Pricing Your Work Appropriately - How Not To Undervalue Your Work

Have you ever searched Etsy and found similar items at totally opposite ends of the price spectrum? It happens a lot! There are lots of shops with great items and they are practically giving them away. Other shops have items priced so high that you wonder who is buying their goods.

Pricing your work can be a challenge. There's probably a part of you that wants to get paid a certain amount an hour on top of your costs. At the same time, there's a part of you that wants to get yourself out no matter what. All you want to do is sell. When you find yourself in this dilemma, what do you do?

Remember, the price you choose says something about what you make.

There are a number of things to keep in mind when pricing your work - the cost of your supplies, the time you spent creating your items, the time you spent listing your items and of course, your competition and more.

Consider your direct and indirect costs
Your direct costs include: materials, packaging and fees (Etsy, PayPal, ...)
Indirect costs may include: rented space, machinery, website hosting and advertising

Consider the time you spend creating your itemsThe time you spend creating your items includes: the times you spend designing it, physically making it, photographing it, listing it and packaging it.

Determine your wage
This is how much you need or want to get paid for your efforts, time and talent.
Many people use formulas to figure out their prices. Common formulas include: 2x(cost + labor) and 3x(cost + labor).

Consider your competitionResearch the price range for similar items or items within a similar category. Evaluate your item against others. Determine who your competitors are. If you are a jewelry designer, not all jewelry designers are your competitors. Think about the materials you use, the techniques you use and who you are targeting. Ask yourself the following questions:

Why should a customer buy my product instead of the other products out there?
Is my product made of better materials?
Does my product have more intricate work or design elements?
How does my product differ from the others?
What makes my product unique and special?

Consider what your customers are willing to pay
This is called "Demand pricing". What will a customer pay? Demand pricing allows you to charge more for a product that is seen as valuable or unique. Before changing all your prices to the "demand price", test an increase in price on one of your products and track the progress.

Try to have a good range of prices in your shop. This will allow you to attract different customer bases, as well as test out what price points work best.

If items in your shop are not selling don't be quick to assume the price is too high. In actuality, the price might be too low. Experiment. See if raising the price helps! No matter what, DO NOT SELL YOURSELF SHORT!