I try to find the middle ground, bearing in mind that I'm an unknown artist, but at the same time all my work is original and should therefore be worth more than a copy. But at the end of the day, what counts is that somebody likes tour work enough to want to buy it.
A great, much needed article, looking forward to the next segment.

phbeads

Great information. I use a different formula but will now work out prices a couple of different ways to see if I'm on the mark.

DesignsByTrisha

Thanks. That is the hardest part for me. Your help is greatly appreciated.

CreationsByKari

Thank you for this information. I think I fear charging too much and not making a sale or charging too little and not getting a fair amount for my efforts. Setting prices is hard!

BigSky

Thanks for the great series of articles; looking forward to more. I have found that, at least in the wholesale aspect of my business, there is a "wow" factor on some pieces that justifies the price being a little higher. But I certainly struggle with pricing myself!

AthenasDisciple

I have a formula for this that is a bit complicated to talk about too much. But I basically record time for everything and seperate it all out so that I can specify time for a specific item vs design that can be recreated. Also listing time for retail. Also record and categorize all fees. Have a formula built in excel that figures out a retail price and then cuts it in half for wholesale. The wholesale price has to be at least $10/hour for it to be worthwhile, and thats not even that much, but I'm just getting started in figuring this all out.

Excel is your friend. :)

FrenchTouch

This is a great article, thanks! Based on this, however, I definitely charge too little! But with euro/dollar rate being what it is right now, I'm afraid my items would not sell if I set higher price. Ah, the dilemma of pricing!

momomadeit

it is a struggle. i want to be able to offer folks a quality made item at an affordable price. if i did the 2x cost+fair labor, then a simple cotton apron would be in the $32-38 range. in my mind, i don't think an apron should cost more than the clothes it was designed to protect. i know there are sellers getting that and more, but i guess i want to keep it more realistic. and with consumerism the way it is today - just because you can, should you?

i have had several wholesale inquiries lately - and i can't see wholesale being profitable for me as i can sell my things at half my listed price as i would be essentially giving my time away.

tlsexton0913

I know this article is somewhat old, but I would like to offer this. I just listed my items on another site and I had to list them in Euros. The dollar is falling in value and the Euro is now worth more. How do you account for this when figuring your costs?

On another note, I am using the x2, x2.5, or x3 rule. Since I make jewelry and I don't pay attention to time I use a different formula for labor. This has been an extremely helpful article.

I still feel like my items are overpriced even at x2 and I keep very detailed records of what goes into each piece of jewelry.

dinaladina

Thank`s for the help! Great discussion.
I always have a problem when I want to know the price for my work, and the problem is : most of the pieces I create take too much time to make, so, I can never get the fair value for my work. If I take the fair and real value for my time, how can I get a competitive price?

sugarplumbaby

Thanks for the info. I find pricing to be the most difficult aspect of my running my shop. I make a lot of fabric labels and they are time intensive from start to finish. I'm trying to stay competitive and offer a quality product while still paying myself a fair wage. Sometimes I loose money because the time involved in design or fickle customers and communiction delays, keeps me working on a single, particular label for double the normal processing time. Nothing I can do about that because of the made on demand style of product that I offer. In the end I do feel that I'm doing a pretty good job at staying on the plus side of profit.

GarySnyder

I would modify the recommendation such that you compute the labor component using what you would have to pay someone else to assemble the item, not by what you would be satisfied with per hour. If you are a business, and want to be a successful business, then eventually you are going to have to grow, and that means getting and paying for help.

My model is cost (materials + labor + overhead) x 2 = wholesale, and wholesale x 2 = retail.

If the retail price seems like it's going to be "unsellable", then I don't make the item. I find an item I can make within those boundries.

miguez

Thanks to your article and to all the other comments. I got featured on Handbag Designer 101 and I received a comment that my prices are too low.

It made me think and realize that I am really underestimating my product.

Here's another article that might also be helpful:

http://www.ohboydenterprises.com/HowT...

ClockworkZero

taking photos is something commonly missed I suspect. I spend quite a while with my photos - not just taking them, but resizing, editing, rotating, adjusting for colour.. whew! it can really add up. Even though I increased some of my prices from what I used to sell... I sometimes get told: its is still too low! I'm always shocked.

luckyloulou

thank you for all the comments... I am doing 2x's cost right now and not selling wholesale at this time because I dont want to raise my prices to my etsy cust .. hummm lots to think about!

nicoleleeartistry

Wonderful article! I was seeking this exact information because a buyer sent me a convo to ask if I accepted "best offers" on my work. I have already COMPETITIVELY priced my items (and in some cases, perhaps underpriced - which needs to be changed) and I was initially insulted, but my immediate second thought was that it was my opportunity to educate the buyer on pricing and the value of my hand made, one-of-a-kind items. This article, along with the many forum threads I read, really assisted me in formulating a response to the interested buyer! Thank you!

windyrbs

I wish I knew how much to pay myself versus how much I wish I could pay myself. For my time, so far, I've been figuring about $0.75 per minute. But even with that built into my Etsy prices, my items are not selling and I wonder if they are priced too high for the market?

anaprindiville

Fair pricing is a tricky subject, however it all depends on the perception of "value" if you price your items too cheap the buyer perceives the item as "cheap" or having cheap components, you have to be the judge of the "perceived value" of your items, if you use good materials and your workmanship is good, you will be able to get a higher price for your items and the buyer will feel that he is getting value for their money.

CreationsBySallyLynn

I have to agree with (last year's response)Craftiejean . I was always told to take Cost + Labor X3. I've been making my items since 2005 and used this method and no one seemed to complain about the cost being too high and received 100% positve feedback that the quality and craftsmanship was well worth the asking price and better than those they could get from well known companies who charge twice as much.

CreationsBySallyLynn

WOW for some reason it posted twice...

CreationsBySallyLynn

...And the wrong time posted as it is 11:26 PM here in the Southwest! Wonder why it post 2 different times zones? Weird...

jewelsgems

Thankyou for your information. Your input makes it easier to understand the uncertainity of public pricing. I feel that I have priced well. I paint for those who appreciate art and the beauty of color. Art lovers will take notice! Again, thanks!

yellowwalls

Great info! Thank you!

rkdsign88

Thanks for sharing it with us.

sheilascrafts

I still have a difficult time pricing my items since they are crocheted items. Could someone please convo me on the proper pricing for items such as mine?
Thank you for this great article.

justagirlcreations

I hadn't even thought about all the time I put into taking pictures and listing the items. Great info!

ShoestringPress

I just read an article in The MBS Newsletter(Miniature Book Society) about pricing miniature books...same concerns: What contributes to publishing & binding costs and how to establish prices that cover those costs and still provides a reasonable profit. With direct-to-customer pricing we are able to eliminate many of the costs associated with retail selling.

ShoestringPress

Whoops! Don't know how the comment got published twice with such different dates and times????

vintagekeepers

I figure I am worth 15 dollars an hour
when I knot between each bead..........
16 inches takes about 1 hour. If they do not want to pay $15 an hour then I do not do it for them!!! MY WORK IS WORTH 15 DOLLARS AN HOUR: DO NOT UNDER SELL YOURSELF. If it takes longer than it should then of course that;s your flaw ...adjust the price for that item only!!!! You know what is fair.
Then I triple what I paid for the Materials. If you are GOOD you will get your price UNLESS there is 10000 of the same thing out there......YOU KNOW >>>'DEMAND' BUT I did notice ALOT of Bead designing artists UNDERSELL on ETSY!!! Alot of twisting and wrapping and not pricing HIGH enough for their labor. WAKE up....if it is a hobby and you do not care what you earn; you should, because it ruins it for us artist that work for a living!!!!
WHEW!!! I"M OFF MY SOAP BOX!

CuteHeartDesigns

so if i sell an item for a buck or two i wont make anyhting profit cuz of fees?? im a real newbie

Tinateee

I agree with this article I did a blog about this at my blog.

My hand knitting takes sometime for my cable hand knit scarf it takes 18-20 hours to make and on top of that it takes about 9 hours to complete a cable hat and 9 hours to complete a pair of cable wrist warmers.

I have a product pricer I use and do include etsy fees, paypal fees, ontop of listing fees and along with packaging which I try to use priority however the scarves are too beautiful and need to have a clear plastic bag for protecting my work.

I am low I believe in my pricing, for 7/hr for my stuff however I've been getting that my scarves are too high, it's appears to me people arent understanding the time it takes.

But I also stand by the pricing system.

JacquieT

This has been the toughest part of selling my hand made work...Pricing.. Agh! This article and all the comments have been great! I do however totally agree with vintagekeepers about underpricing. We do need to get paid for our time. However, I may be guilty of this at times myself...It's Just So Hard!

havilahashby

This topic has been a HUGE issue for me. I am trying so hard to keep my prices low for my customers. Especially since it is a childrens clothing line and I know parents dont like to spend a rediculous amount on outfits their child will wear for 3 months. However, a lot of mine are grow with me outfits and I try to keep my cost around $30.00-$34.00 which I think is reasonable. Right now it can be frustrating though because all the time I put in for such a small profit. Plus I dont buy my fabric in bul yet so every time somebody orders something I have to pay for their fabric plus shipping for the fabric to be sent to me...augh!! I could go on and on all day, lol. Any suggestions on how I can start making more of a profit and keep my costs low? Thanks! :)

ThePink

This is a huge issue when your work is fairly time consuming! Have yet to figure it all out...Great article!

olivebrown

thanks for this pricing tip. i knit most of my items, and even though prices are similar to some of the other sellers, i feel that sometimes i need to charge more--it takes time to knit! i've also noticed that the other etsy sellers who knit, have priced their items WAY below what they should be, therefore, making sellers like myself seem too expensive...
what to do?!

risingphoenixtoys

Wow, I would never have thought of paying myself for coming up with the ideas, packaging time, etc! I've been calculating strictly the time I spent on the item, even the time it takes to get out and put away materials! Thanks so much!

gifteddesigns

Pricing has been an issue for me as well.

For instance, I have a necklace in my shop that I priced at 85$.

It cost me 22$ to make the item and it took 3 hours to make (I never even though to include photography and set up and everything!) I'm charging a very fair 20$ an hour for my work. So that came to 82$. I put it to 85$ because I have a think of 5s...:)

According to many sources on pricing...what I have just done is to provide the Cost Price. They suggest that this price should be multiplied by 2 for wholesale and 2 again for retail. That would be 170$ whole and 340$ retail!

I've shopped around on Etsy, online, and in stores and I've noticed that items made similarly to this particular piece of mine are priced in the 80-150$ range. Would it then be fair to even list at 170$? Which is, according to these publications, the wholesale cost?

It's rather confusing!

glorygifts

Thank you for this helpful and important information!:)

bugbitesplayfood

Excellent info, that has been hard for me too, this series helps iron out the icky details of selling. I use the 3x method.

CatTingles

Thanks for all the info given, it is difficult do find the balance between price and what people will want to pay!

LJNixonartist

Thank you...it balancing act when it comes to pricing.

ShimmerMeBlue

I am SO confused with pricing. I have not really been using any of these methods. I've tried to do the x2 method, but at the same time, all my bracelets are priced the same. Some sost a little more or less to make. As far as my time, packaging and picture taking, I don't really include that. So I'm thinking maybe I should charge more for my bracelets, but then at the same time, I'm very new to this and I want my stuff to sell. Uggghhhh, why does this have to be so hard lol.

dnash

Thank you for the information!! Pricing is so hard- I want it to be fair for everyone including myself.

bellasparty

Great info. Thanks!

nikolabean

If I honestly did the math on the time I have spent making quality handmade products over the years, I would have quit 10,000 times. I have always considered the fact that I can stay home, enjoy my craft, look at the birds, not fight traffic or a boss, avoid sneezing co-workers, eat and workout when I want, worth at least $5.00 an hour. If I want to pay myself $15.00 per hour, I actually make $20.00 per hour.
Loving your work in a comforting environment contributes to good health, and unfortunately, most business educators refuse to acknowlege this as monetary gain.

Easy123

I have been knitting scarves, wraps, etc. for the past several years. Brand new to Etsy, but had my own website and have sold high quality items to friends and at craft shows for the past few years. I have a set price I charge to knit a scarf, a pair of baby booties, etc. Some materials cost a lot. I want to use quality materials, and my clients can afford them, because I charge a nominal charge for creating the item. I cannot include the hours it has taken me to decide what stitches or pattern to use, knitting a swatch for gauge or shopping for the perfect yarn. That's like raising kids. You just do it because you love it and want to!

creationslova

This series is great! I'm glad Etsy has this type of support system. I've been making jewellery for 4 years and i've had to adjust my pricing because I wasn't charging enough. The first thing I did was buy a computer program to help me manage my supply inventory and price my pieces. It was getting to hard to price my pieces when I had to go through 10 pages of hand written supplies. I was worth that $100 investment. Once i got this program, Wow, was pricing ever easy. It calculates all the supply costs automatically. You enter your labor and all other costs. You need to set your own wholesale, detail and retail price markup (X2, X3, etch.). I usually use X3 unless the piece is very expensive where i might go down to X2.5. To figure out my labor I timed myself making earrings, a bracelet and a necklace. I set my hourly wage and figured out preset labor costs for those pieces. The way the program calculates the cost of the pieces is: (markup X supply costs) + labor + other. I usually add $2 for other which includes boxes, ribons and packing supplies. My price, is my price, I rarely reduce it. When I sell on consignment, i add the shop's cut on top of my price. This marks up the price by 40%, and you know what? People are buying my pieces at this price. So don't sell yourself short, charge a price that will make you profitable.

I have a question: what about specials and sale prices. Is it a good idea to include a *Specials* section to my shop? I'd like to liquidate pieces i've had for some time.

oopa

"Loving your work in a comforting environment contributes to good health, and unfortunately, most business educators refuse to acknowlege this as monetary gain." I wholeheartedly agree with nikolabean on this. Having said that, I still think I should not sell myself short. But how difficult this is!! Since I sell from the Netherlands, the falling Dollar against the Euro is increasingly difficult for my pricing. I am a new seller on Etsy, but have sold before to people in the USA and can now see my very moderate hourly fee vaporise... As nice as I generally try to be to other people, and buyers in particular, this poses a problem.

nichan

I used a detail calculation for my pricing and compare it to short formula I set up...I got this formula idea from a reference I read in internet...the result?...the difference is sometimes 5-10USD (my detail price is usually lower...it depends, too)...I use this formula as my top limit. It's like, I can set up the price at any amount between my price and that formula...
Let's see this short formula:
Material
+ Labor
+ FOH (electricity, water, etc, etc...)&Administration (fees, blogging time, etc) (FOH calculationexample: 10%x (M+L)) ==> I like it...FOH is included in the calculation...
+ Profit (ex: 20%x M+L+FOH) ==> some may calculate profit based from M+L but as I think that cost is M L and FOH, so, I include all of it as a base...
= Price

It's a little bit math...if you work that formula further, you can arrive at the simplest shortest formula...then, after that, all you have to do is making some modification with the % , so you have some pricing options in a faster way...

even so, seems like I must "underprice" my stuff a little bit yet, still within reasonable range for a while in order to build trust, too...
Every time I want to lower more, I always feel, I'm not appreciating myself. When the feeling starts to ruin, like I want my stuff to get sold at whatever price, I always look at my pricing sheet then i get calmed down (^.^)'...

Forcomfort

Thanks for the infor..I think my price points perhaps scare away buyers. The quilts I make take a long time. I can not make more than one in a day. Some take days or weeks to make, construction time alone not the creative part where sketching, thinking, planning, purchasing fabric, gathering materials together, happen.
I have been successful selling my quilts and things at other venues but have had little success here. Perhaps you can address the success of some sellers over others. How is an artist to know whether it is their shop, presentation etc, or their pricing, or their actual work.
I think if I used some of the formulas presented here my pricing would be even higher.... It clearly does work for some vendors I wish I could say the same.
Thank you for the information though.

lillybugboutique

Good article. Knowing what to price your work is tough. Everything takes time to do, especially the time needed to create things. Sometimes the time flies and it's difficult to remember how long it took to make a piece. It always seems like there's not enough time to get all of it done. Pricing is a challenge.

gabeadz

Great Information. I guess am not doing very well my calculations.

Thank you very much!

TheRusticRoosterFarm

Very helpful. I hope I can price my items at the price they need to be and still sell them. I am just getting started with my etsy store. I am sure there is alot to learn.

LeBune

Thanks for information. When I started selling my creations, I was very confused with pricing,I thought that I asked for too high price. But then I was advised by my friend who liked my stuff. The used to tell me : "every piece you created is one-of-a-kind masterpice, and it should find a person who wants to possess it, like paintings... And she was right,when byer really likes your unique product, they are ready to pay higher price. I've noticed that in the boutique where I'm selling my staff, the most expesive products are beeing sold pretty fast..
I'm a new at Etsy and have to learn more how it works here.

ShabbyNChic

Some great ideas as pricing is something sellers sometimes stumble into figuring out. We don't want our prices to be too low or too high, but that balance can be a challenge to find. Thanks for new ways to think about it!

squeeky001

hello,I am new to Etsy and hope to become a seller this summer(09). I am a potter and am currently wall to wall in pottery and jewelry.Trying to figure out new ways to sell and am having problems pricing my work.Pottery is very hard to price. I check other sites and try to get an idea of what similar pottery sells for but my work is somewhat different and I don't see many similar pieces.There are many good ideas in the above article so maybe it will help me determine what,when and how to sell my pottery.

CircesHouse

Such a helpful article, and helpful comments as well! Thanks to everybody. This is a hard issue, isn't it? I particularly like the comment about knowing you're selling something for too low a price if you feel like crying as you package it for shipping. I view each of my pieces as "my baby," to some extent, so I think you have to ask enough that you feel okay about letting an item go. However, the bit about charging for each hour of work seems iffy to me. I do bead embroidery and beadweaving, and some of my pieces take upwards of 40 hours to complete. If I charged $15 an hour for that plus the cost of materials, I suspect most of my items would sit in the shop forever. Don't get me wrong, I'd LOVE to get that much for them, but especially in this economy, it just doesn't seem realistic. Any thoughts on that?

OnceAgainDesigns

Very helpful info. Thank you!!

debthedollgnome

This will help alot. Thankyou. It was very helpful. I am new to etsy and new to selling online. Every bit of info I can get to help me succeed is appreciated!

Resign

This has been very helpful. I am very new at this and pricing is definately the hardest part. Someone made a point before about being confident in your work, I think that is a big part of pricing things appropriately...I know I originally listed my pieces and then got cold feet and drastically reduced them, only to have to increase them again when I realised I should never have dropped the price. This only confuses everyone. I have yet to work out a formula that works for me but when I do, I'm gong to stick to it and have faith in myself. One thing I have learnt very quickly is even if you don't think you will wholesale your items, work out a wholesale price anyway and work out your retail from there, then if someone enquires about buying wholesale you won't have to panic about your pricing. I was taken by surprise when I was asked to wholesale to a shop, 3 weeks into my businesss and of course I didn't have a wholesale price and it really made me realise my pieces are too cheap. Oh...so much to learn!

coquicita

Great information Tim! Once again thanks for all of this. You are definitely doing a great job helping people out. Pricing is one of the most difficult parts for me; I will try to start implementing some of this formulas.

midnightcoiler

This is an interesting, helpful article. Thanks for bringing it to light again.

charlene60

Thank you for this article, I spend a lot of time on how much to charge for my work since some pieces take an hour and others (like my rope necklaces) take up to 5hrs. after I put the price I think that I am charging too much but as one writer rightly stated if someone really wants and appreciates handmade (teason they visit Etsy) they will pay the price asked. I will have to redo some math and reprice. Thank you again.

kkennedydesigns

I found a very good book about running your craft as a buisness and it had a good pricing guide in there. We are up against imports from China and people that price too low for the work. I will try to find the name of the book.

But there is a certain formula the book suggests. And what is being left out of the 2 or 3 times materials and labor is the overhead, what it costs in electricity, gas, rent, whatever to run your studio, even if its a home studio, because if you do intend to run this as a buisness some day as your sole employment, the sale of your items has to cover the cost of your studio costs as well. And there's also the idea of profit. You need to make a profit on the item beyond cost and your labour to have money to reinvest in product development, marketing, craft show fees, etc.

You have to realize that you can't compare your hand made wears to imports and mass produced items, and you have to find a way to set your work apart from those items so people understand what they are buying. Show photos of your studio, explain the time that spend on a piece or why it's special. Be realistic on how much you want to make an hour. It is tricky, but you need to think through a great deal on your pricing because it is what will make or break you being able to take a hobby to the next level.

I have also recently made my first sale to a retail establishment and realized how important wholesale pricing is.

PansyMaiden

I went to SCORE to find someone to help me with pricing and I highly recommend each and everyone of you who wants to make your living via your craft to find your local SCORE branch. It's totally free and worth soooooo much. When I met with my SCORE rep, I was lamenting about how much my materials costs and how much time I was spending and about how lots of sellers price their items so low and it's impossibly to be competitive AND make money...and he said something to me so simple, it pulled me out crisis mode. He said, "Have you thought about how you can cut your costs without sacrificing quality?" I had not. I was too busy lamenting that I wasn't thinking outside of the box. He help me set up my business in a legit way (collect taxes, business cert, Fed business ID) so that I could then buy my materials at wholesale costs. Granted, I had to search for wholesale vendors who offer low minimum orders and I'm still trying to really work out my pricing but I feel like I'm getting close. Go to SCORE! http://www.score.org/index.html

JuliesAtelier

All great comments!

I'm a brand new seller and doing loads of research before I post my inventory and start selling so this is all incredibly helpful for me. Thanks!

I agree with the struggles that some of the artisans are having specifically the knitters. It seems that ceramics has the same issue - so time consuming and labor intensive. It takes me countless hours to construct one teapot plus add drying time, and firing times and glazing time, etc. If I charged for my products based upon labor and shelf time (can take up to 4 weeks to complete because I have a day job), I'd be pricing pieces at $400+ which is not at all realistic.

Along with that, is the extreme importance of perceived value by the consumers as others have mentioned above. Buying handmade is great, but what's stopping a customer from purchasing a mug or plate at Ikea or Target, same goes with baby blankets and scarves for the knitters? That's the struggle I'm going through right now. I suppose this all goes back to finding your niche product, making it unique enough for someone to think, "wow, i have to have that!"

I've also looked at other etsy sellers in my market (pottery) and it's been tremendously helpful seeing what items are priced at, but like real estate, it's not the price of the house that you need to be concerned with, it's the price at which it sells at. As far as I know, etsy doesn't post sale prices like that. Is that something anyone else is interested in seeing?

BigGirlJewelry

I take into consideration more than just cost of materials, etc. I think about what I would be willing to pay for a similar item and how much it would cost in a department store. It's difficult for me to factor time into the equation because I do 90% of my work in front of the TV, so I stop to watch every so often.

ChateauDesigns

This has been my biggest bane. I pretty much used the formula you mentioned about material and my time, but if I got paid for time, I priced myself completely out of the market. I still find my things are higher than others on etsy doing the same thing, and I can't figure out how they can do things so inexpensively and still get paid for their time and effort.

lolascraftycreations

I have the same problem as BigGirlJewelry, I make all my stuff in the evenings after being at my 'proper' job and out of the house for 12 hours... I tend to drift a bit by pottering round - must stop and focus, then I will achieve more in the same time = increase productivity!

AndreaGiler

Thanks for take time sharing this important tips, sometimes we can forget the value of our efforts and creativity but its important to appreciate our work first specially if it is hand made, it makes it something more personal and special!!!!

magicwrd

Thank you so much for this. I always have a hard time pricing my creations. I have a distinct tendency to price my talent low. I appreciate all of the input on this and will utilize it on Etsy. I am new to Etsy and have just started to show my stuff so any info I can get is wonderful!

smilingbluedog

This is such valuable advice.
I am still fairly new, and pricing is one of the hardest things for me to figure out. I will be working on this!
I have one piece I'm not sure I want to part with, so I priced it much higher than my other pieces. I don't know if that's good practise, but I'll feel better if I have to sell him :)

smilingbluedog

Lolascraft...ditto for me.

KuDum

i agree with olivebrown, that lot of knitters undervalue their work and it is making it hard for others.
i make little things and they still take a quite a lot of time. for example a newborn cardigan takes about 6 hours to knit, that time doesn't include any of the finishing touches as hiding the ends, sewing buttons, adding the application, washing/pressing. i thought i'd pay myself just £4/$6,5 hour (i pay my cleaner dbl the price for an hour) and there is no mark up for materials used. i don't even include the time it takes to take the pictures and posting the items, nor designing them (new design ideas usually come to me when i'm working on a current project).
considering all this i still find that my prices are one of the highest among similar items. it's a very big concern and makes me doubt myself and having no sales yet doesn't help...

kinaloon

There are lot of things I did not consider about the price. For example, my time. Thanks this article is very helpful.

myglamour

This article needs to circulate often.

I don't understand how some sellers on Etsy honestly make a profit. They're selling $15.00 earrings for $6.00 and with FREE SHIPPING. However, it's not always the prices; it's the people.

Some sellers take other sellers ideas and then sell their lesser version for much less money. This makes it hard for the seller who birth the idea to sell their item and get paid for their talent and time. Don't get me wrong; it's wonderful to be inspired but at the same time "keep it real" (price wise). What good is it to sell a lot for less and still end with nothing. Don't just go after sales...

It's like a catch 22. You can price it low and make no money or price it right and make no sales. You can't win for losing. I'm starting to wonder if I'm going to ever have true success on Etsy. I pay for showcases after showcases and still and no sales generate from them.

FeeVertelaine

That's a BIG QUESTION!!!....pricing! As an artist we want to share our art and sell it. Often I hear that my doll are expensive but considering the time that I put on one doll...it's not! I agree with one that said that we are worth at least 15 $ per hour, but sincerely my price would be so high. Article like taht will help me made my mind and figure it all. Some people that sell similar doll are so cheap, I can't even understand how they do it....now with reading the different comment I figure that it is more of a hobby than a business. And what do you do with a buyer that send about 20-30 convo..?? That take time too...pricing...it's a BIG QUESTION! :-)

lulujewels

myglamour and FeeVertelaine are right, etsy is overrun with sellers who craft mainly as a hobby, making it tough for the professionals. A lot of sellers would realize they are actually spending money, not making it, if they took into account their time (not just making items to sell, but time listing, promoting, packaging for shipment, trips to the PO, time spent shopping for materials...) and overhead costs such as paypal and etsy fees (including the fees you pay to etsy to list items that never sell!). It is a shame and I think that is why many of these shops are short lived...

I also agree with myglamour's point about quality... there are varying skill levels on etsy, and varying levels of quality of materials used... and all too often the buyer does not realize these differences until the "bargain" item they bought falls apart. The one consolation on this point is that the sellers who have perfected their skill and use the best materials will gain a loyal following of repeat business.

One other point to those who think selling at the lowest possible price is the way to go... of all the cost associated with doing business, very few are variable. It takes as long to list a $4 item as $40 item, it costs the same .20. It takes as long to wrap for shipping, and the shipping materials, business cards, etc. cost the same. Your time (per hour) costs the same... and so forth. These are constants. This means that your margin per item is LOWER. Personally I'd much rather sell ONE $40 item than TEN $4 items, because it saves me lots of time and I make more money from that ONE $40 sale!

handstosew

Well, this was a lot to take in! Someone, a few years ago, when I first began the Craft Fair Circuit, told me to:
~double the minimum wage as my Salary per Hour
~add up all my materials, for me that would be fabric, thread, any kind of trim, etc.
~add up potential fees (include shipping, unless you are offering Free Shipping)
~include packaging, and don't forget the stuffing, ribbon you might also need.

So, if I were to do this on Etsy, that means that I would be selling my most popular item for $37.00 instead of $15.00. I do consider myself as putting out a high quality item, with only good quality fabrics, but who in their right mind would pay $37? Thing is too, is that I've seen similar items in such opposite price ranges, e.g. $10., and then as high as $25. So, $37 is definitely not feasible.

I think what it all boils down to is to do what you feel is right, for you. And for me, I think possibly I will be increasing my prices after the holidays, by only a few dollars.

Thank you so much for this wonderful series. Looking forward to the next installment.

handmadeingreece

I've justed started out but the pricing is really hard. The dollar is so low to the euro, between 46-50 cents on a dollar depending on the day. If i go to much lower than what i have now, i can't break even, and i think my prices are to high now, for the dollar. But what can i do??? I'm starting to wondered if this is even a good idea to try.

HumbleBeeGreetings

I'm just about ready to open shop and I cannot tell you how valuable this information is. This is a very "serious topic" but with what I have read and researched and after veiwing all the comments here, I am happy to say I seem to be on the right track (thank goodness).

I tend to agree that the formula regarding pricing, should be "cost+labor X 2 or 3". This should work in most cases. Adjustments can always be implemented if necessary.

Advice: Take your time, think things through and do whats best for you.

Sometimes one size doesn't fit all.

Again, Great Information!

Again, Great Information!

HumbleBeeGreetings

AM I SEEING DOUBLE!!! It is getting late.