Tuesday 16 March 2010

Pricing your stock getting you in a spin?

Stuck with pricing your work? Not quite sure if it's too expensive, too cheap? ETC. ETC. ETC. The endless questions new makers ask are mainly about how to get this sticky little issue right! We love the fact that lots of you are coming to our diy craft nights and using the skills to start selling work but we need to make it quite clear that what we don't like is crafters that undersell their work therefore making everyone else's seem that bit much more expensive.It's unfair to those who are trying to make a living out of craft and we hope you'll find this helpful...we're not trying to be patronizing or tell you what to do but the reason why we're posting this issue is because quite a few people have asked us for advice and I'm pretty sure if you look at the design sponge blog that you'll have the majority of your questions answered.
Happy Crafting!

2 comments:

Mya.L said...

When I see a ready-made miniature hat bought in a haberdashery shop with just a ribbon stitched around the crown sold for £69 in a shop specialising in crafty young designers, that leaves me speechless - especially when you think about the technical skills traditional millinery requires. Does this mean I need to sell my traditionally hand-made hats for at least £150 and have potential customers grumbling about the price?

East London Craft Guerrilla said...

I know! It's really frustrating and risky but the important thing to do is to price it at a realistic price IE a haberdashery hat with a ribbon for £69 is a joke and sellers/shops should be asked to justify the high price but a proper hand made hat which has taken hours of work,technique,love and skill to make should be rewarded with a higher price. Millinery is an art after all.As much as I love buying craft and hand made products it is more expensive.Unfortunately shopper and some makers need to be weened off mass produced thinking and prices.It is an expensive way of shopping but it needs to be valued and appreciated...though I couldn't solely buy hand made and ethical products all the time! This is where shops (independent and High Street) need to revaluate their supply policy IE get rid of sweat shops,underpaid workers and cheap imports.The independent retailers also need to stop jumping on the band wagon and have the guts to say what is exceptable and not rather then just making money of the trend for craft. It's such a can of worms...