April 14, 2009
How do you know if you're pricing your work correctly? Here are three exercises to bring focus to your bottom line.
What's it Worth to You?
Imagine if you will, a complete stranger asks you to create an item
(something you currently sell in your shop). That's not all, they want
you to photograph, list and promote this item as well. Whew! "Is that
all?", you ask. No, they have one more request: package that item,
print a shipping label and drop it off at the post office. Now imagine
they want you to do all this for the price you currently have this
item listed for in your Etsy shop. Would you do it happily? Would you
grumble? Would you deny this task altogether? Reality check: It's up
to you to determine the value of your time and efforts. Make sure you
are taking a step back from your work and your pricing and looking at
it from all angles.
Get to Know Your Customer
Close your eyes and think about the ideal person you would like shopping in your Etsy shop. How old are they? How do they dress? How
much disposable income do they have? What type of handmade items do
they love? Now that you have a clear image of this shopper, ask yourself, "How much would this person spend on a unique item?". How do the prices in your shop compare? If this is a hard exercise for you to imagine, get a clipboard and hit the streets! Find someone who pops out to you as your ideal customer and ask them a few questions. Yes, I am instructing you to talk to strangers. Feeling shy? Get your local Etsy Team together to survey as a group.
P.S. If you are brave enough to do this, please send me an email and let me know what happens!
Number Cruncher
Step 1) Decide what you would love your yearly gross sales to be.
Step 2) Figure out how many items you make per week, and how many for an entire year.
Step 3) Divide your gross sales goal by the number of items you can
create. (For example, perhaps you work on your shop part time and
you'd like to sell $12,000 worth of goods. If you make 5 items a week,
your yearly total will be 240 items. Dividing $12,000 by 240 items
would give you a $50 price point.)
This formula will give you a suggestive price. Keep in mind, some items may be more and some less, depending on time and materials. Also, you (most likely) won't sell every item you make, but with this average amount as an indicator, you'll know if you're on your way to your yearly goal!
This Week's Virtual Labs Workshops
What kind of help can you find in the Virtual Labs? This week we're holding daily shop critiques and newbie chats (see the entire schedule here). Here are a few highlights:
* Tonight at 8pm EDT, Amy from Pikaland will be by giving you tips to fuel your creativity!
* Tomorrow (Wednesday), pop by at 2pm EDT for a Tagging Workshop with Michelle and Mary.
* Friday at 3pm EDT, Sean and KC are hosting a Search Workshop, answering your questions and collecting feedback.
Want to know a more about the Virtual Labs? Check out this blog post.
Quit Your Day Job: BloomStudios
Christine of BloomStudios knew from a young age her path in life should be in the arts, but opted for a job in the dentistry field where she eventually met her husband. After taking a metalsmithing class while staying at home with their children, she began selling her work on Etsy. Read on to find out some of Christine's best selling tips (including why she thinks item photography is key) and to catch a glimpse of her studio and lightbox set up.
That's a lot of info to mull over! If you have any feedback, as always, let me know! And tune in to Thursday's email, we'll have a special guest writer you won't want to miss.
xo,
Danielle
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