Some wadding for rcw's life support. (deliberately long)

Well, I give away more than I sell. Can you post a picture of one of your $5000 bowls? :>)

Sounds like you are living in the wrong state. We don't have any pompous big shots in Georgia. There are a few pompous asses, but they would never speak to me anyway.

Quit giving/selling that thrift your turnings. If you are selling your turnings to him you really have no say as to what he can charge, actually if you give them to him you have no say.

I think I would bring this up to the persons involved and discuss your feelings and or make it be known from the very beginning what you intend for them to do with the donations. Again, once you give something aswy or sell it, you loose control.

I would have told him you do no design to order work and told him to pick from what was available NOW. If you are not in business you can treat it as an occasional Garage Sale item to avoid having to collect or pay sales tax on the transaction.

It happens all the time to me but then again I do this as a business. If I don't want to sell to some one I quote a price high enough that I would be very happy to get. Oddly I often get that job.

It is not the value of the item/labor but the perceived value of it that matters. I have a toy that I would be happy selling for $12, I cannot sell them at that price but putting a $26 price on them makes them sell very well indeed. Maybe you don't value your skill/time as much as the customer does.

Maybe you don't value your skill/time as much as the customer does.

Perhaps not but I suspect the customer that bites at the higher price has been quoted much higher prices for the same reason.

I don't do work good enough to actually sell, but I share your pain. But I did have a teeth clencher of a discussion with a knot head today about online access to health insurance records. Wanted to scream "WHY DON'T YOU JUST TRY WHAT I DESCRIBE!!" When they finally did - after some near whispered instruction from me (the quieter I get the worse it is) they finally tried and then said OH, that doesn't work ...

I called the person a knot head just to give the post some semblance of topicality.

I have given items to some places to use to raffle off. My disappointment there has been that sometimes they wait until too late to start it and they get very little of anything for it. A coworker came back with my manger scene that he won -- they set it two days before they drew and only sold 20 $1 tickets. I had that much in materials almost. I think I would be annoyed that someone was selling stuff I give them for fund raising too cheap. The idea is for them to get money and if they are cutting their income when they can get more, I don't see a point in wasting my time with them. They need to maximize resources, not waste them. I'd probably quit taking things there.

The only real gripe I've had is every year I scroll saw Christmas ornaments that are given out at our Christmas Eve service -- I tell the minister repeated not to mention me but he insists on making a big deal about it. Everyone knows I made them and that the church isn't even paying for materials. I just prefer it not be mentioned at all but he keeps doing it. He means well but it makes me feel like giving him a good swift kick. I think you do something just because it is good thing to do and do it for that reason only, not for the recognition.

As for something being used for a different purpose, I give to the agency and expect it used for whatever they choose to use it for as what meets their needs best. The only problem I got there was giving some thing I made as a decoration to the senior center and then finding the director took it home for her own use. That ticked me off.

Like you, I don't do anything as a business (yet). I did have someone try pushing me to do something for her where she was willing to pay me $10 if I would modify the one she saw I gave as a gift to someone else. Since I had more than that into it I wasn't inclined to do it anyway, certainly since her modification added to costs. Mostly it was the attitude that she thought she was offering a good price and that I was somehow obligated to make her one just because she wanted one.

Best payment I've ever gotten for anything I made is the smile I see.

And that is where you get stuck, Your good at what you do, you quote a high but fair price, the customer see's fair value, and there you go. I have overpriced jobs to the point I feel guilty and still gotten them.

              Fortiter

Like you I give most of my turnings away anymore. After keeping track of expenses and income from selling at Craft Fairs for three years in the 1990's I found that I was averaging about 25 cents per hour for my efforts. At that point, I started to give most of my work away. I sell a few pieces. Last year I sold a Chinese Ball made from alternative ivory for $500.00. I donated a second one to the local Senior Center for their fund raising auction. I valued the ball at $500.00. They ask if I could furnish some of my books to help increase the value of the display. Well the books sell for over $100.00 normally, but they sold the ball and the books for only $70.00 at the auction. But as someone said, the minute you sell or give a piece away, you have no control over what they sell it for or do with it. At lease the Senior Center got a little bit of money for the stuff, but they told me they thought it would have brought more had it been made of wood.

Fred Holder

You might think of using some variation on "I don't sell anything, because then it seems too much like work." This works pretty well to avoid commissions, too. I suspect most people have no idea what anything handmade costs, since they're used to seeing stuff at Pier One that's on the wrong end of the exchange rate. When they offer ten bucks for something that costs more than that for the materials and tool maintenance, they probably don't mean any offense.

Mike Beede

              Fortiter 6 months pass and I had a bad leak in the roof and decided to get quotes on a roofing job. They all were very high and then I decided to approach the neighbour as he was a roofer. The price he quoted was about 50% higher than the others. When i asked him why his retort was "why do you expect me to work for nothing" I reminded him of the canoe and walked away. We haven't spoke since. I worked most of my life as a self employed carpenter and it was very evident that there are some of us who seem to be vulnerable to this kind of abuse and there are the others who get more than they ask or want for doing the same work. I haven't figured out why that is, but when I do I won't be selling or giving the formula to anyone:-)

That's sickening. I'm not good enough (yet) to sell/donate turnings, but if/when I am I think my giveaways will be restricted to friends :-).

I donate some turnings to the Saskatoon Youth Orchestra for their silent auction held during the annual Gala. They impose a reserve bid of between 40% and 50% of the value of the item. I've never had a piece go for value or higher, but I've never felt insulted by the winning bid.

-------------------------

my approach

tell the church/thrift shop or whatever - " I see the value you place on my offerings. Hereafter I will take them elsewhere where they are valued" and then do so.

Live by the "fool me once..." philosophy - walk away. And, offer some stuff for sale to establish value - from what you say, you are not only being treated like dirt, but you are seriously undervalueing your work. triple your prices, insist to thrift shops that any sale below your price point will mean a complete, immediate end to all donations of any kind.

oh, and thrift shops are a really horrible place for any craft - a gift store near the light house would be much more effective at getting the items to those who might actually care about them - thrift stores are for getting rid of junk cheaply - they pay nothing and that's what they think the stuff is worth - bring a bunch to a gift store and place them on consignment - a typical consignment agreement is 50/50 or 60/40

Arch - as you know I have been living from the proceeds of my own personal hands on efforts for many years. I set all my own prices for all my own work.

For the most part, no one seems to think that anyone that works with their hands (unless they reach "artistic" status) should be paid much for their efforts.

"Their" work is difficult, time consuming and requires a lot of effort. "Their" effort is valuable, their time is valuable and they want you to know hat because they are self important or ignorant.

Here is my work around. I TELL people what I will take for my work, in my business and in my hobbies.

In my hobby stuff, I am more likely to give it away than I am to sell it short.

I have been involved in a couple of church fund raisers that needed money for their organization, and have been involved in other different fund raisers with our turning club.

In one instance, the idiots at the church fund raiser took the club stuff and sold it for less than the sandpaper cost to finish it. A lot of guys in the club had hurt feelings. Not me... I reacted as normal, I got pissed off. I was pissed at the club organizer and the church guys as well.

I took the church guys to task. How could you guys let this opportunity slide through your fingers? You BEG for money, but sell items for less than .10 on the dollar without batting an eye? How you could you be so careless and stupid? I opined that if we were good enough to donate our time, material and effort, they could at least get an auctioneer that knew that the wood we worked with wasn't spelled "would".

As far as our end went, I asked the club president how he helped them establish pricing. An easy question, I said. How did you help them establish a baseline? Did you take the various bowls, oil lamps, rolling pins, etc. to them and tell them what kinds of wood they were, how long they took to make and about how much the going market rate was for the items?

It was "no" all the way around. It was nitwits helping pinheads.

The next year they didn't want any club help with their fundraiser because 1) we didn't raise enough money for them the previous year and

2) they thought the wood craft items should be cheap enough to sell outright (like an birdhouse made out of rotted fence boards) without an auction, and 3) they didn't want to take any time to learn about "turned wood" projects. They were simply too busy with other things.

Sooo.....

When I donate something, I either kiss it good bye and hope for the best, or I tell them what the base price should be (say .50 on the dollar) and get a promise from the charity to start there if it is an auction. Otherwise, no soap.

Hang tough there, Arch. Just because they are trying to sell you short, don't let 'em.

Robert

Thanks to everyone for responding and keeping rcw breathing. Some good info.

Robert, I wondered if you had set up a tent in the wilderness, bent over a sapling to spin a pole lathe and had become a rustic bodger. What do you get for your chair rungs? Don't under price em. :)

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

             Fortiter

Same here, while I dont sell much $10- 15 pens and weed pots for $5, small bowls 15 to 30 depending on material, I always have some clown that thinks They can offer me half my asking price and I just tell them to buy the material for that amount and I will make the item for free for them, usally shuts them up. My Brother-in-law does beauftiful scrool work, We tried selling some CROSS es for him at $3ea. One lady asked the wife if we were giving them away and when she said no the lady walked off mifffed. Some people have no clue and others are just stupid.

I did make some klidescopes eggs for some neibhors at thier request for presents and The ask me what they owed me. I told them what my cost was and to pay me what they thought the were worth. both of them paid me what I though was a very fair price, but then one is a paint artist and the other work with stone sculpture as a hobby.

In message , robo hippy writes

Last year I helped neighbours cut up a Wild Cherry stump. It was over

2ft wide, and wrapped various pockets of soil/chalk/flint, the grain was going everywhere. Chainsaw had no chance so it was Axe Wedges etc. to split it to manageable pieces

I was able to salvage a few pieces for turning and made them a basic bowl. The wood was very wet when turned, and the smell of Morello filled the shop. Over the last 6 months they have enjoyed watching it as it dries, distort twist. They had never realised how much life their was in a dead piece of wood