I’m finding pricing my items a bit of a problem. I used to sell a lot of 42cm dolls at £21. Now my dolls are much larger (54cm), far more cuddly, have real shoes and better outfits but I can’t seem to sell them at £25. Do you think I’m charging too much? The problem is I’m using far more fabric for the larger dolls and if I made them cheaper, I wouldn’t be getting very much at all for making them. The price is only £4 more for a far superior item but people don’t seem to want to pay it.
On the other hand, my mice are selling well, but I have a different problem. A local retailer is selling them at twice the price I’m charging on Folksy and also, when I look at some of the branded mice in the shops, they are twice and often 3 times the price of mine. My mice are probably too cheap for the time and work involved in making them, but if I charge too much, it might put people off. I know there have been other discussions in the past about this problem.
How do you decide what to charge? Often in the shops, you pay for the name of a brand - the materials and workmanship are no better, but if you haven’t got the luxury of thousands of pounds worth of branding, what do you do but charge less? Do people think I should reduce the price on my dolls? I find pricing really difficult.
I totally don’t think you should charge less. £25 for that size seems very cheap to me.
I don’t think it’s a case of altering your price to suit certain people- if people want the item then they’ll pay it. I think it’s about you deciding who your customer is and aiming at them- is your customer someone who will only pay £15 say for one? In which case you need to spend a lot less time, money and effort on each one- or is your customer someone who wants quality and skill in their purchase? In which case they’ll happily pay more.
Also- if shops are able to sell your items for several times more than what you charge on folksy- then that says your customers are out there! Maybe your customers are people who prefer to shop in a real life shop? In which case you could maybe experiment with a few other designs (smaller/less material) and charge less for them online to aim at a different customer.
Hi Martine,
I think your mice are underpriced to be honest. The detail in them is incredible.
Martine, I love your dolls and mice and they are TOO cheap for the amount of work I know you put into them. If they are selling on the high street for double + then you mustn’t sell for cheaper than there. If you sell you cheaply then you are devaluing your expertize. I mean if a lawyer looses a case he dosnt start charging less for his work does he? You are a one woman highly talented band and you must believe you are worth it! many moons ago I read this interesting article, hope it comes through.
Suzzie x
Thank you for your advice everyone. I’ve just read the article above and it made interesting reading. It’s hard to take the plunge and increase prices though.
Having bought from you I know how superb your products are and no I dont think you are too expensive I think your underpricing yourself. xx
That’s such a lovely thing to say Rachel. Thank you.
I think your dolls are well worth £25, or more, and yes, I agree with the other’s your mice are worth more.
I’ve found that with certain items/ types of item they sell much better in person than online. I can imagine that once someone has gotten hold of one of your mice they see its personality and fall in love with it at which point you can charge as much as you like. I went into your shop to see how much you charged for the mice and couldn’t believe how little it was, I’d put your prices up.
I use a bit of a magic number generator to decide on my pricing - I look at the piece and then think how much would I pay for this if I saw it in a shop and then double check that the number I come up with covers all the costs and a bit more. Some items have a chunky profit margin, others a much slimmer one as a result of this. A few items I should probably charge more for because of the hours that go into them but they seem so small that part of my brain can’t cope with charging more.
It does take me a long time to make the mice because of the detail in them. Also they are very small and fiddly, especially the babies. I was looking at some branded mice in a shop the other day and they were charging a lot more. It made me wonder about my prices.
I have just had a look at your shop and can see a lot of work goes into your dolls but maybe a suggestion would be to add more photos. I randomly looked at quite few and only one had more than one picture and they were all the same front view too!! I think if I was going to buy one I would want to see photos of the back and more close ups. And I am by no means any expert on photography and struggle with it just as much as everyone else and can often see something that’s not right but don’t necessarily know how to fix it but when I was looking at your pictures something sort of jarred a bit that cute cuddly dolls were against such a stark white sterile background!! I know if you look at my pics I have pretty much done the same thing but I don’t know I sort of imagine yours looking better in one of those ‘lifestyle’ scenes that I can’t actually do myself!!! Like sitting on a picnic blanket in the garden or on a chair in a country kitchen or something!!! This is probably no help to you at all but it was just my first impression! The dolls and mice themselves are lovely and as others have said worth more not less.
Wow your shop is beautiful and I would definitely pay £25 in fact when it is my daughters birthday I’ll will be as she would love your beautiful dolls.
Your mice are gorgeous!! I’d definitely be prepared to pay quite a bit more for them. In fact I wonder if by increasing your prices you would actually increase your sales. I’d be prepared to pay over £20 for them, if that helps?!
Ali x
Thank you for all of your lovely comments everyone. I’ve made a note about taking more photographs of different views and will do that when the light is right and it stops raining 
I was just concerned, as my mice are selling so well and the dolls haven’t sold as well, since I improved the design. The dolls I make now are so much nicer than the ones I made when I first started, but I suppose you can’t tell that they are much bigger and cuddlier from the pictures. I’ve decided to keep the dolls at the same price - from your comments, it seems that I’m pitching the price right - but have a big sale of some of the stock I’ve had for a while.
I think I will increase the price of my mice, as they do take a lot of time to make and there is a lot of detail in them. Thank you so much everyone for your advice. When you’re working on your own, it’s difficult to know what to do sometimes. I was just comparing my products the other day with some of the branded ones in the shops and mine were far more detailed for more than half of the price and it made me wonder.
Thank you all so much - it really has been a help.
I just wrote that last post and then popped back into my shop to list a couple of items and found that I had sold one of my dolls! Well I never!
The fact your mice sell for more on the high street should be telling you straight away you are charging far too little for them.
Your prices are far too low for a quality handmade item.
There will be those who want buy at your prices as they’ll be thinking why so cheap?
And they’ll be those who’ll say too expensive but then they’ll not be your target market they’ll be the ones looking for a much lower quality price bracket ie mass produced poorer quality, less detail, poor quality materials therefore won’t last long.
I would suggest with your dolls if the clothes come off that you to a photo of the doll unclothed as well so potential customers can see the quality of the doll itself. Also don’t forget photo’s of the revise side and the odd close up of some detail either on the doll or the dolls clothes.
Hope that helps and your dolls and mice are very cute.
Thanks Eileen - I have just increased the prices on my mice and I’ll redo the doll photos.
But not by enough! Think you should be charging at least £15 for the mice but thats just my opinion 
Edit: as you sell your stories for £2 why not include a story with each mouse and make it £20
Thinking about showing the scale and the fact that the new dolls are bigger and more cuddly could you take a photograph of the doll being cuddled by a small child? I think this could make a lovely addition to your listing x
I have nothing new to add but agree with the others , your prices are too low. I love the detail and personality of your mice and dolls.