I've been doing a lot of thinking about my Custom Name Albums lately. I enjoy making them and they are what got my business off the ground. The down side is, they're very time-consuming. Over Christmas I had a large order for them and I got a little burnt out making them. So they've remained out of my shop until I could do some contemplating about how I wanted to reintroduce them.
Over the weekend I sat down and ran some numbers. I knew if I was going to bring the albums back, I had to raise my prices. At first I wasn't going to offer the smaller albums as they take about the same amount of time as the larger albums, but I make a lot smaller profit. But at the same time, I wanted to offer options. So I did some calculations and decided to add both sizes (along with the Double Name Albums) back to my shop.
Before, I just had two price points for my albums...up to 6 letters and 7-9 letters. I decided it made more sense to charge per letter. This does make it a little tricky when listing them in my shop as I didn't want 16 listings of basically the same item. So for now, I'm just adding a few different letter quantity options and people can contact me if they need a different amount of letters.
Eventually I'd like to sort through all my photos and file them by size and letter quantity so the listing photos represent the right amount of letters. But this will be quite time-consuming as well, so it will have to be done in intervals.
I feel pretty good about the prices I have on the albums for both the buyer and myself.
Have you had to do any price increases lately? Pricing is one of the hardest things I find about running a business!
These albums are amazing, really cute. Pricing is hard, I don't want to make prices too high, but I put in quite some time in making my items. So the time spend should be included in the price. I did increase my prices a bit, and I still make sales. I think people do want to pay a little more if something is unique and handmade.
ReplyDeletePricing is very difficult. When I run any "formula" I come up with numbers that are more than I think my market can bear. I abolished free shipping, though, and I have raised my shipping prices to offset the increased postage rates. I will rethink my pricing on additional items.
ReplyDeleteI love your Name Albums Edi! I also put a lot of time in my creations, and it's important to consider that when pricing. Handmade items are unique and special, and I think people understand that when they are making handmade purchases and are willing to pay a little more.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your thought process. Pricing is very hard. Some items take me a very long time to knit and yet they don't look as complicated to the non knitter as other items that take less time to knit. TFS!!
ReplyDeletePricing is hard. When I first started out I was so concerned with pulling people in by having low prices that I was barely making any money. But once I raised my prices I not only made more of a profit, I actually started selling more items, I think because people perceived the quality as being higher.
ReplyDeleteI think your new prices are very fair!
Edi, Your custom name albums are fabulous, I love them. I can see they would be a tremendous amount of work. I know the debate, raising prices etc...sometimes you have too because the work is worth it. These albums are stunning.
ReplyDeleteRuth
Very smart Edi! Your albums are fantastic and customers will pay more since they are like works of art. It is a great idea to charge by letter. I do agree that pricing your work is one of the hardest parts of having a creative business!
ReplyDeletePricing is definitely the hardest part! Good luck with your albums -- I think that pricing them by letter number is good thinking.
ReplyDeleteFor my clothing line, I've had to do many price adjustments over the years. It's just part of business. I work with the Chicago Apparel Board sometimes and they actually have a formula that helps figure out whole and retail. It helps. The name albums are so cool! Glad you're bringing them back.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that you're keeping the albums in your shop. Your pricing plan sounds great. Overhauling any aspect of a shop is always draining, but hopefully it'll be worth the effort. I increased my shipping for 2013 and increased a few prices, too.
ReplyDeleteat least you have all those photos from your shop's sold items, and can count up letters. I haven't change any of my pricing except for shipping... I really want to change things around, but it will take a lot of time and thought! {:-D
ReplyDeleteWell they are kind of your trademark item, so it's good they're not gone forever. But I know what you mean- sometimes we just get sick of making some items. I kind of hit that wall with some of my stuff and have since taken it out of the shop. Hopefully you'll get it organized the way you want to soon!
ReplyDeleteI don't remember your pricing when you had these in your shop earlier. I remember looking at, but I didn't check the price. Your new prices seem reasonable to me. They're beautiful!
ReplyDelete~Kim
I love your name albums and am glad you're keeping them in your shop! Pricing is so hard especially with jewelry since there's so many who charge way too little which makes it hard to justify to buyers that the higher price is worth it. It's tough making money with jewelry though.
ReplyDeleteOh your albums are so gorgeous! A really special gift.
ReplyDeleteYa, it's uber tricking pricing items out. I often cannot include the full amount of time it takes to handmake things!
So glad you brought them back. I remember when you were just selling those. I've been rethinking my prices and I'm having some troubles determining them. I recently raised the prices of my pouches to be more uniform however I think I need to raise price of my frame clutches. The amount of fabric used isn't alot however the actually frame is costly when you factor in shipping. I want to be affordable but I also need to make sure I'm making a profit too. So tricky.
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to give up on a great product! I feel the price is still reasonable--the people that purchase the albums want something personalized and that costs more than something generic.
ReplyDeletePricing is one of those things that can be a challenge. Raising prices is a natural part of the process and should be evaluated often. I'm glad you were able to work out the cost, those books are really cool. With the new higher price point, it should make them worth the time it takes to create them.
ReplyDeleteValerie
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