How to avoid the 5 common pitfalls of pricing your handmade products

July 19, 2016

Get your hands on this free A to Z guide to starting and growing a successful handmade shop. Know what to do (and in what order) to build a wildly successful handmade shop.

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Get your hands on this free A to Z guide to starting and growing a successful handmade shop. Know what to do (and in what order) to build a wildly successful handmade shop.

download now

DOWNLOAD THE MAKER’S ROADMAP

  1. Melody says:

    WOW!!! I have been thinking about opening a craft / hand made shop and selling on line and I must say after reading all that Deb has said in her blog I am impressed and I thank you very much for the enlightenment and educational reading! GREAT JOB and GREAT READING material. It has given me the confidence that (YES!!!) I can do this!

  2. Amy says:

    Great article! Very thorough.

  3. Joan says:

    This is by far the most well written explanation of pricing strategy that I have read in all my searches for information on the process. Thank you very much for a real service to new business owners/creators.

  4. KATHY says:

    VERY HELPFUL AND ENCOURAGING
    WELL WRITTEN AND EASY TO UNDERSTAND

  5. Stephanie says:

    I can’t seem to download the calculator. When it takes me to the other page, the only link for me to click says “No thanks. Take me back to the Homepage” Wondering if I missed something.

  6. Hubert says:

    Thank you for the sensible critique. Me & my neighbor were just preparing to do some research about this. We got a grab a book from our local library but I think I learned more from this post. I’m very glad to see such great info being shared freely out there.

  7. Marva says:

    This design is incredible! You certainly know how to keep a reader entertained. Between your wit and your videos, I was almost moved to start my own blog (well, almost…HaHa!) Fantastic job. I really loved what you had to say, and more than that, how you presented it. Too cool!

  8. Margareta says:

    It’s hard to find knowledgeable people today on this subject, but you sound like you understand what you’re talking about! Thanks

  9. I absolutely love your blog and find most of your post’s to be exactly I’m looking for. can you offer guest writers to write content for you personally? I wouldn’t mind composing a post or elaborating on many of the subjects you write about here. Again, awesome weblog!

  10. Mick M says:

    I was taught to use a 3x formula
    1x cost of item. Material, labor
    1x taxes, rent and all those other expenses
    1x for me…Profit
    Fee for custom work that will take time from your production line can be added
    I worked in the jewelry business for many years and found this to work for me

  11. Emily Susie says:

    Wow, this post was so so helpful. I could have used this like, 3 years ago when I started my Etsy. I love that you included the bit about “value-based pricing.” At the back of my mind, I’ve been thinking all along about that concept, I just wasn’t able to put words to it! Your explanations of every part are so thorough that I actually feel much more confident I can start pricing my products and stand by that pricing.

    Thanks so much!

  12. Sally says:

    How would u price out stain glass suncatchers

  13. […] –> How to avoid the 5 common pitfalls of pricing your handmade products <– […]

  14. Lindsay says:

    Hello I downloaded the calculator. I did all my pricing and I’m getting a very high retail price. I don’t think I want to sell a 5×7 painted piece for $112. I even adjusted my pay, my rent and utilities. What could I be doing wrong?
    Thanks so much! 🙂

    • Hi Lindsay! Thanks for reading and commenting.
      The pricing formula I use in the free calculator is the most conservative one you could use. It is the one that will always give you the most generous amount of profit.
      I used (cost of creation) x markup with cost of creation being your cost of labor + material + overhead
      so (time + supplies + overhead) x markup

      In reality, there is no “one-size-fits-all” formula and if you were to take the top 10 Etsy sellers for example, I can guarantee they would all have come up with their prices differently.

      The 2 golden rules you need to keep in mind when setting your prices are:
      – Are you covering your costs + adding in enough profit to pay yourself, save for taxes, re-invest in your business?
      – Are you using value-based pricing to price not only to cover your costs, but with a deep understanding of what your ideal customers are ready to pay for and the value they see in your products? This is where “perceived value” comes into play.

      A test I like to run also is: will this pricing allow you to reach your revenue goal? When you price lower, you need more sales to reach that goal, which means more time spent on product creation (sometimes to a degree where there’s quite literally not enough hours in a week to do it).

      Bottom line is, you can absolutely experiment with a different profit markup, or you can adjust the formula to work for your specific business (as long as you respect the 2 golden rules):
      For example:
      ( material x markup) + time + overhead
      or
      ( material + time ) x markup + overhead

  15. Trevor says:

    Thank You very much for sharing this, you really know your stuff hands down, we need more people like yourself to build other people up to their highest potential, I love to see this in the world and it is very inspiring, I learned, and you taught, You are a great example of how we should all strive to be like!

  16. Rebecca says:

    Hi, I was wondering if I put the wear and tear of my tools someplace. like printer I am going to use ink but that can be alot of printing and sooner or later the printer itself will have to be replaced. Same with my Cricut machine. I have blades, mats, pens, etc. but the machine will also need replacing. So my question is where do I put this on my pricing sheet. TIA

    • Showit User says:

      Great question Rebecca, thanks for asking! Yes, you absolutely should include it – this concept is called equipment “depreciation” (printer, cricut, computer, etc.). If you know you will need $1000 5 years from now to replace old equipment, divide $1000 by 5 and add that number to your yearly overhead.

  17. Bobby Jo says:

    Thank you for the great lesson on pricing. I will be doing a craft fair the first week of December. It is not an affluent community so the buyers don’t come with a lot of money. I can lower my pricing so I can make at least cost of material x2 but that’s it. What are your thoughts? Thanks Bobby Jo

    • Hi Bobby! If you are not making a profit… and paying yourself for the time spend making and selling the products, in my opinion this market/craft fair isn’t a good fit. You can always do it as an experiment, to see what products sell more and get to know your customers better by interacting with them but if your ideal customers (the ones who can pay what your products are worth) don’t live locally, selling online might be a better option 🙂 I would also say: are you sure they can’t afford it, or are you selling yourself short? 😉

  18. Wondering how I can price calculate for more than one item as well as for the same item when the material cost is higher? Right now I have 5-6 different materials listed out in the calculator, but some are more expensive and the calculator is only giving me one overall cost. I’d also like to “add” another product that I offer but not sure how to do that!

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