Sunday, 23 February 2014

Is handmade too expensive?

Do you see this eariings on the photo?
I have just finished them and posted to my shop on Etsy.
The price for this pair is 22.44 EUR.
What do you think - is the price rather cheap or expensive?
Well, to make the process easier for you, I can bring some numbers.
This earrings are made of 12 mm Swarovski Rivoli (1,65 EUR pair + shipping 2,70 EUR), 11\0 Delica beads (1,95 EUR for 5 g + sh 1 EUR), 15\0 TOHO beads (0,60 EUR for 5 g + sh around 1 EUR as I made a multi order) and 925 silver earwires (2,50 EUR pair). I would not count fireline, one broken needle, electricity and heat - but in fact this prices should be counted. Also I won't count the amortization of my crafting instruments.
So, I spent on the materials 7,42 EUR (I counted beads by the half price, because I have left nearly the half of the beads I ordered.)
Now, the biggest article in handmade - the time. This is an easy pair of earrings. I didn's spend time to draving the sketch, searching the internet, I just made them. I took me nearly 4,5 hours. Next, I spent something arounf 45 minutes to make photos and make the listing on Etsy. I won't count the cost of camera and etc here....
So I get 5 hours of work.
Now, the biggest question - what is the price of working hour in your country? The minimal hour fee in Estonia is 2,13 EUR (Beading is my hobby - I don't think, that my work is worth so small amount of money, but OK, let's count by this.) So we get 5 x 2,13 = 10,65 EUR
Counted by materials and time, I spent 18,07 EUR to make this earrings and my profit makes 4,37 EUR minus Etsy fee, minus PayPal fee.
Considering this statistics, what do you think - are this earring expensive? Or I should make the price higher?

5 comments:

  1. With your calculations everything is OK. I would have to add 21% VAT more .. is a tax in Spain. But the things are that not all the people can buy expensive a bit things. The price is right but is some high for normal people. Not everyone can buy earrings for 22 € (more shipping), just if you like a lot.

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  2. Earrings are beautiful!
    But buyers are not interested in knowing such a detailed calculation
    Usually for purchase simply think "I like it and I want it" :)

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  3. I think, that buyer should understand, what he or she is paying for. If we won't tell the buyer the components of price - who else could do this?
    I 100% agree, that one of a kind items and manual craft work should be valued, but first, the buyer should see the difference :))

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