Sold My First Tooled Dog Collar On Etsy!

[lightingale]

I just sold my first collar, and I'm ecstatic! I've attached a picture.

I actually didn't anticipate a sale for a long time, as I don't think most people would pay more than $50 for a dog collar. My piece sold for $60 plus shipping within days of posting it.

Could I be undervaluing my work? For the number of hours I put into it, I'm "making" less than minimum wage. However, this is something I enjoy doing and doesn't feel like work. I'm also not a master (I only started a couple months ago) and might be taking more time to create something than someone who has been at this for a long time. I also can't crank out a bazillion collars like some sellers seem able to. I'm not old by any means, but my arm can only take so many hours before it really starts to hurt!

Us crafty people are funny, eh? Instead of spending $100 on a beautiful, expertly-made dog collar, I spend over $1000 on supplies to learn to do it myself. At this stage, at least, I'm not trying to turn it into a business. My leathercraft hobby has turned into something of a money sinkhole so I'm hoping to make enough profit to pay for my supplies.

What say you? How do you price a piece to make it worth your time and effort and still able to get a sale?

[McJeep]

"Instead of spending $100 on a beautiful, expertly-made dog collar, I spend over $1000 on supplies to learn to do it myself. At this stage, at least, I'm not trying to turn it into a business. My leathercraft hobby has turned into something of a money sinkhole so I'm hoping to make enough profit to pay for my supplies."

Welcome aboard

[Spinner]

Congrats on the sale. The color stage is what will kill you on price. If you're looking to make money & a livable wage then look for ways to minimize the time spent like doing solid color or using inlays, colored lacing, etc. instead of dying/painting the color. I do quite a few full color pieces, some rather large paintings and more often than not the color ones kill me on profit but they serve as awesome advertising when they are shown off. To be honest, the reason why it sold so quickly is it was probably underpriced in the purchaser's eyes.

For pricing, I set some rates for my shop that I know are comparable to the market in regards to skill & time and look how that translates into a price. if the item looks to be seriously overpriced then I either look for ways to speed up the process or adjust the pricing accordingly. Hopefully, after awhile you get to the point where your skill level and product quality is good enough that the price stops to matter to the buyers.

[Cyberthrasher]

Way to go on the sale!!

Personally, I've been trying to loosely base my pricing on $20 p/h and then trying to push myself to do higher quality with faster times. Usually I will also go looking at other peoples similar work and see about what they're charging to see if I'm in the ball park.

yeah - What Spinner Said

Edited April 24, 2012 by Cyberthrasher

[Chavez]

Congrats on your first sale! Thats a nice looking collar.

I think I'm at least half a year away from mine=) Need to improve before I can even ask for any consideration in return for my products!

I also was after a new wallet, iphone case and a briefcase when I was starting leathercraft=) £1k later I still can't make a wallet I want, I'm nowhere near briefcases and I've only made one prototype iphone case which I have to wear cause the old one I bought in a shop 2 years ago fell apart. But every time I look in a mirror and see the case I made on the belt I made, I feel that the money was well spent =)

But I'll need to plug this money sinkhole sooner or later=)

[Cyberthrasher]

That's pretty much the same thing I did. I saw Joker making some cool motorcycle gear on a different forum and decided I wanted one, but didn't want to pay someone $350 + for it when I could make it myself for $1,000 by the time I'm ready.

It's a good thing I have a loving wife who I can blame for buying me my starter kit

[Mijo]

Congrats on your sale! IMO you under charged for your collar. I know another forum member that also makes tooled dog collars and their collars go for almost double what you charged. Is your collar hand stitched? It looks like it is but I can't actually see the stitches in the picture.

[rickybobby]

Hi,

Welcome to the leather workers nightmare! Pricing our work so it sells and feeling ripped off when it does! We are a sick bunch but do love our craft!

I would agree with Spinner and everyone else on multiple color work. Work with some antiques to get depth, and then a finish sealer, it is the only way to make it work for you timewise.

Keep practicing on your tooling. I think you stated you spent "hours tooling" , with practice, the tooling for that should take about 20 to 30 minutes. It will be a while but you will find yourself automatically grabbing for the next tool and knowing just where to place it in a quicker and more positive motion.

If you hand stitched that, STOP! you will never make enough sales to return the amount of time spent doing it. If you feel you must stitch something for a "look" you are trying to achieve, do a few items and go to a saddle shop or shoe repair shop and have them stitched. The few bucks a piece you pay will more than make up for the time you spent hand stitching.

If you do not have a sewing machine, there are edge treatments and small borders that you can apply to add interest and dimension to the sides (framing the tooling) that will take far less time and enhance the tooling as well (many are tools that you can buy use) can you see a spending trend here? There is always another tool to buy!

Congrats on your first sale! Now go do another to pay for this bad habit! :brainbleach:

Rick

[scott312]

That's pretty much the same thing I did. I saw Joker making some cool motorcycle gear on a different forum and decided I wanted one, but didn't want to pay someone $350 + for it when I could make it myself for $1,000 by the time I'm ready.

It's a good thing I have a loving wife who I can blame for buying me my starter kit

Oh I would blame her too. Bless her heart.

[lightingale]

Thanks for the feedback, folks!

Good to see I'm not the only one with a leather spending habit! Yesterday, I went to the only leather store in the province (Tandy) to physically see where all my supplies are coming from. Heck, they've made a lot of money off of me already from my online orders! To be honest, I much preferred the Zelikovitz store in the neighboring province... they carried all of Fiebing's products. Tandy mainly seems to sell Eco Flo, and a lot less selection in leather and hardware (and poorly displayed in boxes in aisles), but I digress...

The person who bought the collar actually requested it in a smaller size, so I made another one. The process was much faster. By "hours of tooling", I meant to include the time it took to sketch the design, scan it, size it, make a template for cutting the leather, carving... the whole process. The second one didn't take nearly as long, though of course I had to wait between layers of dye, mink oil, and top coats.

And no, the collar was not stitched. I got the stitching kit from Tandy last month when it was on sale, but discovered while practicing on a piece of scrap that not only did I need a lacing pony, but some sort of tool to sharpen my awl (I think it came dull, as it's a huge struggle to pierce it through a single layer of 8-9oz leather). So, I just used the groover and the spinny wheel thing because I liked the effect even without the actual stitching. I bought the cheaper lacing pony ($25) while I was at Tandy, and I do intend to hand-stitch some collars in the future, as I'd like to try some filigree work.

I can see how easy it is to just get "one more tool". Heh. $100-$200 later... and a few days later you think of another tool or dye or finish you'd like to try...

Here's the link to my new Etsy Store, to which I've added a couple new collars. I welcome constructive criticism. I'm a newbie and I know you folks have been at this a heck of a lot longer than I have!