Selling things was sort of jumping the shark for us (both retired) and initially we sort of tamped down the gushes of ‘I got to show this at my next meeting’.
We were sort of afraid it would become work instead of the fun it is.
Then we figured that if it became an issue, we could just back off of taking orders and return to the world of ‘one of a kind merchandise’.
Trust me, word of mouth on that coaster sale is going to be bringing business to you. Probably lots of it.
Get some business cards made now while still got some idle time.
Happy Trails.
Well, I guess your formula just accidentally worked for what I just did. The final quote to my customer was just that…three times the cost of materials. Then, because it’s merely a round disk and was only 20 minutes in the making, he got a $20 discount.
I hear where you’re coming from. I am retired and don’t need the extra money. I want to do it because it’s fun and it hones my skills with designing, which I love.
I got some ‘pretend’ business cards quite some time ago…the cards are real, but so far the business has been ‘pretend’. At least the cards make it look like I really know what I’m doing.
Or make them - you can get 100 thin wood ones pretty cheaply or even aluminum (for special customers). Laser them and you’ve got a signature card for your business.
I’ve thought of that, too. I had a ball making them on Vista Print, but if and when I’m feeling more accomplished in my offerings, I will up my game. I LOVE anodized aluminum cards, particularly.
That’s a pretty fair price. I’m finishing up a 250 coaster order (on 1/4” maple for materials cost for a friend) and I’m going to be VERY happy to get my machine back. How slowly the GF engraves makes me really glad that most of what I do is cutting. Haha!
just because YOU don’t need the money, price your stuff at market rates. if you are just fooling around and undercutting somebody trying to make a living, you will create hard feelings.
I have a good friend that was a wood turning supplier. he continually had to deal with old guys that valued their time at zero, and undercut him by a large margin. the old guys didn’t even realize they were actually hurting themselves.
I used to sell turned pens. my booth the pens would be 50 bucks plus. some old guy 15.00 each
now they werent’ the same wood, etc. but people would be like why are yours so much better.
and go buy the 15.00 pen not realizing that the other guy’s pens were made out a tree from his back yard, and mine were made out of burls from Australia and south east asia.
So that whole design only took 20 minutes to engrave? I ask because I have a couple of pubs looking at engraving their logos, but dang if I can figure out what to charge. At first I was doing some stuff and just picked a number (.50 per minute for laser time), but I think maybe that is too much? Oy.
No. Each coaster took 25:16 min. to engrave…it was the designing that took only 20 minutes. Originally, I picked an arbitrary cost of $20 per hour for engrave time, but that took some lowly coasters up to a huge cost, so I cut that in half.
Here’s an interesting and simple formula, which is pretty much what I ended up doing with this order, before I even read this post. My method of calculating was different, but I came up with the same answer. Try this ‘triple’ method and I think it might make things more clear to you.
I understand that…and have read that before. I appreciate you bringing it to my attention, again. Sure don’t want to cause hard feelings. I’m trying to be fair about it, too…but have no clue how to determine market price for these. Difficult to compare something to nothing.
Kind of a ridiculous argument isn’t it? Like a Jaguar dealer complaining because people say ‘oh nice car’, then go buy a Honda.
People will pay what they can afford and what they think it is is worth.
If the pens ARE better in looks and quality, but folks are still buying the cheaper ones, then you are trying to sell them to the wrong market.
You have to shift out of the flea market and locate a higher dollar group, but I expect it will be to a niche group of aficionados and not just people window shopping on a Saturday afternoon.
Everyone will sell at a cost that it is worth to them. With no established store bills, or shipping costs, or Etsy %'s, or whatever else eating into profits, then costs are also cheaper and profits higher.
Which is why local sales gotten by ‘word of mouth’ will always be your best markets.
necessary disclaimer: Even though the above makes sense, I am probably the wrong person for this argument. I give stuff away, which is why I task the Wife with sales (and she is ruthless).
The worth of something is not always tangible. You can buy a functional wood tobacco pipe for $40 maybe less. A good friend makes a living selling his handmade tobacco pipes. $450-$1200 each. And they are moving quite well, not just sitting on the shelf. I don’t know anything about pipes but clearly it’s not about the function. Classified as art.
