In need of help with pricing...

[heavenlybody1983]

Every year at the beginning of September, the towns in my area have Scenic Drive. People from all over make crafts and such all year round to sell on the drive. I have family that has a tent in one of the towns to sell their crafts. I had the idea to make a few baby blankets and raffle them off on the drive, but apparently raffling is considered gambling...therefore, it's illegal on the drive. So I decided I'd just try to sell a few of them. I have NO idea what kind of price tag to put on them. I can buy my supplies for around $10 and it takes me around 15 to 20 hours total to make a baby blanket that's around 3' by 4'. Can anyone give me some ideas on what price I should put on my blankets? Any ideas you can give me are appreciated! Thanks!

[auntbubbels]

There are a number of ways to do this.

 

You can take the cost of the materials and times it by 3 to come up with a dollar amount, or times it by 4 if you put alot of work into the project.

 

You can also charge 10cents a yard, plus the materials.

 

I am sure you will get alot of input on this. You can also do a search, because this topic has been brought up before.

 

Good luck

[heavenlybody1983]

Hmm...I appreciate your input. I did some figuring according to your advice and the advice of some of my friends. To charge 3 to 4 times the cost of my materials would only be $30 to $40...at 10 cents a yard it would be around $125! That's a big difference. A friend of mine told me $2/H plus the cost of materials which would be $40 to $50. I think I better keep looking to get more ideas. If anyone reads this thread and has anything else to add, it would be greatly appreciated!!

[auntbubbels]

do a search as i remember there being alot of input on this a while ago

 

There was a craft fair here a while ago that I signed up for. The cost of my scarves was too expensive for the people in my area, so I just took the cost of the materials and added $10.00 per scarf. I was more interested in seeing if they could sell rather than making a profit. Interesting - people loved my scarves but didnt buy many of them. They bought the less expensive ones. I figured out that most people just dont know what good yarn costs

[Amy]

The sad thing is, most people at craft shows are just not going to pay prices that allow you to charge a decent hourly wage for the time and effort you put in to hand-crocheting items.

 

My sister is a lampwork artist, and here is the she uses:

 

(Cost of materials + 3 x hourly rate) + 25% = retail selling price

 

(Cost of material + 1.5 x hourly rate) + 25% = wholesale selling price

 

 

The hourly rate most of these jewelry artists charge is $15-$20.

 

For some reason, lampwork beads and handcrafted jewelry are seen more as "art" by certain sectors, and jewelry artists/designers are able to command this type of price structure in certain settings: upscale stores, upscale "art" events, etc. Of course, even they don't get these kinds of prices at typical craft shows. You have to choose your market well to get those prices, but it can be done.

 

Sad to say, I know of very few venues where hand-crocheted items are going to be seen with that "art" status and there will be matching prices to reflect the value of the pieces. So most of us who would want to sell anything we make find that we have to charge very low per hour rates in order to get people to buy our products.

[laurastar0962]

This idea intrigued me. As an average crocheter, never charged anyone anything for my work, never been to a lot of art shows. I live in one of the more expensive areas of the country ( not saying to brag, just to give a feel of the people I asked) I went to a get together right after I read this so I thought I would bring it up as a topic of convo at the party

 

Anyway.......

 

As I asked around and we got together as a group the number thrown around was 50 bucks. The men said they would pay more for really intricate designs, or personalized designs. I didnt have pics to show so I dont know how involved or the yarn used. Of course the way I express things might not be the way things are.....but I thought I would give you the "regular" customer view.

 

Laura

[Hummywinger]

Laura

Southern Calif here.. You should see the prices for handmade items on the famous Rodale Drive in Beverly Hills... Outrageous

[noah_natalies_mommy]

It has a lot to do with the area you live in! I live in a very "low" income area, meaning a lot of disability and welfare. That means I have to sell things for a lower price here then I would if I was to go 3 counties over. My sister thinks my items are worth a lot more then I sell them for, which, really they are, but when I say $20. people or like o.k. then if they get up to $30 or more, they tend to turn away. Not to mention since I live in the Mountians and there is nothing in this area to do, crochet is not uncommon, so they can just have "Mamaw" do it.

[CraftyShannon]

Not only will the region affect the price, but I've sold craft things for years (not much crochet, but lots of other things) and it varies a lot by the "status" of the area you are selling. I used to sell painted things in two stores in the same town. The stores were approx. 10 minutes away from each other, but one store was more upscale in appearance, had more traffic surrounding it, and was in an area people thought was better. I could easily price things higher at this "upscale" store. I did sell more items at the cheap store, but I made more money PER item at the upscale store. I'd rather sell 5 things at a high price than 10 things at a low price, if that makes sense.

 

I also think the kind of work you present is important too. Doing the neatest work you can and making something that is different can help. I don't mean to offend, but obviously there are a lot of people who crochet (or do any number of crafts), so there is a lot of competition. Just being handmade isn't always enough to warrant a sale when one thing looks like the next. Creating something that looks different whether it's color or design will make yours stand out and that might be what draws someone to buy yours rather than someone else's. I think those things warrant a *slightly* higher price, as long as you still keep your price in the range people are willing to pay.

 

My best advice to you is to figure out how much you've got in your work and how much you think you should charge for it. Then go see what other baby blankets in the area you'll be selling at cost. If they are handmade, check every now and then and see if they actually sell. This will give you the best indication of what people in your particular area will buy and at what price they will pay. You'll then have to compare this price to the price you want to sell at in order to figure out whether trying is worth it to you or not.

 

For me, my general rule of pricing has always been:

my costs in materials + % profit I want (varies) + Commission fee of store + 20% = selling price

 

If you aren't in a store, you can add a percent of a booth fee. I omit this amount if I don't have these fees.

 

The 20% was a cushion for me. If I had to be involved in a store sale or my items just weren't selling, I could lower my prices and still not lose any needed money from my costs and it doesn't dip too far into my profits either.

[CLLinda]

It is very hard to put prices on your work. I have seen very simple blankets for $40, and people think that is too high. They don't take into account your hours, your skills, your materials, and all that goes into making the items. I like looking at craft fairs just to get ideas of what things go for. It's like doing homework before you get in business.

 

I wish you luck in selling your items. I hope the weather is nice and you enjoy the company of family as you sell your wares. I hope you are the big seller!

 

Good luck!

 

Linda:manyheart

[heavenlybody1983]

Thank you all very much for your help! I've got some things to think about now! Guess all I can do is just get busy and place a price on them. If they aren't selling one weekend, I'll lower the price for the second weekend. Thanks again for all your replies!! I really appreciate it!