How much do you want to pay?

[Former_Member]

I noticed a bunch of people talking about XRF and saying they can't afford it. Let's say hypothetically you have 100 items to test.

What would you want to pay?

[Former_Member]

see if it were just $5 for the test for the whole item (even if different materials have to be focused on to pinpoint the source of a problem if there is one.) isn't so bad all by itself.
but add in shipping back and forth for those 100 items, and even that $5 per item starts to become serious $.
Money that a lot of us just don't have the sales (or the higher ticket items) to justify the cost.

Seriously, I have items that are $5! can I justify raising the price of that item to $10 just to cover that item being XRFed? will that $5 item SELL if I price it at $10? what if my $20 item has to go up to $50?

I have some long dry spells of few or no sales... and then a month with a lot of sales or a good show...
can I justify continuing if I'm taking a LOSS to keep the business going?

[Former_Member]

and the XRF gun costs over $1000 to rent for a week!
so asking $5/test to help cover that, IS reasonable for the person doing the testing.

I think the law itself is insane, since none of my materials are going to have lead to begin with.
Testing will be pointless.

[Dannielle]

I would have to raise prices by whatever it costs me to test each item.

Currently my dolls are $9.50 ea.

I can't raise my price $5 per doll. I really think that beyond $12...maybe $12.50...they'd be priced too high to sell.

I'm doing the research now, and over the next few days, to determine if XRF testing is something I can work with, costwise.

My hope is that there will be some allowances made for OOAK and perhaps I'll be able to rely on XRF testing after Aug 14.

But if I can't make the numbers work, there isn't much point in fighting from Feb to Aug.

And then there's the phthalate issue...ugh. It's like lawmakers forgot that not all toys are made of plastic.

I already figured out how I'll handle the labeling issue.

[Dannielle]

I'm also checking into whether the XRF test is $5 per finished item or $5 per component (with the person who has quoted $5). She also has an hourly rate so I've asked for a rough guesstimate of how many items might be processed in an hour's time.

[Former_Member]

Here's my position:

• I can't afford to absorb even a $5 charge per item for XRF testing. If I added that amount to each of my items, the price of some of these items would likely be off-putting to buyers. For example, I sell reusable hankies for $6 per pair. Add in another $5 (likely more due to shipping the items back and forth for testing) and you're looking at almost doubling the price of the item.

• I don't believe I should have to pay a fee to test any of my items. I know in my heart they are safe and I'm simply not interested in jumping through the ridiculous hoops set forth by the CPSIA. I know that's not good enough for the government, so I'm not going to sell them anymore if the law stays written as it is today.

[Former_Member]

Don't think about quotes you've seen when answering this question. Just think about how much you think is reasonable to pay for 100 items.

[Dannielle]

hmmm....well that's a loaded question.

For me, $100 for 100 items would be doable in a way that wouldn't have much impact on my ability sell at the same rate.

Beyond that I think I'd lose customers.

But that's kinda like asking how much is reasonable to pay for steak. As a person with a $50 grocery budget and you'll get a different answer than you'll get from the person who can spend $150 at the store.

[Former_Member]

100 items or 100 components? If I order huge batches of components and test a sample of each, $5 per component (the lowest quote I've seen so far) might be do-able for me (assuming they allow component testing at some point). If you're asking about finished items... I think you're going to get answers all over the place depending on how much we feel we can sell our items for.

[Dannielle]

Same here. I could totally do $5 per component.

It would cost me quite a bit on the front end as I'd have to order materials in much larger quantities than I usually do.

Oh, no, wait. It depends on if I'd have to restest every time I broke into a new skein of embroidery floss. I go through floss like candy.

[Former_Member]

I could pay 5 per component. My items have only 4 components to them, so I could adapt to make it work. I would just to larger runs and offer fewer different patterns. If I had 10 pattern options available per season to US based customers that would cost me $400 per quarter to test. I would just do larger runs. Instead of only 10 slings per pattern I would do 50 slings per pattern and only change them out every 4-6 months instead of doing only 10 of each and changing them out every couple of months.

Also, if Component testing were allowed for good at $5 per component I could definitely afford that. I could pre-test my fabrics and offer any combination of tested fabric for my US based clients.

[HipViolet]

My bibs have 6+ components per item (front fabric, back fabric, applique fabric(s), button, tag, snap) so even if it was $1 per component I'd have to put my prices up so much that it would put me right out of the market.

I would love it if they made it FREE! :) If they are going to insist on it, then at least help us out. I am sure there are other government programs where they "bailout" per se, the people in need. Why not us?

[Former_Member]

cute bear at the new price
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=19469304

[FayeMaloneDesigns]

This is why the original manufacturer of the components should do the testing. I don't care if something is not "intended for a child" if it is unsafe, it is unsafe, and those who are importing them in to the United States for sale to us, the consumer, for use, should be insuring that they could be used by and for anyone. Besides, the cost of the testing would be miniscule over a container load of snaps/buttons/beads, etc. while for each end use manufactuer to have to test and retest is idiotic. Do you realize if 2 of us stood side by side and bought the same fabric and thread at Joann's and we both sat side by side and made up a dress to sell using identical items, we both would have to have those same components tested? Now how dumb is that??

I say we write their wives. When they realize how stupid their husbands are they will give them an earful.

[weirdbuglady]

I wouldn't be able to do this at all... I make one or two plushies per week at the most, using all sorts of random materials that I have in my collection. I would only be able to list every month or two, once I make a dozen or so things to test at once.

If I were allowed to go ahead and test all my materials, honestly I wouldn't want to spend more than $100 for 100 items, and even that would be steep. That could be my profit, or half my profit, for a whole month right there.

[Former_Member]

FayeMaloneDesigns says:

I say we write their wives. When they realize how stupid their husbands are they will give them an earful.

*************
There are women in Congress, you know. 70 of them. In fact the Speaker of the House is a woman...

[Former_Member]

I just talked to a CPSC rep and she said that the XRF is would not be compliant with CPSIA. She said it is too unreliable. She said that in August when the lead standard is raised, and then it most certainly wouldn't be reliable or an accepted form of testing. Loonnnng Sigh.................

[Former_Member]

That is correct, in August XRF is not valid. And it's not valid for painted items right now. However, until August, for total lead content it IS a CPSC accepted means for testing.

As for it's unreliablity, that is an OPINION. And the CPSC has been charged with exploring XRF as a potential option to allow it past August. XRF testing is one of the leading tests performed to see if there is lead in your paint at home.

[Former_Member]

weirdbuglady
weirdbuglady says:
I wouldn't be able to do this at all... I make one or two plushies per week at the most, using all sorts of random materials that I have in my collection. I would only be able to list every month or two, once I make a dozen or so things to test at once.

If I were allowed to go ahead and test all my materials, honestly I wouldn't want to spend more than $100 for 100 items, and even that would be steep. That could be my profit, or half my profit, for a whole month right there.

_________________

Ditto. I have several hundreds of different fabrics that I choose from randomly to make each of my items. Many of my fabrics are smaller than a 1/2 yard pieces. Some much smaller. I don't think I could afford to test them all no matter how low the cost.

[Former_Member]

I hope they allow it for all of our sakes. The rep (in her opinion) said that she expected a favorable ruling for Fabric products by August. I didn't inquire about others, though I should of while I had her on the phone. I just posted this in another topic, so forgive the redundancy, but she also said that flammability testing was the only requirement for fabric by Feb 10th. Has anyone heard this? It went against everything I had heard thus far, but I was hearing it from the horses mouth.

[Former_Member]

polkadotpapoose - I haven't heard anything new about flammability. What are we supposed to test for that?

I'm getting overwhelmed.

*whimpers*

[Former_Member]

marking :)

[Former_Member]

karabu -

I hadn't heard anything at all about flammability testing until today either ; maybe because I was specifically asking her about fabric products. She said that testing for flammability needed to be done by Feb 10 for fabric products by chemical water process or by providing the fabric manufacturer testing on a GCC (compliancy form available on the CPSC site for all products.) I called my fabric distributor, and haven't heard back yet. I was surprised that their flammability testing would meet my requirement, so I'm hoping they have done it!

[Former_Member]

Ok, but I buy yarn a few skeins (all different) at a time.
I usually get ONE item per skein.

I've gotten the saftey eyes in bulk so I could send one of ea batch for testing and be covered there.

but on the yarn...I'd be in trouble even at $5 each test.
(and every week mailing a few skeins for testing, and paying for return shipping?) My prices would have to go up more than my market would bear.