Caroline @Caroleecrafts , the best I got from being featured in that magazine, was someone rushing up to me and asking for my autograph…ha ha.
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Oooh did you feel like a celebrity Brenda.
I sometimes wish I hadn’t turned Hochandra TV down a few years ago… it might have meant I could ask higher prices by now.
Ha ha…YES Debby …but having been in a lot of am dram shows, I am used to it ha ha
…
SO…back to pricing.
I found an artist on folksy asking over £200 for a painting that I would charge £20 for something of a similar design and size.
Was their work worth it?
YES Absolutely…it was beautiful…
Is MY work worth more?..YES Absolutely…
BUT…
Have they had any sales?..NO
Have I had any sales…YES LOADS and currently at 1910 total sales.
So there you have it.
Do you price highly and wait ( and get discouraged) maybe for months and months…
Or be pleased that the £’s keep rolling in and be encouraged to continue…( and keep me out of mischief…almost)
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Yes, we have to be realistic about pricing and there is nothing worse than waiting for sales for months on end, it’s so disheartening. In an ideal world it would be lovely if we could all charge our worth but in reality not many can. The answer is of course charge what you are happy with yourself, nobody has to please anyone but themselves. I have over the years been told i should charge properly for my time and some have been quite blunt and rude but they are not generally people that spend a week making one item, in reality if I did I would now have 680 plus bears waiting on the shelf 
and would need a much bigger house to store them in. I never really understand why it bothers other people what someone else charges.
Saying that, I think I missed my opportunity .
You were very brave to do TV shows, I was terrified at the thought of it which is the main reason I said no. I wonder if I have seen you in any of those older repeated programmes. …did you say you do autographs ? 
Hi Brenda! Congratulations on your sales figures. Your customers are getting a very good deal. Your work is getting better and better by the way.
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aaaw Bless you Chris @ChrisStoneArtist …we have all missed you on here x
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The reason it’s an issue is because it dictates what the market will tolerate. If someone is undercharging for work that is of equal quality and value to other makers, it lowers the ceiling for everyone. No-one will be able to charge their worth and then it becomes a race to the bottom to make sales.
If everyone charged their worth it would raise market tolerance and reset buyer expectations on what they need to pay for quality handmade products.
eB*y is a prime cautionary tale for undercharging dictating market tolerance. I remember a comment on their forums many many years ago from someone who said they were not interested in “packing for peanuts” ie sending out orders that only made them a few pennies in profit, but they had to because they were constantly undercut by other sellers and embroiled in an all-out pricing war with literally near-zero income to show for it.
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Pricing is very difficult and i have had many people say to me that my unique baby knitwear is too cheap. The avarage 3-9 months cardigan with matching booties takes around 28 hours to make from start to finish. The more different colours within a design takes longer because each colour change ends are either blind stiched into the back of the pieces before being sewn up or used to sew up seems. This all takes extra time to do it properly without it looking like a dogs ear an amiture has done. Some have even questioned if my work is really hand knitted because it doesn’t look like it in some of my designs. I take that as a compliment.
I have increased my prices by £2.00 per item because quality premuim acrylic and acrylic and natural fibre mixed yarns have shot up in price in the past two years. Premuim acrylic has come on in leaps and bounds in the past 5 years and it certainly doesn’t have that horrible cheap look and rough feel to it. However, it is not cheap and now hitting between £4.00 to £4.70 per 100 gram ball. The avarage mixed acylic with natural yarns is around £6.85 upward. Designer yarns such as Debbie Bliss are a lot more per 50 gram ball. The usual 3-9 month set uses around 185 grams in yarn. So, at the end of the day i am knitting for less than £2.00 per hour. I certainly don’t think that’s over the top for unique quality hand crafted baby knitwear. Mass produced items using cheap acrylic fine yarns ranges £15.00 upwards in Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s!! The actual mass production time is around 10 minutes at the most and material costs less than 0.35 pence per item and churned out in China by the thousands.
I agree with you i would rather sell regularly to very satisfied customers on a regular bases or sell nothing for months at a time at the true value my work should be charged at. Avarage baby designer premuim acrylic or acrylic with mixed natural fibre yarn cardigans prices in Harrods over three years ago was £75.00 and made in China! Baby knitwear in pure wool, alpaca and mohair etc. was over £120.00 upwards.
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Hand knitting takes much longer than crotcheting. I agree it only takes one to start selling for peanuts and the rot sets in. I only sell my work with Folksy.com due too physical disabilities stoping me from going further afield to sell in very up market craft events as shown on the BBC series ‘Make it for market’. I have stood my ground with my pricing selling on Folksy and over time i have driven up the prices for baby handknitwear because i have proven the market is willing to pay for hand knitted items providing they look top quality! There will always be people looking for cheap craft and those that cater for the lower end of the craft market. It’s professional people such as lawyer’s, accountants, surgeon’s etc who purchase my work because they don’t expect quality for peanuts. In the war periods and post war the working class made things themselves because they couldn’t afford to buy things in the shops. This mind set has been passed on through the generations that hand made is and should be cheaper. Whereas, the middle and upper classes paid much higher prices for hand crafted designer items in middle to upmarket retail shops and they still do. It’s finding your customer base for your craft products between the two which tends to set your pricing structure. Unfortunately, in my option Folksy hasn’t attracted the right clientèle to look at their website for the majority of high end crafts offered for sale.
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I fully understand your comments @PoppyKayDesigns …however, life doesn’t work that way.
If I put my art at a price that others consider “correct” I would rarely have any sales and trust me, I have been making and selling for over 65 years.
Sadly a lot of people get upset when others have low prices but that is life , and I can understand the anguish… but for me personally, I need sales to pay the bills
It is a tough call for us all but we all have to price according to our individual situation.
Unfortunately people get angry and upset, whenever this topic raises its head and I hate that…but I would never be cross with people who undercut or price higher than myself…All our situations are different.
All the time I see people here leaving because they can’t get sales and I would rather sell at lower prices rather than have a house full of unsold items.
Trust me I would LOVE to charge my worth…xx
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I do understand what you are saying @PoppyKayDesigns I suppose what I should have said was ‘it doesn’t bother me what other people charge’.
I have never compared my prices to those of others that make similar work to me. I know some charge a lot more and others probably less but I set my prices to what i think people will realistically pay for them.
If I charged for my time I most definitely would hsve 680 bears sat here, it is impossible to do, for example, a bear…
Qtr metre mohair could be anywhere between £25 to £50 plus as those ones are good sized bears, on top of that there’s Joints, eyes, threads, stuffing, packaging, embroidery thread etc etc
Then a minimum of 4 days to make it, plus perhaps a full week of nights knitting his accessories or more days if embroidering onto him…my days are on average 10 hours so a minimum price tag of £500.
Do I think my work is high end…yes I do and after 11 years I now know my standards are high and have risen year on year because of experience, I also design everything myself but would i pay £500 plus…No and neither would anyone else.
It’s not always easy to charge what our products are worth unfortunately but I can also see it from other peoples point of view so I don’t compare my prices to those of others. Some people can use a sewing machine with excellent results and have a bear made within hours, for me it takes a lot longer, I do use a machine on some pieces but the majority or those pieces with curves (lol) are still hand sewn because I am seriously rubbish at machining which often results in a lot of swearing and unpicking. A lot of bear makers have never designed a bear and use other peoples patterns and instructions, artists spend a lot of time behind the scenes doing work nobody sees or wants to pay for. I look at some bears online and they are amazing, stunning quality and there are also a lot that are run up quickly and their paw pads are not curved because doing them on a machin doesn’t always give the neatest results. I see a lot of shoddily made items with big price tags and excellent items with small ones.
It really is difficult, pricing is the worst and hardest part about running a small business I think.
I do remember doing craft fairs years ago and the ladies from the WI had a stall full of knitted items, little toys etc for £3 .. baby clothes £4, that was quite annoging because there were other people selling similar items who sold nothing because everyone went to the WI stall, I did mention their items were very cheap as I do know the ladies and they said they did it for fun to use up their yarn.
If you are ordering supplies in to make items that cost is usually recovered from the sale but if you are in it to use up a life time of fabric stock you are more inclined to keep prices low plus how do you cost the item if you bought the fabric 20 years ago so there are a lot of different factors that determine someones price tag.
I agree @DemelzaDesigns there are different buyers for different price structures.
Gail your knitted items are very high end, the finish and yarns you use all speak quality and your work is beautifully knitted. I agree there will alwàys be a market for quality high end items, it is just finding those customers.
There are so many online shops now selling handmade I don’t think it’s easy for anyone regardless of their prices, I do think there is a market out there for everyone it’s just finding those customers or the right ones whether high end or not.
Hi Brenda, I wasn’t referring to you or anyone in particular, sorry if it seemed that I was.
I was just explaining that market tolerance and buyer behaviour is driven by pricing, therefore underpricing hurts everyone, and that’s why it bothers people.
A rising tide lifts all boats, so if everyone lifted their prices then there wouldn’t be the situation where someone had to decide whether to sell for less than their worth to make a sale - they would get the sale at a higher price because no-one else would be underpricing.
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well said Debby @Bearlescent
I gave up on the knitting and crochet because of the cost of materials and my now arthritic hands.
I am lucky that a painting only costs a piece of paper and I hopefully rely on talent.
@PoppyKayDesigns …I wasn’t offended at all,…don’t panic…lol
I just wish I could find customers who would pay me for my talents…lol…xx
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In an ideal world we would all be charging our worth wouldnt that be amazing.
You definitely have the talent Brenda @teabreaks I wish I could draw and paint even half as well as you do, it’s strange because I can draw with thread but give me a pencil and it all goes horribly wrong lol.
I know what you mean about your hands though, I struggle more and more as time goes on.
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24 years ago I went to Germany and bought a limited edition Steiff for quite a large sum, and your bears look to be of equal quality… 
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Aw thank you @PoppyKayDesigns that’s very kind of you. I have customers who own both and praise mine very highly, my answer is always the same… I don’t have the Steiff label. …those labels make all the difference don’t they
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There are so many pricing models and there is no one size fits all. The labour cost per hour model can come unstuck as you gain skills and experience and you find you produce better quality work than you did when you started out but in half the time. Your experience should demand a higher charge, not a lesser one.
The pricing by square inch model for artwork is fraught with difficulty too. There are different skill sets in producing a large painting over a smaller one, though the larger one will use more materials and resources.
The ideas and concept behind the work also need to be factored in, together with the maker’s training, experience and previous market performance.
There is also a difference between cost and value. What value do you put on the pleasure a teddy bear or a painting can bring to someone’s life?
But after all this, the market will determine what your work is worth. Different market places will also dictate different values. Online sales and retail galleries will have differing expectations of value.
So we are no further forward, other than charging what feels right for you. If you are making sales that way, then you’re probably getting something right.
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Hi Chris,
Spot on. I have a doll made by Debbie who sits opposite me on my wicker basket and two paintings from teabreaks which i had professionally framed in my lounge on the walls. The joy i get each day looking at my special Folksy purchases is priceless.
I have enjoyed reading everyone’s opinions on this subject i started. Let’s all just keep plodding on knowing we have the support of each other. Its being lovely and i feel we have all sat in the same room with a cupa talking to each other.
Regards to all, keep well.
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Yes that does pretty much sum it up… I don’t think there will ever be a right answer other than what is right for oneself.
I often try to think of something that will bring a little extra in and will spend days scribbling ideas for something simple then go and spend 3 days doing triple hand sewn seams and cover them in hand embroidery…I just don’t seem to be able to make anything quick and if they don’t have enough detail I’m not happy with them so then I have to reduce the price …there is no hope is there.
Yes that’s very true Gail, I often feel like that chatting on the forums and it really is good to get other peopls views on things as well.
There is no right or wrong answer on most things just a difference of view point.