So a while ago, Etsy sent out their 'etsy success' newsletter, which I like to get because it makes me feel slightly optimistic about my shop for a few minutes. Then I realize that I don't 'sell my story' and my inspiration comes from vague thoughts like 'hey, think anyone would buy a bracelet that looks like a piece of bacon?'. My studio lacks in mystery, being an empty (and ugly) dresser at the foot of my bed (which I can't actually get into anyway) on top of which I've arranged my bead collection around my laptop.
There's not a whole lot of mystery there to sell, either.
Anyway, the etsy success newsletter that this blog post is about is one from the holiday boot camp series, and it told me that I should--in addition to selling my mystery stories--I should make sure that my prices were correct, and it gave us a handy little equation to work out what we ought to be charging.
(time worked) + (cost of supplies) x 2 = Wholesale price
wholesale price x 2 = retail price
So, let's take a look at my stuff and see if I'm charging correctly:
It takes about 2-3 hours to make a bracelet, depending on what I'm watching/listening to, how complex and repeating the pattern is and exactly how wide the bracelet is--I generally make them between 8-11 beads wide, averaging out on the higher end of that, so we'll just say it takes 3 hours to create a bracelet. Remember that number.
Because now we have to do more complex math. I use Czech seed beads, which sell in hanks of 9000 for...let's say $4. That's... too small a number for my calculator to properly display, hang on... It's using exponents, but as best I can tell it's $ .00004444444... per bead or .0044 cents each. that's...not much per bead. Okay, well, if a bracelet is, let's say 10 beads wide by...80 beads long (that's about right, and makes the math easier), that's 800 beads, 800*.00004444 is... about .36. So it costs $.36 in beads per bracelet. Thread I'm going to leave at 'negligible', but the clasps cost about $.24 each. That means it costs $.60 to make each bracelet.
.60+3 hours...no wait. How much shall I pay myself per hour? well, I think minimum wage is supposed to be 7-something, so let's say I pay myself $8--not great, but at least it's something. So $8*3=24+.60=$24.60!
Then we've got to multiply that by 2, which gives us...$49.20 as the wholesale price, and times 2 again for retail: $98.40. I should, apparently, be charging four times as much as I do for these, which clearly means they are always on sale and you should get yours today! or at least some time before I realize what a horrible mistake I'm making and price everything at what it should be priced.
I know it's selling myself short, but I just can't picture anyone buying my bracelets for $100. Not even for $50. Maybe for $30, but that's not much different from the $25 I already charge.
Not that it really matters, since not selling something priced $100 is about the same as not selling something that's priced $25.
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