Pricing items is a tough one. I see conversations about it daily in my social media crafty groups and pages. A new crafter/seller is wondering what others would charge for a certain item, or wondering if their prices are too high/too low.
Unfortuately, it isn't an easy answer. There are so many factors that go into pricing a finished item! The way I see it, the biggest contributors to this are:
Cost of materials
Time involved
Method/location of sale (i.e. on-line, craft fair in the midwest vs. coastal, fantasy/cosplay/'con', etc)
Obviously the list is way longer than this. However, I feel these are the most common. They also vary greatly. For instance, what type of material are you using? If it is mohair or cashmere, it's gonna cost way more than acrylic (or even regular wool). Did you purchase at full price, or do you always wait for sales? Did the customer request something special (or did they actually provide you with part of the materials)?
When it comes to time, generally speaking, the longer you have been doing said type of art, you would become more proficient, and therefor would finish a project in less time. BUT...that doesn't mean you should charge less! Experience and technique are your own personal 'upgrade' (for lack of a better term), and should earn you a higher hourly rate.
Let's say two crafters are making the same type of item (a crochet hat). One is fairly new, and it takes her 2 hours to complete a hat. The other, has been crocheting several years, and is able to complete the hat in only 1 hour. The cost to the customer may be the same - but the experienced crafter is earning more per-hour, and most likely has a larger quantity to sell.
Where it gets more convoluted is when you start adding in things like location. It is probably pretty well-known that consumers on both coasts regularly pay more for just about everything than folks in the midwest. So you may want to consider that, at least for in-person events. Also, people who attend conventions (i.e. comic-cons, renaissance faires, etc) are looking for more specialized and unique items, and are generally used to paying a premium for those items.
If you want a very quick "rule of thumb" to follow, there are quite a few crafters that say to multiply your cost of materials by 3. Or, there are apps that will calculate it for you if you input your cost, time and hourly rate. Several other artists (including myself) have created formulas that take both cost and time into consideration. I will make a separate post next week that details my formula, as well as which types of items it works really well for, and which ones I still need to figure out some other way.
Comments