How much do you charge for exotics?

[Shorts]

Just curious how yall go about determining how much to charge for doing work with exotics.

I'm talking about accents on the mouth reinforcement and loops and such. Do you take a percentage of the new piece? The full cost of the piece? Do you do a percentage if the regular cost?

Thanks

[carljc72]

Just curious how yall go about determining how much to charge for doing work with exotics.

I'm talking about accents on the mouth reinforcement and loops and such. Do you take a percentage of the new piece? The full cost of the piece? Do you do a percentage if the regular cost?

Thanks

I base it on the cost of the exotic and how hard it is to work with. No real formula here.

Carl

[DCKNIVES]

I very seldom use accents prefering to do full inlay's on my holsters instead.That said I usually charge close to the price of the skin,if I am using most of it on one project.If it's a big skin say like a big gator, I will pro-rate to the amount I use.Dave

[Lobo]

I don't do exotics, but for custom work in general I use the "pirate captain" approach:

Give me your treasure! Your gold! Your jewels! Your horses! Your whiskey! Your women! Give them to me now and I will let you live!

You might have to work on the growly, low voice necessary for proper delivery. It can help to say "ARRRRGGGGHHH" a time or two!

[Kevin]

The cost of your material plus shipping plus 33% (for waste), then double that figure, is a pretty safe formula I think. For your materials. You have to charge for your time, those "little accents" take a lot of time. Add that to whatever you charge for your basic piece.

They're not scraps 'til the trashman takes them away.

Kevin

[Shorts]

Thanks for the formula Kevin.

What about pieces where you know you'll only be taking a small bit from the a hide, say like a 5sqft' piece of shark?

Is there some sense to advertising the temporary availability of shark trim in order to get the piece used? Or, do you just sit on it for the next inquiry? I'd don't want to be rash, but nor would I like to sit on perfectly good materials that could be generating income. Is that at the discretion of the maker?? Personal choice sort of thing?

[carljc72]

Monica, I believe once one or 2 people see your holsters with shark trim, your 5 sq/ft piece will vanish. Your customers will advertise it for you.

Carl

[Shorts]

Monica, I believe once one or 2 people see your holsters with shark trim, your 5 sq/ft piece will vanish. Your customers will advertise it for you.

Carl

Thanks Carl!

[kevinhopkins]

Hi Monica,

I'm not too good with formula pricing, but I think when a person is able to keep tabs on what is perceived as valuable to his or her customer base at the current time, I think that it's pretty easy to sell "value", and "added value". Sometimes it's hard for me to remember that just because I happen to have 2000 lbs of ostrich scrap, that doesn't lessen it's value. Exotics are what they are, and right now, people expect to pay for them. I know that this really doesn't offer much in the way of direction, but it's my 2 cts worth, and I just love to type!

Kevin