Pricing your Crafts
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Pricing your work or crafts, can be one of the most difficult parts of running your own crafts business. You do not want to overcharge and have no sales, but you do not want to undercharge, as the whole idea to this venture is that you make some cash!I personally found, in my crafts business venture, that you have to find your market.. I love to paint, so I started looking at craft shows that showcased more painters, or art galleries etc, where the value of a painting was appreciated. My biggest mistake was entering a local craft show, that mostly had vendors selling 2 and 3 dollar items!.. Not that this is a bad thing, if that happens to be your market, but I was not going to get the customers at this particular show interested in a 50 dollar painting, when they came armed with 20 dollars to buy an armful of products!... so choose your market! The best pricing formula I have found so far is as follows: MATERIALS + LABOUR + OVERHEAD = WHOLESALE, WHOLESALE X 2 = RETAIL Of course everyone's idea of labour and overhead are different, but the material cost is always considered. Your labour is what you choose to pay yourself for your craft, and your overhead is the cost of running your studio, your basement, your kitchen corner, or wherever you do your creations!.. also included in overhead are any equipment you may have had to buy or rent and insurance if you need it.. remember this is a business, and you want to make some cash for your hard work!
If this formula does not work for you.. example: you worked out $30.00 for an item, that presently sells for $5.00???.. then you have to work on your processes. Can you get the raw materials cheaper in bulk?, can you figure out a way to make it in less time without sacrificing quality?.. Sometimes you are forced to decide as to whether this particular craft should be dropped from your list, and try something else. That can be hard to do, but that is why in a craft business you HAVE TO USE A FORMULA to work out your profits. A good e-book you may want to consider is: CRAFTERS MARKETING ACTION PLAN! It covers, making your craft business soar, with cutting edge marketing secrets... Once you have your formula tweaked to work for you, then you can apply it to any craft you are considering making for sale.
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