Hi all, so I’ve been what my friends call a “creator” most of my life. Meaning I’m always making or crafting something. AND people always tell me i should be selling my stuff, but I am horrid and pricing my own stuff.
So here’s the question, how do you decide on a price for something? Since this is a hobby for me, i’ve always said “price of materials and a donation towards my addiction”…
At absolute minimum, pricing should = materials + livable wage per hour.
Livable wage will vary depending on cost of living in your area. For me, here in Colorado, it’s around $15 per hour.
i sort of guess tbh, if it’s like a foot tall i normally do about $20 but I’ll add on extra if i had to buy the pattern
you can either do cost of material + ( hours worked × wage per hour ) or, if you want to give a price before making something and you dont know how long it will take, cost of materials × 2. the second formula is usually lower than the first so you might want to add 10 or 15 dollars to that
When i make plushes for my brother, (keeping in mind i am terrible at remembering how long something took me to do) i usually just kind of choose a number that sounds good enough to me.
How about patterns?How much do you charge for or price A pattern?
Patterns are more difficult to price because there isn’t an easy equation. I tend to guestimate based on how complex the pattern is and then adjust depending on sales.
patterns usualy dont sell well, unless you have social media to promote them. assuming a pattern would sell id say around 2$ for small plushies, 5$ for big plushies or small clothing articles like mittens and beanies, 7-10$ for sweaters, scarves and other big clothing articles.
when pricing a pattern you need to consider the time it takes you to make the object, test the pattern and think how many people would buy the pattern. in an ideal setting, pattern price × people who bought it ( lets say in a month ) = hourly wage × time you spent on the pattern.
How much you can charge for a pattern usually depends on how complex and original the design is. You can also look at what other people are charging for similar patterns, and price accordingly.
Do not sell yourself short! (Pun intended) what you create has value and it can be tough, ive undersold myself too. Like other have said materials +labor at a livable wage. This is where you should start. Then look on Etsy to see what similar makes are going for and if it is higher, adjust accordingly. I hope this helps and good luck!!
Excellent point about looking on Etsy for similar products! If I used my regular pricing equation for micro-crochet, I’d be undercutting the market by nearly 50% (micro-crochet routinely sells for $50-$90 each, which is just insane to me lol)
Yes! Especially good point about “specialty” items.