Request for Pricing Advice
#21
Hi, just a quick update. I tried a "yard sale/bazaar" and cleared 5.00 lol.... I don't think that is for me. I will have to check some nice shops later on. I will just build up my inventory...slow progress as I am not able to do much at the time. Next year I should be more able to follow through with something. I have a quilt ready to put borders on and have a few aprons cut out. I also have a quilted tree skirt I want to do before the holidays. Oh, well, we will see.......as time permits. I miss being on but will get on when I can.
#22
Power Poster
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Northern Michigan
Posts: 12,861
I am so glad you jumped in here and offered all of your insite! i really stopped going to the craft fairs around here...found there were a couple people pretty much giving away their small quilts and tote bags, i could not compete. I actually set my prices where i feel they are reasonable but i still make money. and i VALUE MY TIME! to me my time is very valuable and at a premium! i hate anyone wasting my time...i do not have time for that. when ever anyone asks me to sew for them...regardless of what it is...hemming a pair of pants or sewing on a button i tell them it is $20 an hour with an hour minimum. i don't care if it takes me 10 minutes to do it...i had to take the time, i'm getting paid for it. I do not make many little quilts but when i get a special order for a kids quilt smaller than a twin i try to keep it between $75 and $125. and i discuss this with the (requester) when they talk to me about making a quilt. and YES, I STAY BUSY! i always have a back-log of requested quilts...i keep raising the prices and the orders keep coming in. Once in a while i do give someone a break..but most of the time i stick to higher end prices. if i am making a quilt i think i may sell i keep track of my time...and my materials and at the end i sit down and figure out what i believe is reasonable for the finished product...usually comes out to about 3 times the cost of materials. so far when doing our taxes my quilting has been a benifit to our overall tax return. i get very frustrated with people who 'whip up' 50 tote bags, go to the craft fair and sell them for $5 each...come on, even with donated fabric it would cost more than that.
Originally Posted by UglyCook
Funny story: I know someone who was selling hand knit scarves for twice what she paid for the yarn, and she used cheap yarn so we're talking about $12 apiece. I don't know why, but she raised her prices last year and sold even more at $20 than she ever did at $12. And she's still spending about 5 bucks on yarn.
#23
Originally Posted by UglyCook
Now I'm on a roll, so watch out!
Something else to keep in mind:
If you make and sell one quilt for $800 in a six month period. How many lap quilts would you have to make and sell at $40 a piece to make the same amount?
20!
So don't sweat the small sales. Make it worth your time. If that $800 quilt is 4 times bigger than one lap quilt and takes you 4 times longer to make, your profit is HUGE in comparison. Get it? The price is 20 times higher!
I listen to people endlessly discuss what $5 items they can produce and sell at craft fairs and I wonder why they bother when they are only make $1 on each item. It's OK to have less sales at higher profits. Wouldn't it be better to sit all day and sell 10 items at $25 each rather than 50 at $5?
Something else to keep in mind:
If you make and sell one quilt for $800 in a six month period. How many lap quilts would you have to make and sell at $40 a piece to make the same amount?
20!
So don't sweat the small sales. Make it worth your time. If that $800 quilt is 4 times bigger than one lap quilt and takes you 4 times longer to make, your profit is HUGE in comparison. Get it? The price is 20 times higher!
I listen to people endlessly discuss what $5 items they can produce and sell at craft fairs and I wonder why they bother when they are only make $1 on each item. It's OK to have less sales at higher profits. Wouldn't it be better to sit all day and sell 10 items at $25 each rather than 50 at $5?
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