How Much Should I sell My Handmade Item For????

I was bog hopping my "fav" blogs and ran across this post over at "Craftymumz Creations" that she saw over at another "fav" blog of mine "Bumble Bee's Craft Den" concerning selling your handmade items. We all know how hard we work making our crafting projects, but when it comes to selling them most people do not want to pay the worth of the item. :( A lot of people don't seem to want to pay a lot for handmade items or think that maybe they should be cheaper than a mass produced item. This poster hits the nail on the head really! Most crafters don't get paid anything like the minimum hourly rate and can take hours handmaking an item and I think sometimes people forget this. 

Sad but oh so true!!!

People need to stop thinking it is a garage sale 

and that just because it is handmade 

doesn't mean it is cheaper!!!!

I have made it a practice to charge the cost of the materials, the time, and the profit. 

Rule of thumb 3X the cost..... 

this does not always work when trying to sell, 

but it is what your items are worth. 

[source]

How can you get these prices???? 

Well make your displays look inviting, 

never overcrowd the table. 

[source]

Always use boxes or something to give it 

a tiered look, such as 3-4 levels. 

Always keep your box with $$$ hidden behind a box. 

Be super friendly and explain your product, 

in other words sell it. 

Also be sure to clearly mark the price, and name of item and maybe its use if there may be a question. 

Think to yourself, why would I buy this item? 

Then arrange how you might want to see it on a table.  Also be sure to use a colorful table cloth 

and put cheaper items up front. 

[source]

Think of how restaurants do it??? 

They always have a "come on" 

to get customers there. 

Then once they are there they are sure to 

buy something a little more costly.

 You can maybe have a cute basket 

of small $1 items, or hanging items up front 

and make sure the $1 or $2 or $3 items 

are clearly visible to catch their eye. 

The point is to bring them to your table!

Even if it costs you more to make them, 

once someone lingers at your table 

they will start looking 

at the other more costly items.

[source]

Keep a mirror handy for customers to see 

what it will look like on them.

Never sit down and ignore customers, 

always stand and talk to everyone. 

Always have business cards, 

flyers of where you will be next, 

and a poster with your name advertised.

And most importantly, other than your "come on" items, never price your other items too low. 

[source]

People will pay if they think it is a higher cost item. The ones that won't... 

wouldn't have bought the item at any cost. 

Don't cheat yourself or other crafter's trying to make an honest dollar. It may take longer to sell some items, but when you do you will go away with a

[source]

BIG smile [who can resist that smile]on your face, satisfied that you made someone happy with an item you worked with pride!

Happy crafting!!!

**I hope these hints help you this is PBDesigns personal opinion.  

Who Sells on EBay?

Ok I have been dabling on Ebay for a few years now and I do ok....????I posted a few of my selling items. Be sure and scroll down and check out my sheep buttons, aren't they the cutest? I have more kinds so be sure and ask .... I love the little rag dolls....so cute...I mean I sell and then sometimes I don't...it all depends on the item, no not really it depends on the mood of the buyers. It is a "hit and miss" type of selling. You can list several of the same items and some of them will sell and some won't.

The big downfall with this is the fact that you are charged whether they sell or not, so some of your profit is eaten up with these costs on the items you list that don't sell... I have not found a way to get around this, but alas I still sell because sometimes I do well...

Now since the summer is my time with "no work" since school is out I am back to listing my items again. I have a ton of inventory I need to move....

Does anyone out there know of an easier way?????????????

Ebay has no competition to say of...I mean it is the most widely used marketplace for those "garage sale" type items that most of us have. You know the items we absolutely cannot part with but know we need to sell....

Well check out some of my items .... I am "country-debbb" and I just started listing...I sell "shabby chic" and crafting items, clothes, and anything else that grabs me... I call my store "2nds" Treasures Again and I try to hit the estate sales and pick up the unusal and the best looking items, and something I think will interest you the buyer...if you want to find something, snd me an email and I may have it in my stash of items to yet be posted....always willing to help out....I also have a ton of handmade items so be sure to check out my Etsy and my store [temp under construction] because there is some cute things there too..... I have a ton of quilting books and crossstitch books and wood crafts..... :)