Pricing

[327fed]

What would you get for one of these in your area? Need to sell something. Thanks. 

[Gulrok]

35 minutes ago, 327fed said:

What would you get for one of these in your area? Need to sell something. Thanks. 

I'm in NJ. Specifically in a very anti-firearm area. (big city)

I likely couldn't give it away if I wanted. Its a nice piece in my opinion. We just don't have the market here. Neither do we have the market for cowboy boots and a small very negatable market for holsters. 

 

Edited June 9, 2022 by Gulrok

[Garyak]

Whatever someone is willing to pay, and that’s gonna depend on your work, which looks clean to me. That’s the price you’re gonna get. Here, that would get what you want, elsewhere I dunno. Make sure everyone knows, the 20$ holsters are at the gun store. Genuine. 

[fredk]

4 hours ago, 327fed said:

What would you get for one of these in your area? Need to sell something. Thanks. 

From recent discussions I've had; maybe about £20 here. But they are real cheapskates with deep pockets and short arms here

[kgg]

4 hours ago, fredk said:

with deep pockets and short arms here

Gotta remember that one.

kgg

[PastorBob]

9 hours ago, 327fed said:

What would you get for one of these in your area? Need to sell something. Thanks. 

In SW Missouri, probably $30-50 depending on level of detail.  Looks nice.  My only concern would be the metal of the eyelets coming into contact with the stock.  Do you have something under it to protect them from contacting the stock?

[327fed]

Thanks. I did not line that one because it’s for me. Gonna donate some to a silent charity auction to get some custom orders perhaps. Don’t really need the grommets for function but used them to dress it up. Is a pound sterling like $1.40 now? 

Edited June 9, 2022 by 327fed

[Tugadude]

I'm a little worried about the grommets and the effect they might have on the stock over time.  I may be off base, but I can see a potential for discoloration of the stock and abrasion issues.  That is, unless there is leather on the backside of the grommets which I cannot see.

[327fed]

Every one will pretty much have to be a one off custom anyway. Cartridge size and number, rifle type, pistol or straight grip, lined or not, personalized or not, grommets or holes, border stamped or not. Just trying to get a place to start. I saw some priced on websites $83 and $95 and that is just crazy. 

[chuck123wapati]

here in Wyoming i think about 30 / 35 bucks.  more if its highly tooled or custom work.  Your question makes me think? My daughter is a tattoo artist and she prices design by the square inch, its the common way.   Does anyone here sell custom tooling by the square inch? Seems it may be a good way to estimate pricing for design work on leather also.

[327fed]

There is a kinda high end online leather place near me. Visited their showroom last month. Had plain valet trays for $60. I think that was their cheapest item. Not a line at the checkout however. Some of the online prices are really crazy. 

[JayEhl]

44 minutes ago, chuck123wapati said:

Does anyone here sell custom tooling by the square inch? Seems it may be a good way to estimate pricing for design work on leather also.

For tooling I was told about $3.50 - $4.50/sq inch depending......but this is in Houston area. This is on top of whatever you would price your product after assembly, etc.

[chuck123wapati]

32 minutes ago, 327fed said:

There is a kinda high end online leather place near me. Visited their showroom last month. Had plain valet trays for $60. I think that was their cheapest item. Not a line at the checkout however. Some of the online prices are really crazy. 

lol kind of like ebay you have to look at how many they have sold at that price. A high end gun shop could pull that price maybe for your item, clientele has some spendable cash there. A gun show where you are surrounded with bargain prices and bargain sized spendable cash then not so much.

[chuck123wapati]

11 minutes ago, JayEhl said:

For tooling I was told about $3.50 - $4.50/sq inch depending......but this is in Houston area. This is on top of whatever you would price your product after assembly, etc.

Wow more than i thought! I now have to rethink my pricing lol.

[fredk]

1 hour ago, JayEhl said:

For tooling I was told about $3.50 - $4.50/sq inch depending......but this is in Houston area. This is on top of whatever you would price your product after assembly, etc.

Interesting. When I was showing some simple items to one of my agents we discussed putting a person's name or initials on it. I would use the 3D letter stamps to do that so no big job. My agent came up with £5 [$6.25] just to have name or initials put on plus £1 [$1.25] for each letter, thus 'Fred' would be £5 + £4 = £9 [ $11.25]

Yes, there is a big difference between the asking price and getting price

[JayEhl]

2 hours ago, fredk said:

Yes, there is a big difference between the asking price and getting price

Yep, everything is negotiable when cash is in hand! 

[battlemunky]

6 hours ago, 327fed said:

There is a kinda high end online leather place near me. Visited their showroom last month. Had plain valet trays for $60. I think that was their cheapest item. Not a line at the checkout however. Some of the online prices are really crazy. 

That Colonel guy, by any chance? Nice leather but it's all machine made if so. Which is fine and has it's place but when one of those $1,800 bags that took an hour and a half to make starts falling apart, it's done. You'll have a really nice pile of leather on your hands. If it's his stuff, I expected it to all be saddle stitched for the price that's being asked.

I'd confidently sell that piece, assuming it's unlined and what we're seeing is what you're getting for $30-$60 here down the road from you. Anything crazier in the tooling department, lining, etc., and I'd add $20-$30 to either side of the range.

Good luck figuring it out. Pricing is sometimes harder than making.

[Doc Reaper]

First off the sellers (most of em) on the internet are not concerned about the market prices. Most of em want you to stop selling your products so they can be the only one.

most of those internet sellers won’t be in business four months from now.

I just sold a holster for a Smith & Wesson 357 mag lined holster for $200 and that was cheap, charge what you actually have into it and screw the other guy

[327fed]

Yes, that is the Colonel. Most of his stuff is Buffalo now. I kinda like the look and needs less finish maybe. Their line is a  lot less than 20 years ago. They used to sell knives, hats, a bunch of stuff. Not sure it’s all made onsite. 

[327fed]

Used to be a boot place here that did some custom leather, but closed now. One saddle and boot guy in my neighborhood, at his farm. Not much places ever here, less left. I saw some Amish made phone cases this week, of all things. 

[Lobo]

I retired nearly 7 years ago. I offered 13 different holster designs, with or without 4 common options, left-hand or right-hand, in 4 different finish colors, for about 140 different handgun models. That equates to some 80,000 possible variations. Prices ranged from mid-$50 range to $150-plus range depending on the customer's preferences. Average sale price was $78; average materials cost was $9; packaging about $1, delivery (postage) about $4. Gross profit about $64 per piece.

Always someone who wanted something else, their own design idea, a copy of someone else's design, whatever. Every week another class graduated from Holster Genius School and wanted someone to build their idea of "the perfect holster". My standard response became "$60 per hour plus materials and shop supplies". How much will that be? "I don't know, I haven't done it yet". How long will it take? "I don't know, I haven't done it yet."

Doing custom work is much different than producing products to an established and proven pattern. In my shop we completed standard production items in batches of 10 to 12 at a time, usually 35 to 50 per week, with average shop time per piece at about 47 minutes. Doing a single one-off special order piece might take 6, 8, maybe 12 hours of shop time.

General production products at $64 gross profit on 47 minutes of shop time equals $1.36 per minute ($81 per hour). Even if I had customer orders for custom products at $60 per hour plus materials and shop time I would have been losing money doing those orders (as long as I had pending orders for general production).

I charged $25 for basketweave tooling on a holster; each piece takes about 15 minutes.

My Sheridan-style floral carving artist was paid $60 per holster; I charged $90 to the customer.

Remember that these figures reflect 7 years ago. Bought my home 7 years ago for $182,000; it is now worth $340,000. Bought my truck 4 years ago for $37,000; same model now is $54,000. Gasoline was $2.20 per gallon; now it is $4.89. Good Hermann Oak veg-tanned cowhide was about $4.50 sq. ft.; now it is about $8.00.

Hell, 7 years ago I couldn't pick up $50 worth of groceries; now I do it with only one hand.

If you are doing leather work as a hobby, filling your spare time, maybe earning a little pocket money, it's all good. But if you are running a business you must balance your capacity to produce against product demand, along with overhead costs. If you are capable of producing 10 items per week and 20 potential customers want those items your price per unit will be toward the upper end of market tolerance. There is simply no reason to accept less than what the market will bear.

Since my retirement the new owners of my business have raised prices significantly, but they are still working at near their abilities to keep up with demand. More power to them!

Best regards.

[327fed]

Thanks for the ideas. Several people were concerned about the grommets scuffing the stock finish. Me too. However, the laces hold the grommets away from the wood. I used the elastic butt covers forever because I had no source for a lefty leather one. 

I am retired and this is a hobby, but it would be nice to al least get materials cost back. Mostly friends who I hate to charge but probably won’t pay me anyway. I get into this in shop work too. Can lose time, use up scrap on friends projects, but I really need to get my paid parts bill back. 

[Tugadude]

On 6/9/2022 at 3:03 PM, battlemunky said:

That Colonel guy, by any chance? Nice leather but it's all machine made if so. Which is fine and has it's place but when one of those $1,800 bags that took an hour and a half to make starts falling apart, it's done. You'll have a really nice pile of leather on your hands. If it's his stuff, I expected it to all be saddle stitched for the price that's being asked.

I'd confidently sell that piece, assuming it's unlined and what we're seeing is what you're getting for $30-$60 here down the road from you. Anything crazier in the tooling department, lining, etc., and I'd add $20-$30 to either side of the range.

Good luck figuring it out. Pricing is sometimes harder than making.

Keep in mind they do offer a reasonable guarantee.  More than many offer at least.

Also, the pricing is due to the brand.  Unless or until someone creates demand they are forced to price things according to time and materials mainly.  Add the cachet of a name brand and suddenly you are able to charge much more.  Sometimes unreasonably more.  Try buying a Rolex at list price sometime.  You're not going to get the popular ones for anything close to MSRP.

[Tugadude]

On 6/9/2022 at 8:18 AM, 327fed said:

There is a kinda high end online leather place near me. Visited their showroom last month. Had plain valet trays for $60. I think that was their cheapest item. Not a line at the checkout however. Some of the online prices are really crazy. 

I wouldn't expect to see many customers in the shop.  Their business is online and robust.  People gladly pay more for the brand, the story, the hat and the moustache.  Is the valet tray worth $60.00?  Are the leather coasters worth $95.00 for a set of 4?  Not to me, but they have a market and they price according to what those folks are willing to pay.  Hey, at least they aren't low-ballers like some.

[327fed]

I have bought retirement gifts for people from them. Added initials, nice gift box, first class product and packaging. They have built the brand and niche and benefited from it. Kinda like John Deere and Kubota. Both great products, one a stronger brand presence. My brand plus $1.25 gets me coffee.