Saturday, April 16, 2005

What is the price of time?

I finished a baby blanket today and was working on a few flannel burp cloths, thinking about how much to charge for them. Saturday, May 7 is Berwyn Heights Day, kind of a beginning of summer time for our town. I will have a craft table in the town center with things I've made and now I have to decide how much all of this stuff is worth to me. The materials weren't that much - I always use my JoAnn coupon or buy things on sale. I always struggle with how much to sell things for. What is too little (it's not worth it to me to make it then) and what is too much (nobody will buy it)?

For instance, here is the blanket I finished today:

strawberry blanket

It's just a square piece of flannel, about 40 inches, with a crocheted edge around it. All told, it probably took me about 2-3 hours to make. In materials, it probably cost me about $6-8. Is $20 too much? Too little?

And how much could I ask for a crocheted baby sweater? A flannel burp cloth? A quilted tote bag? It's hard to say since I never buy any of these things myself - I can always make them so I never even look to see how much other people sell them for!

Ah, the dilemmas of trying to make a buck.

3 comments:

Anne said...

$20 seems like a good start. You can always be willing to negotiate. Maybe offer 1 for $20, but 2 for $34. Or, if you sit there and nothing's selling, you could quickly reprice things and drop your prices by a few dollars.

Anonymous said...

Hey, that little blanket looks familiar - I like the use of the red for the crochet. Regarding pricing, you need to discover as you go along, what your particular "market will bear". What might sell for $20 in one place might be seen as too high in another. Folks in Iowa always wanted a bargain, whereas folks here in Florida are willing to pay higher prices. I remember a few attemps to sell at bazaars - people always liked the merchandise but I'm afraid I wasn't too successful in selling.

Anonymous said...

Katie, I have faced this already in doing a sale with my ceramics stuff. How much is a teapot worth? Who knows. If it sells for $30 tis time, do I bump it up to $35 the next? My friend Alyssa and I are having a table at our Spring Arts Festivle. We are planning on making 25 mugs apiece. How much do we price them for? $5? 8$? $10? We have college students who will be buying the majority, and we want to sell them... its not a easy decision to price your own things. Hope it works out for you! --Uncle Bob