Oh, Harry!!! (and others)

Shew... ok I do have 10 of the round pieces, but I do not have holes in them yet. I would have sworn I had more, but out of 48 pieces only 12 of them are good enough to my standards to use. The others will get put back into the tumbler and turn into odd shaped pieces. :) Harry New Zealand Paua Shell at

Harry New Zealand Paua Shell at

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from Harry :

]Could anyone give me an idea as to what I should sell at? ]I haven't a clue.

$M + (T x $/h)= base cost base cost x "overhead %"= minimum price

Add to this any fees, commissions, etc.

If the materials cost $10, and it took an hour (for simplicity's sake) of time worth $10/h, then your base cost would be $20; overhead would be at least 10%. So the minimum price should be $22 for the person who buys it off your neck, or the store which BUYS it for inventory. Online, auction fees, PayPal/credit card fees, etc. added would mean your "minimum bid" price should be about $25, unless this is to be a loss leader. If you will be paying a commission on the sale, add that to the minimum sale price.

AN ALTERNATIVE APPROACH: My *ideal* method is to add up the cost of my materials and the hourly rate for assembly (what you'd pay someone else to do it, which is probably your $10 @ hour figure), and double it. The rationale for this is the same as in retail: If you can't make 100% profit on an item, you probably shouldn't bother selling it.

If you can sell items with the above formula, you could theoretically hire someone to assemble for you. Then if there were design time, I try to add a 15% profit over that. Sometimes this needs to be adjusted downward for the situation (when you compare your price/merchandise to the other stuff on the site, for instance. Or if the materials' cost for an item is especially high, I'll sell them at cost to make the item more affordable). ~Tante Lina

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

On Tue, 06 Jan 2004 19:08:01 -0800, vj wrote: Thank you so much. I will try and use this as a guide before giving any prices. I am not sure how to figure in my time as the tumbler does the work, but it takes me forever to change them and clean them. The cost of getting the shells is the most expensive part, aside from grits and electric and time. Hand polishing each piece is time consuming, but very rewarding. Drilling the holes is well... not to sure on that. lol Ordering the shells and getting them here is expensive due to the postal rates from NZ to here, plus the cost of the shells. The waiting is murder! Then: picking through and sorting, 1 week tumble, clean, pick through again, 1 week tumble, clean, pick through again, 1 week tumble, clean, pick through again, 1 week tumble, clean, pick through again, sort and polish. Hand polishing is the fun part. :) Alot to think about....

Harry

New Zealand Paua Shell at

Though actually there are some caveats. Especially regarding time. If you are a slow or beginning beader, for example, either figure out what time you would expect an expert to do the work, or adjust your "wage" accordingly. I also consider cost to be replacement cost (for you, of the raw material). Other wize you will end up giving a deal when you get a good price and then later you'll have to raise your prices. Also be aware of whether you are going to sell things wholesale, like to a store, or retail, as if your site was a store. Retail is usually double wholesale, or more.

EBay is a sort of hybrid animal. If you're selling to beaders, you are competing with wholesalers, or other people giving deep discounts. If you are very good at marketing (like Kandace) you can get the price bid up to full retail. Most of us who don't have the time and skill for marketting, start bidding a little above wholesale. (I thimk)

Tina

"vj" wrote:

It would be hard, but there are some basics you *can* figure out (how much does it cost for the grit that you use. If it's $5 for that one tumbler, and you toss it out, then yoiu divide it out just in those shells. If it's $5, but yoiu can use that grit for 5 loads, then yoiu would divide $1 between all the shells.

The one that would be a little harder is the electricity and the water. If this isn't a big energy grabber, then add like 5 cents...or that might be what you use the 10% overhead for the cost.

Someone should be able to answer that a little more. But also, try to remember, it would technically cost you different per load, so try to average it out. And does Ohio's electricity change rates per summer/winter?

Just some things to answer. Perhaps someone (glass/polymer clay) could answer that more than someone like me, where my cost is the same, cus it's part of my home, anyway.

Mary

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Christina Peterson" :

]I also consider cost to be replacement cost (for you, of the raw material).

and when i think of what it will cost to replace the Kandice and Tink beads i have . . . i shudder. THEY ARE WORTH IT. but i have to start making more to be able to replace them!

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

That sea glass looks great, very unusual Shirley

Thank you. I would really love to have a ton of this type of glass in different colors. Finding glass with great detail in it is hard, unless I buy it from the mall! lol

Harry

New Zealand Paua Shell at

Thank you. I really like it also and am happy I did some. :)

Harry

I am going to try and figure something out on it today, so I know I will be able to make at lease enough to replace what I use. Not wishing to make a great fortune... but a few extra bucks to shop with would be nice. lol Thank you.

Harry New Zealand Paua Shell at

(A)cost of ALL materials used+ (B)cost of labor PLUS 10% of A+B = wholesale per batch, divide by number of pieces made to find individual prices

wholesale x 2 = retail

I'd suggest you pick a price per hole for adding to your labor costs as well as the tumbling, and so on.....and I usually round up to the nearest dollar when in doubt. Sarajane

Sarajane's Polymer Clay Gallery

Thanks Harry My Ebay Auctions are at

I know...I don't love counting either....but you only have to do it once or twice, to give yourself a ballpark figure. Sarajane

Sarajane's Polymer Clay Gallery

Harry My Ebay Auctions are at

but you can *buy* the holes, so go by that pricing! LOL!

Mary

Hehehehehe... Now there's some usful advice also. I can charge for the hole and say the shell is free. lol

Harry My Ebay Auctions are at

Harry -- there is a seller on ebay who is "By the bead" (they sell each bead individually, like we have time to collect them that way). You could be "By the hole"

I'm almost ready to stop.....

Becki "In between the moon and you, the angels have a better view of the crumbling difference between wrong and right." -- Counting Crows