Pricing Your Crafts For Profit.

Pricing arts and crafts products can be one of the most difficult aspects faced by people who intend to sell their creations for profit. Many times I see fellow crafters lowering prices of their wares when they don't sell as many items as they would have liked to.

A good rule of thumb to follow when trying to make the difficult decision about what price to sell your products for would be to first remember If you are selling a doll at $10.00 and $7.00 is pure profit then you make $70.00 for every 10 dolls you sell. If you lower the price of your dolls to $6.00 where your profit is only $3.00 per doll then you would have to sell over twice as many dolls to realize that same profit. When you lower your prices not only do you make it more difficult to get a profit but the perceived quality value of your products are lowered in your shoppers eyes. If your shoppers believe that the quality of your items is not that good then you still won't make many sales and will only find yourself heading home with a box of unsold items and a heart full of disappointment.

The best way to handle the difficult pricing issue is first calculate your prices well ahead of time. Price your products and stick to those prices no matter what. This way you can present your products with confidence and you won't spend your day wondering if your prices are too high because you'll know that you priced them perfectly and profitably.

A good point of reference when pricing projects is add up the cost of supplies. Let's say you are making bears. You bought a piece of long pile for $20.00 and you know you can get 4 bears from it. That would be $5.00 in supply cost right there. Do the same for your eyes and any of the other materials like buttons etc. Don't bother with things like floss since you can get hundreds of bears from a thing of floss so it wouldn't even add up to a penny. Calculate the cost you have in your materials and set this as your first tentative price. This is how much you absolutely have to sell your item for in order to just break even. Now how much are you worth an hour? Sit back and determine this carefully remember that if a customer is interested in an item that means the customer does not know how to make it them self and that means your knowledge and your skills are valuable to that customer so don't cut yourself short. Always remember that you are providing something someone wants just as much as you want to make a profit.

So let's say it took 2 hours to make the bear and you want to make at least $10.00 and hour for your time. Therefore you would need to sell your bear for $30.00 each. It's that simple. There is an owner out there somewhere that will be happy to own your bear. So when determining your prices add cost of supplies and your hourly rate and STICK WITH IT!

If a customer wants something bad enough they will buy it and it's our jobs as crafters to make sure the quality and uniqueness of our products have them craving for our items. A customer is just like a child. If they see something that they want badly enough they will get it. It may be days, weeks or months down the line, but they will get it. The key here is to ALWAYS have your email address, web site and / or phone number handy for them to take with them and get in contact with you later. NEVER send a potential customer off without your name and number and if you can send them off with a small something to make them remember you that's even better. Put a picture of your item on the back of your business card. Then the customer will remember why they have that business card in their purse or wallet when they find it a week later.

There are 3 types of shoppers. Those that understand the value of our crafts that appreciate them and that will be happy to pay for our wonderful items. These are the shoppers that come up and purchase with no qualms about the price but are sadly far and few between.

The second sort of shopper is the one that either can't afford a $30.00 bear but wishes they could or the one that says "My goodness that's a lot". Usually you can work with these shoppers by explaining why your bears cost $30.00. Because it is made with beautiful material that is machine washable, it is made from totally recycled fabrics or because it is double stitched and safe for babies. Don't just make stuff up, tell the truth about your item.

The other set of shoppers are those that are going to gripe, fuss, bicker and try to get you to give them your item free. Or worse yet those that have miserable lives and think it's their job to make our lives miserable as well. Use your best judgment when dealing with these sorts and don't waste much time on them as most of them will never become a customer of yours.

Remember quality with a higher price is good, inferior work with low prices is bad, very bad. Low quality inferior products are what make selling fine arts & crafts today so difficult. That and mass produced junk where people don't understand that a $25.00 high quality hand sewn rag doll that will last for decades and become a family heirloom is much better than a $5.00 rag doll purchased at a store that is only going to be in shreds within a year. It is our job as crafters and artist to make our customers understand this.