Tuesday 2 March 2010

Chez's Jumper and selling our work


I finished this jumper a while ago, but I wanted to tell you about it cos I received real dosh for doing it!! I feel slightly mean taking the money as Chez is not brimming with cash himself but he was insistent. He is a fantastic photographer himself so understands the value of one craft!

I need to start making a bit of cash and to that end have made some bags and purses (knitted and sewn) which I intend to sell on Etsy, when I've set my page up. Therein lies the rub, what stops me is the price I should charge, whilst I agree with one friend that we must value our skills and charge realistically, on the other hand I also know I am making fairly small items people may not want to pay much for!! Do any of you other bloggers out there sell your stuff? How do you work out your prices? I try to use recycled materials as much as possible, that I collect from friends so I don't have a big cost for materials, so whatever I make is profit. If anyone reads this and has any ideas, I'd love to hear from you.


3 comments:

  1. I don't make my own stuff. But I think the best way is to look around at what other people are charging for similar items.

    If you can't compete on price and still make a profit then it's not worth doing!

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  2. How much would YOU pay for the item? I reckon that should be your guide. You don't want to be too cheap, in case people assume you are making amateur-ish products, but you also don't want to price yourself out of the market. I reckon seabreezestudios (on etsy)has her bag and purse prices about right, if that helps?

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  3. Hi,
    This is a tricky one. I sell some dresses through a local shop and they buy them at a wholesale price - so I make very little on these. I also sell at a craft market in the city which is great when the weather is nice. I see dresses mainly, and a few accessories. Because the market is crafty, and the people who come generally appreciate the quality of handmade items they are prepared to pay. However, I also want to sell on ETSY, I have an account, but haven't set the page up either. I will probably have a look at what else is selling that is sort of similar and what price they sell for and stick somewhere in the middle.

    That was a long post for what basically is 'I don't know either, but I sympathise' :)

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