Pricing Your Leather Work / Gunleather

[SooperJake]

For those of you that sell your work, and would be willing to share, I'd be curious to learn how you arrived at your pricing structure.

After a week's worth a research, I'm more puzzled than when I started. I see some websites charging price N for work that is equal to the quality of other sites charging N x 2. I was in retail for a long time and I understand margin and profit and the like but that was for commercially manufactured goods which are a lot easier to figure out than hand made goods.

Is an LCP holster price equal to a full sized 1911? Seems like about equal work, all in all. Less leather in the LCP of course.

I guess I'm seeking some sort of consensus in the area of leather work generally and holster making specifically.

[Russ]

I guess I'm seeking some sort of consensus in the area of leather work generally and holster making specifically.

Good luck with that!

For CCW holsters like yours, I take the cost of the leather used and double it. I then try to make a certain hourly wage on my labor. You can pick your own wage. Once I did that, I looked on the internet and found my prices were pretty comparable.

[Cyberthrasher]

Good luck with that!

For CCW holsters like yours, I take the cost of the leather used and double it. I then try to make a certain hourly wage on my labor. You can pick your own wage. Once I did that, I looked on the internet and found my prices were pretty comparable.

Though I don't do holsters (Hey, other topics interest me too ), I pretty much did the same. I did a LOT of market research and found that comparable items with equal quality were selling for a certain price range. Eventually I found that a straight hourly rate was pretty accurate at getting that market price and still pays for material. I do mostly guitar straps @ $20 per hour. With the cost of material, I usually come out at about $18.50 per hour. That hourly rate matches MY speed right now. As I get faster in my work, my hourly rate goes up as the time to completion goes down, keeping the price the same. One thing that really drives me nuts is crafters who under sell their work just to be able to sell stuff, which you'll see a lot of doing your own market research.

[particle]

I found other makers that I wanted to compete with, then priced my stuff accordingly.

[JJLeatherworks]

My mass produced holsters (I.E. common guns that I make the same pattern over and over) at my booth #64 at Wimberly market days, Wimberly Tx, I sell for 40 bucks. They are very plain, black or brown no options. If you come to me with a new gun and they make a blue gun for it I give you a deal. Same 40 bucks and I ship it to you when I make it. That is my loss leader. I make it up after that by having another blue gun. Exotics, tooling, odd dye jobs, or configurations price goes up. Now when I finish my web site, my basic holsters will be 60 online and 40 at the show.

[malabar]

There are a variety of strategies for seting prices. I took into account

Like several of the other folks, I spent a lot of time doing market research, comparing, for example, what a VM2-style IWB costs from two dozen manufacturers. Same thing for a variety of other products. zThat helped me to build a baseline.

Then I considered my market -- what can I see for locally? And as time has gone by I've adjusted. Most of my holsters are $75-$90. Our three-layer gunbelts are $80-$90. Size doesn't matter much, unless you're talking about belts over 48" and exceptionally large holsters. It costs me about as much to make a holster for a PPK as it does for a 1911. The big costs is your time, not the raw materials.

For truly custom work, I charge a design fee of up to $35.

tk

[PcCowboy]

Though I don't do holsters (Hey, other topics interest me too ), I pretty much did the same. I did a LOT of market research and found that comparable items with equal quality were selling for a certain price range. Eventually I found that a straight hourly rate was pretty accurate at getting that market price and still pays for material. I do mostly guitar straps @ $20 per hour. With the cost of material, I usually come out at about $18.50 per hour. That hourly rate matches MY speed right now. As I get faster in my work, my hourly rate goes up as the time to completion goes down, keeping the price the same. One thing that really drives me nuts is crafters who under sell their work just to be able to sell stuff, which you'll see a lot of doing your own market research.

When I started saddle making back in 92 Wilford told me I needed to get $25 an hour for repair and hand work. That what i have been charging for the last 21 years.

[SooperJake]

When I started saddle making back in 92 Wilford told me I needed to get $25 an hour for repair and hand work. That what i have been charging for the last 21 years.

I think you deserve a raise!

[Shadowsbane]

Pricing is hard for me personally. The desire to get my name out is conflicted with the concept of not devaluing the impression of my work. Tough balance, and I have yet to get a good answer. Often, if I price at about 10% under what the other locals are paying I mostly get responses about it being too much. But, if I price it a bit lower, I may get the sale, but makes it almost a charity act when you factor in time spent. I will continue to follow this thread closely as the wife and I are starting up again soon.

[The Grizzly]

Pricing is hard for me personally. The desire to get my name out is conflicted with the concept of not devaluing the impression of my work. Tough balance, and I have yet to get a good answer. Often, if I price at about 10% under what the other locals are paying I mostly get responses about it being too much. But, if I price it a bit lower, I may get the sale, but makes it almost a charity act when you factor in time spent. I will continue to follow this thread closely as the wife and I are starting up again soon.

I am in a similar boat. I don't do holsters, yet, but I do make knife sheaths among other leather goods. For a basic pouch sheath, I factor in a set price into my knife pricing. If the customer wants a different sheath, I change the price accordingly based on what kind of increase in skill it's going to take to complete the job. I don't have any kind of set rate/hour. I do this as a hobby that makes me a little extra cash on the side while getting my name out.

For the odd leather item here and there I do a search to see what similar items are selling for and price from there. For example, I recently completed a set of 3 vest extenders for a guy. I had not seen any of these done in full leather (usually they are leather tabs with chains). He wanted 3 initials in the center and a little decorative stamping, no dye, oiled finish. Easy enough so I figured $5 each would be sufficient. Often times I get responses like I should have charged more. But, once again, I do this as a hobby...and I love it. And, that $15.00 for those 3 little pieces of horse hide just paid for another bundle of straps and a couple new dye colors.

[PcCowboy]

Try being a saddle maker. Everyone around me charges around 3500-4800 for a saddle. I don't believe in trying to get as much out of a customer as I can by nickling and diming him to death. So my base price for a saddle ready to ride has been $2850. Then one day a guy came in and said that he noticed that I had the lowest price custom made saddle around this area. What was wrong with them? So I went up to $3000.