After 18 months of both buying and selling on Etsy and reading the forum posts where sellers ask, "are my prices reasonable?" I need to put out another perspective about pricing from my 7 years as a small business owner.
Prices on Etsy are all over the place in every category - from very low prices to very high prices. I have seen really talented people under-price their work and I cringe each time I see this.
Very low priced items are quickly passed over by shoppers who can and will pay a higher price and will assume that a low price means low quality. I went through this a few times in my own business when I first started it.
Fear of losing customers is a common reason for low prices. The truth is you will find new customers at your new price point.
Visual the customer you are selling to in your mind.
If the custom you visualize is someone who has a very small budget, you will price your work for the customer you visualize in your mind - low prices for small budgets.
If the customer you visualize is some who can afford and will pay a higher price for unique and original handmade artwork and crafts you will price your work for that customer. And that customer will find you and buy from you.
Are you happy with your prices?
I wrote this as a forum thread on Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6375334
Mary
Small Business Web Design and SEO
Affordable SEO Web Design Packages
I'm so glad you posted this. I've said it before and I'll say it again, when I see low prices, I don't necessarily think that the person is doing bad work, I think that they don't respect themselves enough to charge a reasonable wage.
ReplyDeleteOnce you really start thinking about overhead costs (and I mean REALLY thinking seriously about overhead costs), you realize that some people are charging $5/hour for labor, maybe. And I know this is probably also going to sound harsh, but I feel that people who don't take themselves seriously as artists make it harder for people who do similar work to charge higher rates.
That's the end of my rant. Glad to see the thread is still going strong!
Vanessa
Chainmaille scale jewelry
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