A utopia for hands-on creations.
Pricing Your Work
There are many formulas for pricing our work. Cost of materials X 3, or if labor intensive, cost of materials X 5. Also, there is cost of materials and packaging X 4, plus hourly rate, plus 10% for overhead, etc. Which way works best for you, and are you pricing your work high enough to pay yourself more than minimum wage? What is your pricing formula?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by beadyeyes on -
When I was selling I used cost of materials X2 + time + $3.00 for packaging. That formula seemed to work for me and kept my prices fairly reasonable. There's so much competition in this industry that if you set your prices too high they'll just move on to the next website where they can find something else they also like cheaper.
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Permalink Reply by EliteBeadCreations on
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I typically do cost of materials X 3...it seams to be the easiest. I guess I should be adding in the packaging cost...even though I have not sold anything through my website yet =(
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Permalink Reply by Melissa on
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My pricing is cost of materials x2 or x3 (depending) +time. It seems to work for me, at least for the time being. :)
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Permalink Reply by AM Designs on
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Generally I use cost of materials x 3 + time. My hourly rate has been increased since I've started 18 months ago.
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Permalink Reply by ShiShi on
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Hello everybody.. there is an article on this by Rena Klingenberg.. she also has other many great articles.. here is the article on pricing..
http://www.home-jewelry-business-success-tips.com/jewelry-pricing-f...
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Permalink Reply by Desert Designs on
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I live in the desert Southwest, and pricing with this formula won't work where there are so many jewelry artists. People just will not pay anyway near what we should be getting. One is lucky to get half of the pricing she suggests. It is very hard to make it as a designer for most of us here. I keep trying, using only Swarovski crystals, really good beads and sterling closures. When I do make seed bead ropes, I always point out the amount of time involved in stitching when someone asks about the cost. I do less and less of the ropes now, concentrating mainly on stringing. Thanks for the site info.
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I hear you Desert.. it is also very difficult to price your work in a way to profit good here too (Turkey)..people just dont care how much time, energy, electricity..etc you put into it other than the material cost. They only consider the material cost which is ridicilous. Most of the designers double their price here thinking they will profit but in a long run it is not the case.. so it should at least x4.
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Permalink Reply by Dancing Wind Designs on
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I think it's more difficult for seed beaders to price their work. For example, some of the things I make, like the necklace in my avatar, I used Ming Tree seed beads from FMG. They come in 1/4 lb. containers, so I get a lot of beads for my buck from those. (Great beads for netting, but lousy for structured stitches like peyote.) We don't have to use individual components (except for clasps) to make something, so that helps us keep material cost down. Seed beading is also more labor intensive. I usually just price my labor by the piece. Like, ok, I've got 5 hours in this, but it was easy, so I'll just add a lump sum for my labor instead of doing it on an hourly basis. Am I making a decent wage doing it this way-no way. Am I making enough to pay for the beads I used and buy more-yes. I bead while I watch TV, so I see it as getting paid to watch TV. LOL! I also bead at work, and since I am already getting paid, I see that as a way to keep my costs down. Pricing work will always be a dilemma and I don't see it getting any easier with the economy the way it is right now.
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Permalink Reply by MarDi on -
I struggled for the longest time over pricing, and like most everyone, I always came up with figures that were based pretty much on materials only, by far shortchanging myself on charging for labor, creativity, design, packaging, etc. I finally bought a jewelry design software program that takes the guesswork out of everything for me.
I still undercut the suggested retail, direct and wholesale prices that it gives me, at least until I'm more established, but now I have a solid base to start with that factors in everything. It also catalogues all of my materials, suppliers, etc., so I always have a ready list of what's on hand and where I got it from! *hugs my jewelry software* :)
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Permalink Reply by beadyeyes on
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I have Jewelry Design Manager, which really is an all emcompassing jewelry business program. My problem is I don't utilize it...and of course I should. I have so much supplies inventory yet left to enter and when I make a piece I never think to run it through the program...I think I will make that one of my goals for this year.
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Permalink Reply by MarDi on
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beadyeyes, that's the program that I use. It took many hours of punching in my inventory, but was so worth it once it was done. I do always try to update it when I purchase more supplies, but often I put it off and then have several to be entered at once..... bad me! If only there were more hours in a day! :D
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Permalink Reply by Ersatz on -
Well ... It is not important how much cost materials or how many hours u create something , the most important is how much customer is ready to pay for it. But it is also a big mistake to be too cheap because then people think that maybe it is not a good quality ;-) , price must be a compromise between our and customers expectations. Hugs from Poland :-D Ersatz
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