Can I Ask For An Honest Opinion?

[ZimbiIV]

I have been making various wooden things and would like to know how much you would pay for them.

The latest one is this clock.

It costs about £8 in materials and took about 5 hours to make.

The coasters take about 2 hours to make materials about £1.50

Please be honest but not too unkind.

paul

 

[Meantime]

Paul,

Let me start by saying that I think both the clock and the coaters are really excellent.

If I were to see the items in a shop I would probably expect to see a price tag of around £34.99 for the clock and £6 to £7 for the coasters, but would be assuming that they were mass produced in some far off country.

You've made it slightly harder to answer the question honestly because you've already explained how much labour and parts go in to them. Depending on where you sold them and how you described them, you could ask a lot more than the prices I suggested above. Hand made in the UK, or hand crafted in the UK springs to mind. 

To take the clock as an example knowing the amount of time you have put into it, you should really be looking for around £99.99 at the very least, but if I'm honest the part of the clock that lets it down slightly for me, is the part you haven't made, the dial and the hands. Little things like spending a little more on the mech, making it a limited run and perhaps signed on the back by the maker, may all add to what people are prepared to pay.

Hope I haven't offended but was trying to answer honestly. 

[SwanR]

That’s a tricky question to answer without seeing them in real life. But thinking of other places where I have seen similar, especially craft fairs, I would say £15-20 for the clock. Coasters maybe 4 for £10. Hope that seems fair. But you would do well to search Etsy for similar items and see what others are charging. A lot of people use that as their marketplace. 

[ExSurveyor]

Wow, and wow again.

If you say £10 an hour labour and incidentals, the clock is £58 plus. The top price for the clock is probably £65ish.

The coasters would probably sell for around £15 for six, making them uneconomic to make.

These are retail prices so you would have to sell direct.

One small suggestion is that I would swap the top left and right outer border section to maintain light and dark alternating.

Hope that helps.

[grendel]

bearing in mind that you will never recover the true cost of your time with these things, i would price out about 3-4x cost for the clocks (eg-£35-£45) and maybe just 3x for the coasters, eg £20 for a set of 4, of course they are worth far more than that, but its that balance between worth and what you can get.

again price will also depend on where you are selling, a higher price in a craft village where there are a lot of other handmade crafts on display, probably lower at a stall in the local christmas bazaar at a school.

[ZimbiIV]

Thanks for the replies, I have no intention of making them to sell just Jill keeps saying I should, but I don't want any pressure just pleasure.

Everyone is different, in fact I tried to duplicate one for a friend and couldn't.

I will just keeping making them and giving them to friends and relatives until we run out of friends/relatives.

None of the local charities have started bring and buys yet.

Thanks again.

paul

 

[ExSurveyor]

I am having the same with music boxes, I enjoy doing them but will run out of recipients.

[grendel]

excellent gifts for christmases and birthdays, with the added bonus that the cost to you is less, and the gift value of a hand made unique gift is immensley more than you would be able to sell them for

[rightsaidfred]

Honest opinion, treat it as a  hobby then what ever you can recoup by selling them is a bonus, while the material costs are recoverable the time spent almost certainly won't be.

Fred

[CambridgeCabby]

Now, some NBN coasters they would certainly sell 

[eddybear]

31 minutes ago, CambridgeCabby said:

Now, some NBN coasters they would certainly sell 

There you are do a few coasters for us members and have some earnings from your hobby, We are a fickle lot I've got some NBN Cardboard coasters but Wooden ones that would really be quality just hinting

[Timbo]

Excellent work Paul!

I have to say I have a similar situation in people prodding me to make things to sell. The father in law is of the opinion I should look at everything in terms of mass production!

When folks come and ask me to make things I'm in the bad habit of not charging enough. I've never been a tradesman. Can't get the hang of sucking my teeth! 

Etsy is the place to visit to get the hang of pricing, or I should say what you can get away with on your pricing. I learned the hard way when I made some long grain mahogany walnut and maple cutting boards. I was told by one customer to put my price up after they had seen chopping boards just like mine on Etsy. Long story short someone was buying them from me at £35 and selling them on Etsy from £70 to £100.

Looking Etsy right now there are two clocks similar to yours one is priced at £85 and the other at £135. The seller priced at £85 has made five sales the £135 seller has made none.

But some of the er...'tat'? being sold and amazingly bought on Etsy makes my mind boggle! Check this out for enterprise!

Worth fifty quid? 

[Wussername]

How much for Caseurs toe mate?

[floydraser]

Lovely clock Paul. As a hobby which keeps the grey cells ticking over, it's priceless.

But selling them: price would depend on the quality of the clock mechanism in part. A cheapo from China via Ebay or better one via somewhere like Cousins. I can't see if it's varnished but bare wood collects dust and would be a pain to clean after a few months. As Mark says, minimum wage per hour plus materials plus vat and you would have to pay tax on your declared earnings.......

[Polly]

I agree with the idea of working for the enjoyment of it. I sew stuff. Some jobs are quick others take many hours.

Basically you make unique items and that is the pay back.

This running pouch for phones was fun to make and it was even nicer to give.

It does hang straight, it’s just the way I was holding it! 😋

[grendel]

did you use running stitch Polly?

[YnysMon]

That’s just beautiful! The embroidery must have taken you ages.

[Polly]

It’s machine embroidery Helen, so not more than a couple of hours. No to running stitch G. It’s all done by machine so an interlocking too and bottom thread straight stitch.