Determining Pricing?

Welcome to the group. Since I live in the UK I cannot help you with the pricing in USA.

What I do know is over here I rarely sell any jewellery because people do not want to pay me for my time. Some of them think that the beads them selves are too much. Stringing beads does not take much time but bead weaving takes a lot of time. So I usually just make for myself or gifts.

I hope someone will be able to give you some pointers in your neck of the woods. Good luck with your beading Shirley

In message , Kwiter writes

Nia:wen Thank you Shirley. I guess I'll try wetting my feet on etsy.com and also locally at the schoolyard Flea market.

O:nen ki' wahi' Bye for now

Hi there,

If you do a search on this group, you'll find many discussions about pricing. Lots of artists use formulas too - such as "cost of supplies X 3". I'm still out on the pricing thing myself, so I can't really offer advice.

Best, Christine

Hi Kwiter,

I think every beader asks this same question at one time or another. I can tell you that when you first start out, you definitely don't want to price your stuff so outrageously high that NO ONE buys it, but you also want to get your money out of it so you can continue making beautiful things to sell.

My take on this pricing issue is to first find out the price of each individual component you used to make the piece. Yes, I know this can be a huge endeavor, especially if you used many different components, but inventorying and pricing your stock as you purchase it makes for less time pricing down the line.

What I mean by this is: lets say that you bought a 16 inch strand of rice pearls - online or retail store, it does not matter. Lets say you bought the strand online for $10.00. Lets also say that you paid $1.50 for shipping/handling. Add together the price for the strand and the shipping/handling = $11.50 Many sites online don't charge tax, but if the site where you bought the strand does charge tax, well then you add that in too. Next, you take apart the strand and count each individual pearl on the strand. Lets say there were 80 pearls on this 16 inch strand. Then you divide the total cost of the strand by the number of pearls on the strand to come up with a price for each individual pearl = $0.14

So, when you store your pearls, you should include this info on a small piece of paper and put in into the storage bin with the pearls so that when you make a bracelet using those same pearls, you know exactly how much each pearl cost.

You should do this with each jewelry component you buy... clasps, crystals, gem stones, etc.

This is how you calculate the total cost of a jewelry item that you made.

Many people at this point add in and overhead charge (which is an estimated cost for you to take the time to purchase the components, individually price them and store them, etc). Many people at this point also add in a labor cost (which is basically how much you want to pay yourself for the labor)

Once you know the total cost of the item, you then calculate the markup price you will charge for the item by retail, wholesale, and direct.

The markup prices for retail, wholesale, and direct can be anything you want:

retail = x 3 direct= x 2.5 wholesale= x 2

So, if you wanted to sell the item at retail, and the total cost to make the item was $8.45, you would calculate the retail price to be:

Retail: $8.45 x 3 = $25.35 Direct: $8.45 x 2.5 = $21.13 Wholesale: $8.45 x 2 = $16.90

Even at wholesale price, you'd get the money back for the exact cost of the components and an additional $8.45 to buy more components.

I usually don't charge labor or overhead costs, simply because that prices your jewelry out of the range that most people feel comfortable paying for hand made jewelry. Once you have established your self online or around town as a jewelry maker with exceptional pieces, you can than play with the pricing a bit more, maybe adding in the labor charge and overhead charge, or increasing the retail markup. I can tell you that from time to time, someone posts in this newsgroup the trouble they are having selling their jewelry. I've seen people post their websites to go take a look and see what they are doing wrong and I can tell you the number one thing they are doing wrong is that they have overpriced their jewelry. I remember looking at a woman's website and she was making the usual jewelry using glass beads and plated metal components but she was selling a bracelet for $50.00. Now, being in the industry and knowing how much less glass beads cost from true gem stone beads and how much less plated silver is sterling silver, I thought to myself that I would never pay $50.00 for a glass and plated bracelet when I could go to another jewelry web site where they used real gem stones and true sterling silver components and cost for a comparable bracelet would only be $35.00. That woman priced herself right out of any sales. Be careful you don't do the same thing.

I happen to use only sterling silver components and true gem stone beads and most of my bracelets are priced from $30.00 to $35.00 each, and I make a very very nice profit from my sales.

I hope this has helped....

Sterling

"Kwiter" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@d4g2000prg.googlegroups.com... : Kwe sewakwekon, Hello everyone, I'm getting back into beading thanks : to my daughters who are 6 & 7, been making lots of neckalces and such : using Seed beads and plastic Pony Beads. Decided to get back into : Beading in Earnest and ordered some Gemstone Pebbles, nuggets etc and : some bone beads for spacers, sterling silver crimp beads and spring : clasps, Multistrand beading wire and some findings. : : How can I determine a fair price to sell these at? I don't want to : over price but also don't want to give them away ;-) : Hoping to make Lunch money out of a Hobby I like at the least and one : I can share with my little girls. : : Made the Mrs a nice Orange Glass Pony Bead, Bone Bead spacer necklace : the other night with a Carnelian Star and Moon Pendant as Orange is : her favorite color. : : Nia:wen kowa Many Thanks : : --- :

Nia:wen kowa Many Thanks Sterling. Was planning to do exactly what you'd said for inventory.

think location is a factor in some cases too, when I go to the Pow Wow here in Brooklyn a beaded Barette using seed beads with a design on it goes for $60+ when I go home to the Reserve, Kahnawake, the place by the rapids,

, I can usally find someone selling for $15-$25 . This is for First Nations made stuff, if you just want the look but not the price try Crazy Crow they sell alot of imported bead work for dirt cheap.

I also just discovered a fair sized Bead shop called Mode Beads opened not too far from my house so I can get those need it now items tho noticed little gemstone beads in the store mostly glass stuff and bone beads. Seemed to be mainly mail order with a small retail area for walk ins.

I think is the website. O:nen ki' wahi' Bye for now Skennen Peace

Skennen,

If you are so inclined, there is a little computer program made especially for this purpose. Its called Jewelry Designer Manager,

and I've had my copy for about 2 years now and I love it. The Jewelry Designer ManagerT software program lets you keep track of parts and vendors, calculate costs and pricing, create bills of material, print invoices, price lists, catalogs and more. Whether you sell to wholesalers, craft-fairs, home parties or retailers this program can help you get organized so you can spend more time making jewelry. It even allows images of the components so you know exactly which component you are choosing, and allows images of the finished piece. Its truly an amazing program for us jewelry designers. Before this program, I was way overpricing my jewelry to the extent that I was NOT selling anything. Now, with the help of the program, I am confident that the prices I put on my jewelry pieces are more in keeping for a selling standpoint, simply because now I know exactly what each piece costs and the program keeps me from overpricing.

I do have a few key pieces that I have intentionally overpriced for reasons that I am sure you would understand - signature pieces and works of art that I might not be able to reproduce or want to reproduce. The program allows you to ignore the markup values of each to increase or decrease the markups when appropriate.

I have the Deluxe version because this version ties into Quickbooks and that's what I wanted, but the Standard version has a markedly lower price and does most everything the Deluxe version is capable of doing.

Hope this helps,

Sterling

"Kwiter" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@t1g2000pra.googlegroups.com... : Nia:wen kowa Many Thanks Sterling. Was planning to do exactly what : you'd said for inventory. : : think location is a factor in some cases too, when I go to the Pow : Wow here in Brooklyn a beaded Barette using seed beads with a design : on it goes for $60+ when I go home to the Reserve, : Kahnawake, the place by the rapids,

, I can usally : find someone selling for $15-$25 . This is for First Nations made : stuff, if you just want the look but not the price try Crazy Crow they : sell alot of imported bead work for dirt cheap. : : I also just discovered a fair sized Bead shop called Mode Beads opened : not too far from my house so I can get those need it now items tho : noticed little gemstone beads in the store mostly glass stuff and : bone beads. Seemed to be mainly mail order with a small retail area : for walk ins. I think is the website. : : O:nen ki' wahi' Bye for now : Skennen Peace : : --- :

Is this prg Mac or Windows? I'm a Mac Geek tho do have Windows installed too for such things as transferring designs to my Brother Embroidery machine. Bought that for the Mrs but use it ALOT more than she does!

Skennen Peace.

From what I understand, its only for Win, but if you have a win emulator on your Mac you should be able to run it.

Go to the site and check it out... they have screen shots, and additional info about what the program can do.

I love it!! I could not do what I do without it. Before I bought the program, I tried to keep an inventory on excel but that was too hard and not quite working. As a matter of fact, I am in the middle of labeling all my crystal in their storage bins, so I opened up the program, went to "reports" and printed out a 4 page listing of all the crystal I have in stock. All I have to do is go down the list, find the item in question, mark the label from the info in the list and I am done! How cool is that?! Anyway, I think its the only program of its kind for beaders like us. If there is another program that does the same I am not aware of it.

Happy surfing!!

Sterling

"Kwiter" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@i3g2000hsf.googlegroups.com... : Is this prg Mac or Windows? I'm a Mac Geek tho do have Windows : installed too for such things as transferring designs to my Brother : Embroidery machine. Bought that for the Mrs but use it ALOT more than : she does! : : Skennen Peace. : : --- :