You don't really want to charge for your time, because prices could skyrocket. I could get away doing this for some items, if I charge $5/hr and no more. For example, I can do a pair of simple booties in 3-4 hours, so that would be $15 or $20...I charge that for some booties, but the very basic ones I charge less. Would you be willing to pay that much for a solid color pair of booties? Maybe, but only because they are hand made. And if I up my rate to say $7 or even $10 an hour (which is still low-balling the worth of my work by just barely hitting what baby sitters make, and is a good deal less than what I make at my day job being a receptionist/admin), then the prices are getting to $21-$28 or $30-$40 per pair of booties. Now would you be willing to pay that for a simple pair of booties? Probably not. And I reiterate this is a simple pair. The roller skates, for example, take considerably longer as I am making and attaching 8 wheels. If I charged by time, the cost would almost double. Even going back to charging $5/hr, that is $30-$40 per pair of roller skate booties. Seems a bit outlandish, doesn't it? An afghan, which takes me about a week (let's say 15 hours), would cost $75. Maybe for a full/adult sized afghan would you be willing to pay that, but probably not for a baby sized afghan...
So...realizing hourly wage is in no way fair to me or you, I've done a fair bit of research online trying to figure out how to fairly price my products. The simplest and least concrete method is to look at similar items on etsy (or other shops like artfire, etc) and see what other people are charging, then determine where in this range your product falls with you feeling like you can actually make a decent profit. I did this at first when I opened my shop as Caiti Scarlet Designs and carried jewelry. This worked for me, and I found prices that I felt were competitive without cheapening my product, and I was happy with the return. However, if you shop around, have a lot of business, the right connections, or other crafty friends, you can buy in bulk and save a lot there as well so this method isn't likely to hurt you. Not so much with yarn...
I've come across 2 reasonable ways that other yarn crafters have used. Method 1 involves measuring your yardage and charging by the yard. The amount I saw was $0.05 per yard. This is rather fair, although does not fully compensate any embroidery, stuffing, eyes, beads, or other embellishments. But as far as a base goes, I find it fairly reasonable. Also, this was a year or so ago, so the recommended rate per yard may have even jumped. The only problem, other than lack of compensation for other materials, is that you need a way to determine your yardage. This can be done by weighing your yarn (in whatever way makes sense to you...such as the skein before and after, or the finished project, etc). Just use the provided info on your yarn label and do a quick equation of total weight multiplied by yarn over grams. There are also nifty little yardage counters you can use while knitting up your item.
Now I find the need to weigh my yarn or run my yarn through a a counter a bit finicky and annoying. Also, I don't like the fact that it doesn't provide an easy way to accommodate for your other materials. Because of this I use Method 2, which is basically charging 3 times your total material costs for the product. This also provides a fair and reasonable price, and it is a bit easier to figure out than the previous method.
I usually stick to this method...it is simple to follow and gives me pretty even pricing across products. However, when selling online there are fees to consider. If you do not want your fees to cut into your profit, consider adding 10% to the price. That isn't an arbitrary number, and I'll show you how I came up with it, but for those of you looking for the quick answer, there it is.
| The Basic Process: Base Price: 3 x materials cost Etsy Listing Fee: $0.20 Etsy Selling Fee: 3.5% Base Price Paypal Fee: 5% Base and Shipping OR 110% x (3x materials cost) | An Example: a typical infant afghan (priced at $35) Materials: 3 skeins yarn @ $3.99 each (excludes tax) Materials Cost: 3 x $3.99=$11.97 Base Price: 3 x $11.97=$35.91 Etsy Listing Fee: $0.20 Etsy Selling Fee: 3.5% x $35.91=$1.26 Paypal Fee: 5% x ($35.91 + $10.95*)=$2.34 Total Price: $35.91+$0.20+$1.26+$2.34=$39.71 $39.71÷$35.91=1.106 or 110% *assuming priority mail medium flat rate box |
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