How to value / price unique items

[Former_Member]

Hi all.

Great to be in Etsy Success team. I hope you could help me out. There's been a lot of talk on pricing and when I calculated all my material and labour and Etsy fees I was horrified that I don't pay myself anything for my work let alone profit. No profit at all. So, I started raising prices a bit. I did my homework and looked at other shops and compared prices. But, in all that pricing talk I haven't traced any tips on pricing unique items. I'm not saying limited ed., but unique, one of a kind. Because that's what my items are.

So, here is my question. How would you / do you price your items if they were / are unique? And would you be prepared to pay more for an unique item? How much more?

Any thoughts, tips would be very appreciated. Thanx!

[Former_Member]

Pushing this up. Any tips, thoughts? Anyone?

[ArianeMariane]

Hi Kristina - beautiful work you do!
I think the question of pricing is the same for ooak pieces than for small editions or even industrial production. It's just that ooak pieces made by hand are much more time consuming. Normally they are of higher quality and of higher originality – that’s good because this should allow selling them higher priced. But is our consuming society ready to pay for quality and originality? I think it’s yet a target market but I hope this will change. So we have to deal with this and try to balance in between what it is really worth and what is possible to do on the market.
But these are very philosophical thinkings. I could answer your question also with a formula I often read about and that I'm using as well. Product price = conception time +charges +material = wholesale. (My time + charges +material) x 2= public price.
How should we evaluate "my time" because it isn't only time I spend on a creation but time for "thinking & designing", ordering materials, doing gestation stuff, networking, photos, listings, selling on fairs... In my case I spend 3 to 4 hours for "all the stuff around" for 1 hour of creation...
Another question is how much you estimate your work. This is for me the hardest part because an architect and graphic designer I know how much my work is worth when working for others but I'm not able to pay me this...
I once did a business training to calculate pricing. The most important information I retained was:
1. “ if you are creating by hand in France today you are doing luxury “
2. “you are not your target group. Don’t think of yourself as a potential buyer”
Well I didn’t thought of writing that much but I hope all these thoughts help you to find your very personal answers.
XO Ariane

[Former_Member]

Hiya!

I think it is reasonable to charge more for very unique and one off items.

Looking at your shop, I think it is quite confusing to have identical styles all listed as unique and one offs at various different price points. I think if you use a variety of different fabrics with different costs, it's better to find a price that represents either the average or the highest possible cost for that item and charge it across the board.

I used to charge different prices for silk and polysilk, but I finally decided that as the main cost in each piece was the labour anyway, it was less confusing to customers to charge a single price.

Maybe you could use fabrics that you can re-order to produce your usual lines such as coin purse, shoulder bag, metal frame clutch,etc so you can keep each style at the same price point, and then produce a luxury line made of one of a kind fabrics which have a unique overall shape AND the OOAK fabrics. These can then be priced significantly higher than your day to day lines and become your showcase or aspirational pieces.

[Former_Member]

Thank you both for your opinion!

I use leftover upholstery fabric that I can't re-order, that's why items are unique. Sometimes I also use cotton.
Emily, I'm not sure what you mean with: "Looking at your shop, I think it is quite confusing to have identical styles all listed as unique and one offs at various different price points."
Different prices are due to different sizes of coin purses and frame purses. That makes sense, doesn't it?

[StuckOnSilver]

Kristina, your work is gorgeous. I think your prices are very reasonable. Love your choice of fabrics!

[Former_Member]

Thanx Bev, so is yours!

[Former_Member]

Cute bags and good prices!

Since you repeat the styles, but not the fabrics, maybe set a standard price for the style, but if your cost of the fabric for a particular purse is significantly higher, raise the price and explain why in the description. Or if, in your judgment you think a fabric is more (or less desirable) and will sell more (or less) quickly, you could vary the price at your discretion, a few dollars one way or the other.

As for the issue of unique (if it is one) you can clarify that you only use a fabric once in each style of bag.

[Former_Member]

After my frugal materials and speediness in production I like to offer my work at a price I would pay for it if I were buying.

I am a fan of giving my customer's an affordable high quality well made, handmade item for a decent price. I don't do BoGo sales or coupons, I set the price and that's that.

Good Luck with your etsy shop, I'm sure you'll come to a balance with prices. Nice shop too.

[AnneLondezGlass]

I don't think you pricing scheme is confusing, it seemed quite clear to me that the items were different sizes.
As to your original question, I think it should be introduced in your pricing formula from the start. To me, it is more important to put the right value on your time rather than introduce a OOAK pricing factor. Most of us do mainly OOAK, if only because in many cases, it is difficult to reproduce an identical item.

[Former_Member]

I know I will sound silly, but what is OOAK? I know I have a lot to learn.

[Former_Member]

OOAK = one of a kind. Silly me.

[Former_Member]

Oops! Silly me!

I think I thought the metal frame coin purse and the clutch were the same size- doh! *blush*