Need Advice on pricing my pretty shiny creations

[Andit]

I just want to thank everyone for your help. You are such amazing thoughtful lovely SCers.

I`ve decided to up the price of earrings to $15, & keep the others the same. Now, it`s off to try & figure out Etsy & Paypal.

Thanks, everyone, once again.

[Sally888]

Personally id rather charge a little less and move more product then charge too much and barely move any.

Especially with the holidays. I would charge pretty much what your prices are in your first post but dumb it dow, like 9.99, 14.99, and 19.99 etc.

If there not selling go down a bit. Honestly your stuff looks great but theres thousands of others peddling the same wares. If you price too high you wont move stuff at all.

( I use to make tons of swarovskii jewelery)

*Edit saw your post. I honestly thing 15 for the earrings is too much. I've bought a lot more elaborate ones from a lady in Toronto for cheaper.

[Woofy]

Andit... please don't short change yourself. Your art pieces are beautiful.

Unless you intend to, and are able to mass make/mass produce the jewellery, and need to move your products fast, then sure, underprice and sell more.

But you are taking the effort, your time, your heart, and putting it into every piece of jewellery you are making... and each piece is unique...

So, I would actually price your stuff at least another 5 bucks higher than you suggested.

Pricing is very much a marketing strategy. You have to think of your niche market... the kind of clientele you want to attract, and hopefully, retain. Repeat customers are the best type of customers.

Also, what do you hope the end result to be?

Again, do you want to mass produce, and sell a lot for smaller profit? Or take your time to make each piece, and sell each piece for a higher profit? Personally, I prefer the second choice... There's always lots of others out there who can cater to the mass market... So, I wouldn't even bother competing in that mass market.

Either way works... it's just what you would like in the end.

As for a tutorial on PayPal... feel free to come by my place anytime, if you wish and if you can, and I can walk you through online banking, and setting up PayPal.

I don't have Etsy, but I have sold on Ebay, and I imagine selling on Etsy is similar.

Very happy for your venture! Let me know if there's anything I can do to help!

[vibrantflame]

I don't know anything about anything you asked, but I love that necklace!!! If you don't mind me asking, where did you get the stones? I have considered making jewelery just for myself but I don't know where to look for nice stones and things like that.

[tidytaurus]

Andit I agree with Woofy, also remember we all like sales so if you're jewellery does not sell as fast as you would like put it on sale.

[Terry_Lynn]

I know I'm late chiming in on this one. I sell online as well as doing shows.

Pricing is a pain in the ...

You need the cost of your supplies, plus your time, plus a profit. Also see what is the going rate in YOUR area for similar products. Work the numbers. Its worth your time in the end. Remember to price so that if asked, you can reduce your profit margin by 30-50% & sell wholesale to a store to carry your works.

What you also need to remember is that each piece you create is a one of a kind work of art. Even if you make more than one of the same piece, each one will be slightly different.

Its a natural trait to under price your work. People are willing to pay for hand crafted jewelery. I see it every weekend at St. Lawrence Market here in Toronto during the summer.

Good Luck

[Sally888]

I obviously didn't mean shes going to mass market them. I've made jewelry for years and know from experience. I'd rather move a few pieces then have one piece sit there for 6 months because its priced too high. I was just speaking from my knowledge and common sense

[BlazingDriver]

I opened a PayPal account several years ago when I decided to sell a few items on eBay. I don't really remember the ins & outs of the process, but I do know that PayPal walks you through the process step-by-step. As I recall I chose to tie it to my bank account and they did some kind of deposit & withdrawal of some measely amount like 15 cents just to test that it was working.

Since then I've never had to concern myself about it since the money in the account is strictly from items that I've sold. I use most of the money that goes into my PayPal account to buy stuff on-line but there have been a few times when I transferred to my bank account because I wanted cash. That takes about 7 days. And by the way, you can pay for Canada post shipping with PayPal, so you're never out of pocket for your own money.

If you want to use PayPal you should start the process asap because it could take a couple of weeks.

I've heard stories about PayPal being awful, and I have to admit that I'm not thrilled about their fees, but I've never had any trouble accessing my money.

I also want to say, you aren't just doing this just for fun, right?. You're looking to get a bit of income and you're entitled to pay yourself a proper wage. When you are figuring out the price you should calculate at least $10.00 hr. for your time. You deserve minimum wage don't you? No offense Goddess but $2 to $3 an hour?? Really?

Years ago I used to make money for Christmas by selling Chocolate/Rum Fruit Cakes at Christmas. I calculated all my costs, added a dollar amount for my time and then doubled it. So if the cake cost me $5 to make (supplies + time) I charged $10. Wish I still had time to do it, I made a lot of money.

Good luck!

[GoddessDigi]

I was thinking it was more for fun than profit, that's why I said so little.
But if for profit, yes, what BlazingDriver said!

[DiamondLil]

Its better to charge a little more; that way you have room to haggle down to a price that is acceptable to you and your client. If you posted a price that would barely cover the cost of the materials and your time, you would have very little room to negotiate.