Request for Pricing Advice

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10-27-2010, 08:24 PM

#21

grannylou

Member

Thread Starter

Join Date: Jun 2010

Location: Yakima, Washington

Posts: 96

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.

10-28-2010, 03:27 AM

#22

ckcowl

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.

Quote:

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.

10-28-2010, 06:17 AM

#23

MaggieLou

Super Member

Join Date: Apr 2010

Location: Leesburg

Posts: 1,806

Quote:

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?

Ugly Cook you are right on. I've done craft fairs and art shows and quit doing them because there were others there selling similar things way less. My time it too valuable to give things away.