How to Price Your Handmades

 

There are some debates about pricing handmades among our fellow crocheters in the Philippines. Some are mad that others are selling at a very low price. Some say they don't know the value of their hard work. Some are mad that others are selling at a very high price. They say that they are pricing their handmades too much.

What exactly is the formula for pricing handmades? That's a difficult question to answer but let me break down all the things we need to consider when pricing your precious crocheted/knitted items.

Let me ask you questions:

What are your expertise? In which project are you good at?
Is it enough to show people how good you are? Or are you confident enough to make one?
If yes, how much money are you willing to invest in this business of doing handmades?
         Materials you need to buy-Are the Yarns affordable or the premium Yarns-the high quality ones?
         Labor cost: How much work can you give that values your hardwork?

Who are your target buyers/customers?  Is it for people who can easily afford your handmades or for those who can afford luxury? 
      If yes to luxurious handmades, would you take an extra effort to make a better packaging? Afford high quality materials? Hire marketing people to market your handmades?

     If yes to an affordable handmades, would you give a discount on a regular basis? Would you consider lowering down your price for a bulk order? Would you think of an alternative to make the packaging less expensive?

While some people are fighting over handmade prices, the resources of the materials we have are different. In reality, we buy our materials from different sources.

Here in the Philippines, people who are from the North like Baguio City, they have different way of pricing handmades. They hire people mostly parents who are comissioned to do parts of the crocheted handmades. You will be surprised that they are sold at a very low price because they are mass produced by many people who get commissions by doing some part of the job. They sell these handmades to different tourist spots here in the Philippines. I am from Bataan. I was lucky enough to see a whole bunch of handmades being sent to Bataan specifically to Mt. Samat. This is a yarn vendor too. The handmades they sell are probably the cheapest since the materials come from them too. At that time, I was a yarn reseller buying from them. They sell these yarns plus the taxes + rent cost they had to add to earn a profit. Obviously when I make handmades out of these yarns, the price would be much more than the handmades they sell. I was also a yarn reseller, so how much do you think my buyers would sell their handmades? I was often asked those questions.

There are also some groups who are commissioned to do a luxurious handmades. You can see how they market their items online. They spend more on high quality materials. Probably the labor cost is much more than the ones who get commissioned with mass produced items.

You see it's a never-ending talk about which pricing is better-yours or him/hers.

Here's what you can do to get you started pricing your handmade items.

1. Check the same design online and see how much are these sold in the market.
2. Make a list of the cost of materials you bought. You will need to compute how much materials you used in the project.
3. Choose your target buyer. Are these people from the middle class or the masses?
4. When you price the handmade items it's always the MATERIALS + LABOR cost. (That's the only formula). 

What you can do for your fellow crocheters whom you think are pricing their items wrong.

1. Ask them about the cost of materials they bought.
2. Advice them to buy materials from the same seller where you bought yours.
3. Teach them how you market your handmade items so that they can sell the way you do. (Kindness makes a difference.)
4. You can't control how they price.  Instead focus on your MARKETING SKILLS. Improve your product by learning some strategies on how to attract buyers.  When I was reselling some yarns, I add freebies in every order.

What you can do when somebody is
grabbing photos illegally from your Facebook page.

You May report copyright on Facebook .
Link here: https://m.facebook.com/help/contact/1758255661104383

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