This article is not going to provide a formula on how to calculate the price of your goods. Instead lets talk about how you should see your worth + the value of your goods.
I’ve been such an advocate lately for handmade artists raising their prices.
The response I receive most often is, “Then no one will buy my product.”
I am here to tell you that is a lie.
I’m serious–someone has fed you a big, fat lie. Sure there will be lost customers, but you will gain a demographic that values handmade goods + the artists that create them.
Your product will sell, your customer will value + respect the product, and in turn, you will be able to make a living + produce new designs.
You must value what you are making. The value of what you are making is so much more than the material that goes into the product or even the time it takes to make it.
It includes material of course, but should also include talent, product design + development, time spent away from family, time spent designing and developing new product, and finally time spent making, marketing, pricing, packaging, photographing, listing + shipping your product.
Why do we feel guilty for charging what we + our art are worth? Stop it. Stop feeling guilty. Start instead, thinking seriously about running a business.
And remember that running a business costs more than the price of materials.
Stop looking on Etsy for an acceptable price to charge for your product.
When you set your prices too low, you are undercutting everyone that creates handmade goods. I don’t know how as a community we’ve decided that in order to make a sale we must be the cheapest seller.
It has gotten out of hand. I am continually shocked when I visit online shops + see artists giving their product away.
If you are trying to make a living from your art + I assume you are + you should be, then your price does not need to reflect the prices of other artists. Not everyone is trying to make a living.
However, because you are selling a handmade item, you must carefully decide how much your time + talent is worth. You should be factoring those two things into the bottom line, including material.
Besides the materials you need to consider investing in the right machine. For example here’s a good one to check out the Cricut Maker review.
In case you want to see the top vinyl cutting machines, I recommend reading the best vinyl cutter machine page.
If you take ‘you’ out of the equation, sure then an acceptable price would be a simple formula to figure out the product value would be material multiplied by an arbitrary number.
Additionally, you should be considering a wholesale price.
Could you cut the current price of your product in half + reasonably make 20 of said product to fulfill a wholesale order?
If you don’t value your work + your time, you will crash + burn. You can not continue to make high quality work for peanuts.
You will not be able to grow your business + you will not be able to come up with new designs + you will begin to resent the very thing that you love doing so much.
However, if you value your work + your time, you will be able to grow. You will be able to expand your business + your line.
You will feel validated when you make sales + be happy to work on the craft that you love.
Don’t forget, your product is handmade. You took your two hands + the required tools + out of love for the craft + your developed talent you then made something beautiful + useful.
Create something that you love, value what you do + others will value it as well.