Sold This On Etsy

[Chief31794]

As you can see your not doubling your material cost... your loosing money.

I have no problem with you giving your stuff away, just be aware when you and others sell your stuff at a loss it makes those who are selling their stuff at a fair and reasonable price have to explain why their stuff is priced the way it is. If they even get the opportunity to explain, as most folks just move on. I despise the idea that craftsmen should have to explain why they ask a fair and reasonable price for a quality item or lower their pricing or compromise quality to "compete".

Just saying

I'm confused, you say I'm not doubling my material cost, my material cost is $25.29. By my arithmatic 25.29 doubled is 50.58, I'm rounding down and charging $50. How am I not doubling my Material cost. Shipping is paid separate. Please enlighten me.

Ken

[J Allen]

Mathematically yes you double your material cost. But you loose money in time.

Again you can sell your stuff for whatever you want. Its a feee market and a free country.

It is a shame you dont value your talent more. Thats all Im saying.

[4everlether]

I opened an ETSY site with just a few (9 I think) of the kinds of things I make and I've been getting quite a bit of traffic and sold two items already, hopefully those customers will give positive feedback and that will make other buyers more comfortable with my shop and buying from me.

I had never carved a crown of thorns with three nails, but the lady who bought this Bible Cover asked for it so I got two separate line drawings together, combined them and created this graphic on the front cover. I kind of like it, I normally carve a cross on the back of these with the praying hands on the front. I think these crown of thorns carvings may sell as well.

Let me know what you think.

Ken

nice work

[DoubleC]

As always beautiful work Ken. Cheryl

[Chief31794]

nice work

Thanks,

Ken

As always beautiful work Ken. Cheryl

Thanks Cheryl,

I appreciate the nice comments.

Ken

[Mike516]

Very nice work.

My first thought before I even saw any other posts was the same as J Allen. I don't sell wallets and stuff like you have, but I can see his point. One of the things I do sell is bookmarks, and I had asked some people on another chat board what they thought of my Etsy store and not a week later someone from that board posted their "new" Etsy store and they were selling exact copies of the bookmarks I make. I know a lot of people don't have any imagination and are too lazy to come up with their own ideas, but the thing that aggravated me was they are selling them at a loss and there's no way I can compete with someone like that. I don't know what the quality of their leather is and they just stamp everything, but they do A LOT of painting on them so it has to take a good amount of time and 4 bucks is just ridiculous.

Like JA said, you can do what you want, but I do agree with him you're selling yourself short and lowering the bar so low, no one making what you do will be able to compete.

Someone even told me once they've heard there are people who will buy handmade stuff that's cheap like yours, and resell it.

[BIGGUNDOCTOR]

Mike 516, and J Allen, I agree, and disagree with the pricing issues. This was brought up on my blacksmithing site too. One should be paid correctly for their time,and skills, this is universally agreed upon. Now, what one person deems correct will be different then someone else's idea of correct. Cost of living, overhead, location, clientel, etc will all affect this.

Now to say that someone selling for a lower price will affect you is fuzzy logic in some ways. Are your products exactly the same, do you have the exact same customers, are you selling in the same store,location?(even on Etsy it could be hard to see all of ones options)Look at it this way, not everyoe can afford the same items. Cars are a good example-they are all cars, but some are far less money than others. Does Kia bring down Lamborghini's value? No, because they have different customer bases. The owner of a Holland and Holland shotgun will have a different perception of value than the owner of a Mossberg 500. If you are selling a comparable item for more money you need to sell the customer on why it is more IE; better quailty, better customer service, warranty,you'll get laid more, whatever you feel makes it worth more than someone else's. Don't expect someone to look at your item and say "It's handmade, so it must be worth what he is asking." I see a lot of crappy items being passed off as Handmade by Skilled Craftsman. If you want to be considered skilled, show some skill, and sell it to the customer. Marketing isn't easy, it requires a lot of work to pry money out of someone's wallet, especially in a poorly performing economy.

If Chief can make these, and sell them consistently for more then it costs to make them then he is money ahead. Yes, he MAY be able to sell them for more, but will he be better off? In the end he may make more money by selling at a lower price that the customer perceives is a better value. A lower price may allow him to keep a steady cashflow going, as opposed to a more lengthy period between checks. As I said before a lot affects pricing. One of the biggest is perceived value by the customer. What I may value at one price will be different from someone else. We perceive value every day, be it figuring out what we want to eat for lunch, filling up the car's tank, shopping for clothes, every day we are applying our perceived value on our purchases. To say that all leatherworkers need to make $30,$35,$40 an hour is ridiculous. It is the craftsman that finds his niche ,and can profit from it , that will succeed in the end. That is why it is called capitalism, not socialism.

Edited July 14, 2012 by BIGGUNDOCTOR

[dirtclod]

Nice work Chief !

After looking around on that site i seen far more cheap over priced leather work than their was nice work under priced.

That was looking at leather purses, bags, rifle slings, billfolds, guitar straps, business card cases and belts. I will have to say it blows my mind sometimes to see the junk that people buy and think they have bought the best ones ever made just because it cost more. That or it's the best because it came from this or that place and it's better that yours because they have a bigger store.

Edited July 14, 2012 by dirtclod

[Mike516]

@ Biggun...not sure why you named me because your points have mostly nothing to do with what I said.

But I have to say, no offense, but I think you picked two items out of thin air, cars and shotguns, to compare this issue to. Cars are priced based on assembly line efficiency, which they spend tons of money on, quality of materials and a whole bunch of other stuff. You can't compare craftsman who make handmade original items to a car manufacturer. I don't see the connection. Lamborghini competing with Kia isn't the same as two guys who make hand carved leather wallets, one charging the cost of materials and one charging by the hour. To a lesser extent, the shotgun analogy is flawed but for the same reason. Sorry dude, don't want to start an argument but I don't think your comparison is valid.

That said, I specifically said I don't make the same things Chief does, but I can understand the argument that he's too cheap. My beef is with people who copy other people's design's then run them out of business by charging like $1 an hour for their work. Maybe it's not exactly on topic here but some of the comments made me think of that.

[DoubleC]

I guess I didn't really address anything but Chiefs work because I was hoping not to have to say what I feel about his pricing. He's trying to cover his costs and kill time. Well I make guitar straps and I'm not trying to do either. Are they exactly like his? Of course not. Does an average buyer understand the difference? Of course not. I love Chiefs work and he can do as he pleases, but I honestly think it would just be 'nicer' to sell his stuff somewhere since he doesn't care about the money, or maybe need it. 20-30-40 bucks an hour? I have to break down my product costs to the penny for the business plan I'm doing for the grant, and last we figured I'm making around 3 bucks an hour for a strap. I'm ok with that because I love doing it, but I at least want a playing field where I CAN make my 3 freakin bucks.

I got in this not because I'm gonna go out of business no matter what happens on this thread, but because I know how hard I work and Big you really don't seem to get it. People don't know jack about leather, but they know the difference between a Lamborghini and a Kia.

AND i SOLD THREE PIECES OF JEWELRY ON ETSY TODAY AND IT'S BEEN A WONDERFUL DAY FOR ME. I hope it is for all you too. Cheryl