Why do they do this??

[Former_Member]

Hey y'all, Im just really frustrated with the dirt cheap prices some shop owners sell their hand made creations for. So much time, never mind cost of materials, goes into each product I do not know how they even make any money at the end of the day? Plus it makes the rest of us pricing accordingly look like money grubbers trying to get ever cent we can instead of a minor profit.

Not sure what Im looking for but needed to vent.
♥

[Purl1VintageToo]

We feel the same way about our knitted items. They take a lot time and we use high quality wool yarns from yarn shops rather than the usual discount sellers. The advice we have read and try to take to heart is to keep producing your own quality work and buyers will find you. The shops that sell items dirt cheap are probably not producing the same quality and eventually, that will affect them. They will probably not get repeat business, whereas your customers will find high quality work and come back for more, recognizing that quality is worth the cost. Good luck!

[Former_Member]

Personally, I am wary of anything that is dirt cheap andI firmly believe that lower pricing isn't everything. I wonder the same way you do how people can make any money when if I just add up the cost of material alone should be, its sold for less. That said, i can't form a full sentence because i"m waiting to get back to look at your products some more!

[Former_Member]

I create fine art and have occasionally run into the same issue. One thing that's beneficial for everyone is to message the artist who is underselling themselves, compliment their work, and let them know that they are worth so much more than what they are selling themselves for. When a person is told that their work means something it not only makes them feel valued but it eventually brings value to the entire artist community they are connected with. Encourage and lovingly mentor your fellow artisans and it will result in good things. Best wishes for you.

[OutoftheBeaker]

Those that understand handmade quality and work will pay the price. As a seller myself, I now try to avoid buying from seriously underpriced sellers. If they aren't in this to run a business, that's fine, but I don't want to buy from someone who doesn't value their work enough to price it properly.

[Former_Member]

Not everyone who has an etsy shop is here to make money.

1. Making a sale is a high....it's addictive, some people are more about making the sale than making money,.

2. There are alot of hobby shops. This is not where the shopkeeper makes their bread and butter. They have a hobby, they want to sell what they make and it's not about the money, so they sell cheap.

3. New shops often underprice, for a couple of reasons. They may not have figured out how to price yet, or they may have low prices trying to get those first few sales with plans on raising prices when they have a few sales under their belt and positive feedback.

4. Some people have low self esteem and can't believe that people would be willing to pay what an object is worth when it's made from them.

5. People are violating the TOS and reselling dirty cheap stuff from China and acting like it's handmade by them. Regresty, loves to show examples of this. Believe me, I can order stuff from china and pay less with shipping than what the shipping alone cost me in the US.

[Former_Member]

Thanks all ~ this has helped alot... I shall take all advice to heart. blessings to all and may we all prosper in 2013. Happy creating and sharing!♥

[PiecesOfMePaperCraft]

I'm learning not to let that stuff bother me (but it still does every now and then). When I see my $6.00 item next to a similar $2.00 item on a page of search results it's very discouraging. But...then I look around and see other similar items with prices that are comparable to mine. Those are the shops I check out to see how well they're doing (and they're usually doing very well!).

Set your prices for the market you want to sell to. Those who want Walmart prices will buy from the dirt cheap sellers.

[MaxplanationPhotos]

I am so glad you posted this, I just purchased an item from another teammate, I noticed there were many knock offs that were selling similar and cheaper stuff than her. I still decided to support her shop and pay they higher costs.

In my note to seller I made sure to note that I really liked her work over others and to keep her price point and products the same :)

[Former_Member]

there are so many factors. people are hobbyists. just because your stuff is high quality you should not assumed theirs is. and so on.

i say they are not my competition at all. people who buy my items, dont buy $10 red heart super saver acrylic scarves. so its needless for me to worry about.

[Sawu]

Pricing is weird for me. I try to price my items as well as I can where I can make a considerable profit and then i see shops that sell things similar to me for half the price with hundreds of sales. But I still keep confident that my hard work will shine through! :)

[Former_Member]

I wish we can get some comments from those who sell cheap. I would love to hear their side of the story.

[Former_Member]

Basically you get what you pay for, smart buyers realize that.

[Former_Member]

Some people if they are newer dont always realize the pricing thing, others do it as fun, or may even have materials given to them, or bought them dirt cheap so they figure they can sell it cheaper maybe? I dont see them as compition as I am happy where I stand. My customers that come to me find me for a reason.

[LittleRabbitJewelry]

I am both a newer seller and a hobbyist. I do my best to price my items appropriately because I do value them as art, even though they're only pieces of jewelry. And I feel like as a shopper, when I see dirt cheap items they are unappealing and I regularly pay more for what looks like higher quality.

I don't price my items as high as some shops because I don't do this professionally, and I do still get that sellers's high :)

[Former_Member]

apart from all the reasons for underpricing mentioned above one other reason people price low might just be that supplies are way cheaper where they come from / the general income is lower so even if they make less money they can still live from it. (i´m not talking of .99c items)
i try to save money for supplies myself. i buy my pearl cotton on the internet from people who have some left over and don´t need it anymore. it´s still the same high quality cotton as if i bought it in a shop but it costs way less.

[TerraRhapsody]

There are plenty of good points raised above. Some people don't want to MAKE money, which seems odd to me- even if you're doing this as a hobby, you need to make some money so that you can carry on!

Anyway, I look at very cheap items with suspicion. I have a few items in my favourites that I love, but they're underpriced so much that I wonder what the problem is. I'm even considering asking a favourite etsy seller to create their own version of it so that I know I'm giving someone their due. I'm tight when it comes to spending money, but even I don't want to be pushing money towards resellers or people that aren't getting paid enough. I found a great bracelet for about $1, but it should be worth at least $20 when I work out labour and material costs for it. I steer well clear!

[Former_Member]

I have to say my sales have gone up since I raised my prices (of course I've been listing more and working really hard on the shop. I think they were just too cheap before and that put people off.

Just saying....hope it helps

[HoookedHandmade]

Higher price does not mean better quality just like lower price does not mean a better deal.

I've found that it's usually better to use your time to see what you can do to improve your items and your shop instead of constantly checking out the competition to see what they're doing with theirs. In checking to see what your competition is doing, you're willfully putting yourself in place behind them because you're waiting for their next move instead of forging ahead to create your own trend, your own market, your own niche.

Be brave, make your own items, set your own prices and don't worry about the others. :)

[rhodyart]

In my line of art (collage) I really don't know what to charge for my work because if I used the pricing formulas for the low price point items no one could afford them. Yet I make them because they're fun for me to make though deceptively labor intensive. And the larger pieces...well I guess I have a hard time valuing my work.

I'd like to make money but doing art is therapeutic as I have a serious chronic illness and that's my purpose in doing it. More sales would be nice so I'll be working on better titles, descriptions, and tags.

[PrairiePrimitives]

Know your target market. Really think about this, rather than just saying "people with money" or "women who like jewelry." How old are they? How do they dress? How do they decorate their home? Where do they live? And more ...

I see the same thing too, about low prices. I do a lot of wholesale selling and wonder how some of the other (handmade in America) sellers can price their work at, say $6, when it obviously takes 2 hours or more to create!

[Former_Member]

my son is in a post grad business school. his suggestion is that i am not a known brand, and should go less expensive to start and then as i acquire a clientele ......raise my prices. there is so much behind my pieces, traveling to markets throughout the south of france, selecting beautiful fabric, washing and care, and only then designing, producing, photography, marketing ........

my pieces are unique and i put my heart and soul into each finished piece.

i am trying very hard to find my clientele and once they buy my unique work will appreciate all the work and research behind these one of a kind items.

hope i am right in the long run. but sometimes hard to stay motivated :-0

[Former_Member]

Comparing is a very dangerous game. Whenever I get stuck it in, it sucks away all my creativity and energy. For me, that sometimes means getting off the computer completely. I would suggest to focus on your shop and put your energy and devotion into your items, not into comparing. It's not worth the wasted energy.

PS: Your body butters look heavenly!

[Former_Member]

Pricing drives me nuts, I am never sure (not yet anyway). I am working on some new things at the moment, and trying to decide my pricepoint - I have an idea of where it will end up, but it's an awkward range at the moment.

Some people should consider you too expensive. If everyone thinks your prices are 'so reasonable!', they're likely too low.

[Former_Member]

I think that this is a really difficult area. I think my pricing is too low, example, it takes me a whole day to knit one of my elephants, it costs 4.40 euros for the materials, it takes me another hour and a half to sew it together and I charge 20 euros for it. I don't want to do the maths, because I am sure that I must be working for around 60 centimes an hour. My aran sweaters take me a day and a half to knit the small one, I buy in wooden buttons, it costs me around 7 euros for the wool, and I charge 30 euros. Everything in my being tells me that I don't charge enough. Why don't I put my prices up? This is my only form of income, so I need the sales. I do a search for similar items before I price, I am already more expensive than a lot of other sellers and I am too scared to loose sales, I don't have enough as it is. I think there are a lot of artisans out there who feel the same. I look at my work and I have started to believe in myself, I do believe that what I send out to customers is a really good, high quality product and I should get more money. It is fear of no income that guides my pricing.