Many of us who sell on etsy are not buying our materials at 'regular' stores. Most of us purchase either wholesale or at our fabric districts. While I may get a half yard of inspiration fabric at a local store, the rest for a double size quilt costs around $20. Batting for this quilt costs me $10. If I stitch in a ditch or do minimum quilting, I can get a good profit selling for $100 - $125. Obviously, if I long arm quilt, the price goes up a bunch.
Originally Posted by
PlanoDebbie
I've often thought it might be fun to sell quilts on either Etsy or Ebay, but when I see prices for full sized quilts selling for maybe $25.00 over the cost of materials it amazes me.
Why would someone spend say $75.00 for fabric, and spend upwards of 40 hours to create a quilt and sell it for $100.00? That gives them about 60 cents per hour for their time. I don't understand some of these selling prices. While I've seen some of these quilts look extremely poor quality, I've seen just as many beautiful quilts selling for next to nothing.
I know a lot of non-quilters who have no clue how much time and resources go into a quilt and would drop their jaw if I gave them a quote of even $200 for a lap quilt. Their point of reference would be the $19.99 manufactured bed cover they can buy at Target or Wal-Mart.
I've made several T-shirt quilts on commission locally, but not on-line yet. Now that I feel reasonably confident in my long-arm skills, I will probably increase my prices. An average t-shirt quilt takes me about 15-20 hours to measure, prep, cut and assemble all of the shirts and sashing pieces. About 4-5 hours to do an all-over meander stitch on my long-arm. About 6 hours to attach the binding my machine, and hand-stitch it to the back of the quilt. With a total hours of 25-30, I multiply that by $10.00 (minimum) and add in the cost of materials. For cost of materials, I always use full retail prices, even if I had a coupon and got it at a discount. My quilts usually finish out around 65-72" by 75-82". I've been charging $320, and want to increase this to about $350-$360. I also make a coordinating pillow case for each quilt that can be used to either store the quilt in, or put on a pillow to be used. I kind of think my prices are pretty cheap for what goes into them, until I start scrolling through Etsy or Ebay.
Knowing the time and cost of making a t-shirt quilt, I'm always shocked when I see someone on Etsy offering to make one for under $150.00. There's no way to compete with those prices, and I would rather give mine away then sell them for such ridiculous prices.
I'd be curious in any thoughts regarding pricing on Etsy and Ebay with regard to selling quilts.
Thanks,