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Post by fernwood on Oct 18, 2022 7:22:27 GMT -5
Hi Everyone, I am my own worst critic when it comes to pricing. Appreciate the advice others have given me. Just finished these pendants. Total cost for materials was about 75 cents each. This includes the cab and slabettes, bails, glue, etching cream, etching stencils, alcohol for cleaning. Total time to make was about 2 hours for all. I will be offering choice of a $2.00 neck chain in the color that the bail is, or a custom made synthetic leather cord with end pieces and lobster claw clasp in the same color as the bail. Either would be an additional $5.00. It takes me about 15 minutes to make the neck cords. My first thought was to price at $20.00 each. Is this too low? Too high? I have to file down the back of one of the bails. Thank you.
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dshanpnw
freely admits to licking rocks
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Post by dshanpnw on Oct 18, 2022 7:37:11 GMT -5
Sorry, I am not a seller or dealer, yet, so I can't recommend a price. The color of the agates is very nice, and I like the etchings. So, what are they mounted on? What are they set on, please?
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Post by fernwood on Oct 18, 2022 8:54:30 GMT -5
Sorry, I am not a seller or dealer, yet, so I can't recommend a price. The color of the agates is very nice, and I like the etchings. So, what are they mounted on? What are they set on, please? No mountings. Just the etchings on the rocks with inexpensive bails glued on. I used glass etching cream on them.
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Post by jasoninsd on Oct 18, 2022 9:28:10 GMT -5
When I did my show this summer, I took a bunch of cabs that I knew I wasn't going to spend the time wrapping, glued on bails and priced them at $30 a piece or 2 for $50...with two free chains if they bought two. I sold a bunch of the two-fers at the show...
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Post by stardiamond on Oct 21, 2022 16:41:58 GMT -5
My pricing is based on the market and cost of materials. This doesn't apply to what you are selling. An artist has two goals; to have their work seen and sold. It is easier to raises prices than to lower them. If they don't sell the question would be is it the item or the price. If they sell you can use that information to determine the price next time.
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vance71975
freely admits to licking rocks
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Post by vance71975 on Oct 21, 2022 18:14:07 GMT -5
Hi Everyone, I am my own worst critic when it comes to pricing. Appreciate the advice others have given me. Just finished these pendants. Total cost for materials was about 75 cents each. This includes the cab and slabettes, bails, glue, etching cream, etching stencils, alcohol for cleaning. Total time to make was about 2 hours for all. I will be offering choice of a $2.00 neck chain in the color that the bail is, or a custom made synthetic leather cord with end pieces and lobster claw clasp in the same color as the bail. Either would be an additional $5.00. It takes me about 15 minutes to make the neck cords. My first thought was to price at $20.00 each. Is this too low? Too high? I have to file down the back of one of the bails. Thank you. With what you spent making them, for Pricing on anything Hand Crafted, I would say cost of product times 10 PLUS Labor cost. So What do you feel your labor is worth per hour? So, What I would do, IF I was selling them, is take that 0.75 x 10= 7.50 + 15.00 per hour. So If they took you 2 hours total time to make, I would charge 37.50. But If you feel your labor is worth more than 15, then use the number you feel your labor is worth. Many people forget to figure in their Labor when selling a hand made product, when it is only fair to be paid for the work you put in. This varies depending ON what the labor is and how strenous the labor is on what I would charge. If I was doing back breaking manual labor the multipler would go up If its easy Busy work the multipler would go down some. But the BASE multipler I would use is 10 times cost + labor.
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Post by stardiamond on Oct 21, 2022 18:54:14 GMT -5
Hi Everyone, I am my own worst critic when it comes to pricing. Appreciate the advice others have given me. Just finished these pendants. Total cost for materials was about 75 cents each. This includes the cab and slabettes, bails, glue, etching cream, etching stencils, alcohol for cleaning. Total time to make was about 2 hours for all. I will be offering choice of a $2.00 neck chain in the color that the bail is, or a custom made synthetic leather cord with end pieces and lobster claw clasp in the same color as the bail. Either would be an additional $5.00. It takes me about 15 minutes to make the neck cords. My first thought was to price at $20.00 each. Is this too low? Too high? I have to file down the back of one of the bails. Thank you. With what you spent making them, for Pricing on anything Hand Crafted, I would say cost of product times 10 PLUS Labor cost. So What do you feel your labor is worth per hour? So, What I would do, IF I was selling them, is take that 0.75 x 10= 7.50 + 15.00 per hour. So If they took you 2 hours total time to make, I would charge 37.50. But If you feel your labor is worth more than 15, then use the number you feel your labor is worth. Many people forget to figure in their Labor when selling a hand made product, when it is only fair to be paid for the work you put in. This varies depending ON what the labor is and how strenous the labor is on what I would charge. If I was doing back breaking manual labor the multipler would go up If its easy Busy work the multipler would go down some. But the BASE multipler I would use is 10 times cost + labor. Since making cabochons is a hobby for me, I don't pay myself anything for my time. When there are comparable items, the market determines the price. I don't try to undercut competitor's prices because I am not trying to pay for groceries only more rock. If you want to see something depressing, check the prices on original water color or gouache paintings. My wife had a degree in studio art and was very talented. She never tried to sell her work. Gallery space is difficult to get and she was more interested in creating than selling. I am going to put some of her matted work on Etsy and pricing it so as not to insult the work required to create it. I'll price it above market. It won't likely sell but will be seen. 'Starving artist' is a real thing.
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vance71975
freely admits to licking rocks
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Post by vance71975 on Oct 21, 2022 19:28:26 GMT -5
With what you spent making them, for Pricing on anything Hand Crafted, I would say cost of product times 10 PLUS Labor cost. So What do you feel your labor is worth per hour? So, What I would do, IF I was selling them, is take that 0.75 x 10= 7.50 + 15.00 per hour. So If they took you 2 hours total time to make, I would charge 37.50. But If you feel your labor is worth more than 15, then use the number you feel your labor is worth. Many people forget to figure in their Labor when selling a hand made product, when it is only fair to be paid for the work you put in. This varies depending ON what the labor is and how strenous the labor is on what I would charge. If I was doing back breaking manual labor the multipler would go up If its easy Busy work the multipler would go down some. But the BASE multipler I would use is 10 times cost + labor. Since making cabochons is a hobby for me, I don't pay myself anything for my time. When there are comparable items, the market determines the price. I don't try to undercut competitor's prices because I am not trying to pay for groceries only more rock. If you want to see something depressing, check the prices on original water color or gouache paintings. My wife had a degree in studio art and was very talented. She never tried to sell her work. Gallery space is difficult to get and she was more interested in creating than selling. I am going to put some of her matted work on Etsy and pricing it so as not to insult the work required to create it. I'll price it above market. It won't likely sell but will be seen. 'Starving artist' is a real thing. oh ya for sure, Pricing is subjective to the market and if its just a hobby that you want to clear space for new items vs tryin to pay your bills. If you have another source of Income and your just tryin to pay for new materials then I think 10 times cost is fair. I dont so much TRY to undercut as I sell at what I think its worth, However I often see things on Etsy or other sites and think WOW they are way over priced for some rough stone or whatever the Item is and I assume, the people that I feel are "over Priced" are those trying to make their Income with it VS someone its a Hobby for.
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Post by stardiamond on Oct 21, 2022 19:43:31 GMT -5
I buy expensive material and my goal is value of cabs sold is 3x the cost of material. My calculations are done when I decide whether to buy. Some material like Morrisonite is usually impossible to reach that goal. If I pay $50 for a slab and it will produce two cabs, I probably can only get around $60 for both of them. To get $50 for a cab the slab would sell for more than $100. There are sellers who have a large stash of premium material purchased years ago at a lower price who can sell for less.
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vance71975
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since September 2022
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Post by vance71975 on Oct 21, 2022 19:56:18 GMT -5
I buy expensive material and my goal is value of cabs sold is 3x the cost of material. My calculations are done when I decide whether to buy. Some material like Morrisonite is usually impossible to reach that goal. If I pay $50 for a slab and it will produce two cabs, I probably can only get around $60 for both of them. To get $50 for a cab the slab would sell for more than $100. There are sellers who have a large stash of premium material purchased years ago at a lower price who can sell for less. So what would you sell Raw self collected rock for? Lets say you are close to Graveyard point(ore/Idaho area) and you can find pounds and pounds of seam agate just laying everywhere. What would you charge per lb for it?
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Post by stardiamond on Oct 21, 2022 20:27:16 GMT -5
I don't sell rough or slabs. Rough would be at market. I only slab to make cabs. I have bought large rough and slabbed it but factoring the time it takes to slab, I would rather keep it. If I ever get to a point where I can't grind anymore I would sell based on market. Anything I can't use I sell cheap or give away for the cost of shipping.
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vance71975
freely admits to licking rocks
Member since September 2022
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Post by vance71975 on Oct 21, 2022 22:27:38 GMT -5
I don't sell rough or slabs. Rough would be at market. I only slab to make cabs. I have bought large rough and slabbed it but factoring the time it takes to slab, I would rather keep it. If I ever get to a point where I can't grind anymore I would sell based on market. Anything I can't use I sell cheap or give away for the cost of shipping. How does one Determine Market value tho? I mean looking at various stones on Say ebay and Etsy the sellers seem to be all over the place price wise for stones, some WAY high Some WAY low. Kinda hard to figure a market value when the market isnt consistant lol
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Post by jasoninsd on Oct 21, 2022 22:56:25 GMT -5
I don't sell rough or slabs. Rough would be at market. I only slab to make cabs. I have bought large rough and slabbed it but factoring the time it takes to slab, I would rather keep it. If I ever get to a point where I can't grind anymore I would sell based on market. Anything I can't use I sell cheap or give away for the cost of shipping. How does one Determine Market value tho? I mean looking at various stones on Say ebay and Etsy the sellers seem to be all over the place price wise for stones, some WAY high Some WAY low. Kinda hard to figure a market value when the market isnt consistant lol Yeah...but high-grade rough is going to sell for a higher dollar amount than low-grade material. Sometimes you do get what you pay for...whether it's referring to rough, or finished product...
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Post by stardiamond on Oct 21, 2022 23:13:12 GMT -5
I don't sell rough or slabs. Rough would be at market. I only slab to make cabs. I have bought large rough and slabbed it but factoring the time it takes to slab, I would rather keep it. If I ever get to a point where I can't grind anymore I would sell based on market. Anything I can't use I sell cheap or give away for the cost of shipping. How does one Determine Market value tho? I mean looking at various stones on Say ebay and Etsy the sellers seem to be all over the place price wise for stones, some WAY high Some WAY low. Kinda hard to figure a market value when the market isnt consistant lol I've been doing this a long time. First of all when I shop for rough or slabs on ebay. I look at sold items. Asking price doesn't mean spit. Etsy only shows asking price unless multiples of the same thing have sold and that doesn't apply to most cabs because they are unique. Etsy does a poor job filtering results. When I do comps, I sort by highest price which eliminates a lot of the non relevant results using the relevancy tab. Highest price option doesn't really do that since the results are polluted by listings where the seller has paid an extra fee. From experience, I know what a cab should sell for and I can slot my price against other sellers by finding cabs with the closest attributes.
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khara
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Post by khara on Oct 23, 2022 0:46:51 GMT -5
fernwood Another thing to consider here is your market. WHO you are selling to. I see these and think boy these would be awesome at say a rodeo or county/state fair where you’ve got a bunch of teen cowgirls looking for fitting memorabilia for the event, or people there looking for gifts for them. Pricing should match their potential budget, but also cover your costs. And I definitely think your costs should include your time! You will probably get faster with practice so take that into account. Determine what hourly rate your time is worth and include that in your price. Good luck!
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khara
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Post by khara on Oct 23, 2022 0:51:40 GMT -5
When I did my show this summer, I took a bunch of cabs that I knew I wasn't going to spend the time wrapping, glued on bails and priced them at $30 a piece or 2 for $50...with two free chains if they bought two. I sold a bunch of the two-fers at the show... I’ve played around with this too. What type of glue did you end up using? I tried a few. (Would have to go find my notes.) And then after some time I intentionally tried to pry the bails back off to determine longevity. I was surprised that some popped off easily. So then I thought maybe some scratching of the back prior to glueing might help. I’m still not settled on best glue for glue on bails…
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Post by jasoninsd on Oct 23, 2022 1:40:03 GMT -5
When I did my show this summer, I took a bunch of cabs that I knew I wasn't going to spend the time wrapping, glued on bails and priced them at $30 a piece or 2 for $50...with two free chains if they bought two. I sold a bunch of the two-fers at the show... I’ve played around with this too. What type of glue did you end up using? I tried a few. (Would have to go find my notes.) And then after some time I intentionally tried to pry the bails back off to determine longevity. I was surprised that some popped off easily. So then I thought maybe some scratching of the back prior to glueing might help. I’m still not settled on best glue for glue on bails… I used E6000. It seems to be the one most recommended for this kind of thing.
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Post by fernwood on Oct 23, 2022 3:47:00 GMT -5
fernwood Another thing to consider here is your market. WHO you are selling to. I see these and think boy these would be awesome at say a rodeo or county/state fair where you’ve got a bunch of teen cowgirls looking for fitting memorabilia for the event, or people there looking for gifts for them. Pricing should match their potential budget, but also cover your costs. And I definitely think your costs should include your time! You will probably get faster with practice so take that into account. Determine what hourly rate your time is worth and include that in your price. Good luck! Agree on potential customer base. There are a lot of horse and dog people around here. Selling for $5.00 each includes a pretty high hourly pay after all expenses. I will be donating some of these to a local dog shelter. They often have fund raising events with gift baskets.
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