Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Pricing jewelry -oh dear!

I love creating my jewelry. Every piece has a bit of heart blood in it and quite a chunk of my soul. They are created with a lot of love and happiness, but when I get to the point of pricing, things start to become difficult. So many hidden factors apart from materials and hourly wages go into this equation. Please read this very illustrative blog post from my very talented colleague Jess from Rosie Revolver in order to get an insight into what your money for one piece of amazing jewelry actually pays: 

 
Also two of my other very talented coleagues have written good thoughts on this:
 

So, most of us have this inner fight of the business person VS the I’m-just-so-happy-you-even-like-what-I-made-person. On Etsy, it’s my impression that the latter often wins. Granted, I have to take rather high prices because expenses in general are extremely high here in Denmark, but still… So often I have seen gorgeous pieces which I’m thinking are in the same league as mine and cringe when I see the all-too-low price tag. If any customer has seen THIS piece and then mine, they will find my prices downright insane.

And yet I’m even not pricing my pieces high enough to pay the rent of the shop I want (and hence don’t have yet)!

So, what to do?

Well, so far I’m once in a while posting articles here in my blog where I in detail describe the process of creating my often rather elaborate (and hence time consuming) pieces. I’m proud of my skills as a jewelry smith and have no problem giving the "behind the scene" tour. But I'm wondering if a customer -you, dear reader? - will feel the reaction I'm hoping for: understanding the chosen price and realizing the handicraft that went into it. And of cause enjoying to see how a piece is created.


Again: What to do?

How to align?

DO I want to align?

Should I just put any price tag on it which feels right (high enough) to me and trust that someone will buy it at that price?

Help!
Thoughts and ideas are very welcome!




3 comments:

  1. Hi

    I read every word and understand exactly what you mean.

    The most important thing is to first work out the cost of your pieces and then go from there.

    I found this great program Bead Manager Pro which helped me to keep track of my stock and then price my pieces for me, then I can adjust to a price that seems right.

    I love it and it has made keeping my stash much easier to manage :)

    Good luck to you

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  2. Hi "Anonymous"
    Thank you for the link - I will most definitely take a look at this!

    ReplyDelete