Comments on: your pricing strategy: are you spending too much time playing defense?

By: Laurie

Laurie — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 04:01:39 +0000

Just this evening I ran into this same thing. I sell handcrafted jewelry and am careful to try to price my pieces to cover all my costs. I sell on my own website as well as Etsy. I did a search on etsy for a specific type of jewelry I made and found almost the exact piece of jewelry with almost the same components listed for nearly half the cost. I was very frustrated because if I sold at these prices I would barely break even and it would leave absolutely no room leftover for selling wholesale in the future. Some of us want to get paid for our time and effort and it frustrates me no end that others are willing to short change themselves…it devalues my product and makes it that much more difficult to make a living at what I do.

By: Jacqui Dodds

Jacqui Dodds — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 19:38:45 +0000

Thank you for this post – all of these issues are coming at the right time for me as I am just setting up my business.
What do you think about having some items that you can charge more for and make a bigger profit and some that you don’t make so much profit on but may bring in people into getting acquainted with your work?

By: Links – June 18, 2010 « Beautiful Flower Pictures Blog: Floral Photography by Patty Hankins

Fri, 18 Jun 2010 09:08:56 +0000

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By: Megan

Megan — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 12:36:38 +0000

Yes. We make our molds from their actual real life counterparts, WWII grenades, a used mixed tape, a baby doll head we found at the thrift store.
Having that kinda bragging right has offered many marketing opportunities for us and we continue to push that we are the only company, to my knowledge and googling prowess to do so.

By: megan auman

megan auman — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 11:56:47 +0000

ok megan, i have to ask – does that mean you made your molds from actual grenades? (and doesn’t that make for great marketing material?)

By: megan auman

megan auman — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 11:54:59 +0000

dave – lots of great thoughts here (some of which i’m going to spin off into a separate post)

i also think work that was off-shored is starting to come back because people want to know where their stuff (and apparently their customer service) is coming from.

not to mention the fact that having something produced overseas often requires you to order huge quantities to make transportation costs worth it. (often times, it can be something like half a shipping container worth of product)

By: megan auman

megan auman — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 11:52:15 +0000

Faith – I think your second problem is actually a two-fold problem in itself. not only do many makers not value their time and what they make, they don’t ever take the time to understand the true costs of their products.

By: megan auman

megan auman — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 11:50:14 +0000

heather – i frequently tell my students that “you are not your customer” when it comes to price.

i think part of the reason prices have gotten so low is that makers want to price their work so that they (and presumably other makers) can afford it. but this idea just perpetuates the stereotypes of the starving artist (if we never raise our prices, we will be)

if i had to buy the amount of my own work that i wear, i wouldn’t be able to afford it. (fortunately, like you said, i don’t need to!) and there are certainly designers and makers whose work i love that i can’t afford at the current moment.

fortunately, there’s another solution – trading! when pricing, we shouldn’t worry if other makers can afford our work. instead, we should aim for deeper pockets and trade amongst ourselves for the things we truly love.

By: Heather aka Niftyknits

Heather aka Niftyknits — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 08:46:49 +0000

I’m going to echo Susie: “For double the price I only need half the customers to make the same amount and do half the work!” Pricing is aways such a struggle, but I’m getting there. What helped me most was someone asking me this question, which I come back to over and over: “Why imagine your customers have to be in the same income bracket as yourself?”

and it’s true – I can’t afford to buy from me (but fortunately I don’t need to!)

By: Faith from OrdinaryMommy

Faith from OrdinaryMommy — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 01:41:45 +0000

When I first opened shop on Etsy I majorly under priced my pieces. When I first began to receive wholesale orders this became a huge issue for me. I still struggle with pricing, but as time goes on and the quality of my work gets better and better, I am becoming more confident. Being aware of how much time one puts into creating an item and the true cost of materials is critical. Thanks for the encouragement to take an attitude of defensive pricing!