How to Price Your Homemade Crafts

From- http://www.fairsandfestivals.net/index.php/pricing

Ready to sell your crafts but stuck on how to figure it out? There is an art to pricing your crafts. First learn what the demand is, do some market research then price your crafts.

There is a fine balance between overpricing and under pricing. If you overprice your item, you won’t sell it. If you under price it, you can lose profits, or worse yet, customers will see your item as “cheap” and not think of it is a quality product.

Your goal is to charge enough to make a profit. This means pricing your crafts wisely. To do this your items need to be:

Priced high enough to cover all of your production and material costs.
Priced high enough to make a profit.
Create volume in sales.
The most important part is to research your market. To do this, attend craft shows, see what items similar to yours are selling for. Look online and see what is selling, and check out stores and boutiques in the area to see the prices.

Formula for Pricing Your Craft:
Take the following factors (EXAMPLE – enter your own data for the dollar amounts, time and cost):

Production Time: 2 hours at $10 an hour equals $20.
Cost of Materials: $8 for all items to create your finished piece.
Hard Costs: for production and material costs: $28
Ideal final price: Multiply hard costs ($28) by 2 to get your final pricing = $56.

What you will find is that often times, your product by this formula is over or under priced in comparison to your market research (attending shows, online, shops etc.) and you have to make adjustments. If you do have items that can sell for this price AND are within the range of your market research, you have a winner! This will be a highly profitable item for each sale.
Don’t get discouraged though if your item is significantly priced out of the market, you can make adjustments and just take a lower profit, if it is something you enjoy making, it’s worth doing.

For example: I sell jewelry, one specific necklace costs me $5 to make and I sell them for $25 at shows, but these are my least favorite to make. The silver necklace I love to make cost about $25 per item and sells for $45. I just balance this out by making more of the $25 item and a bit less of the $45 item so I can still walk away profitable and feel like my time was worth it.

Many crafters talk about how you don’t get paid for your time. I believe if you love what you are doing, and can make a profit from your item, you are making money for your time (that could have been spent in an office).

Mompreneur Grabs a Piece of the Cake in Home Business Magazine!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE…

Mompreneur Grabs a Piece of the Cake in Home Business Magazine!
Waukegan, Illinois – [February 13, 2008] - Barb Ireland grabs her piece of cake and her more than fifteen minuets of fame stemming from her home-business, http://www.makeadiapercake.biz, when she is featured in Home Business Magazine.

Home Business Magazine caters to individuals from all walks of life that primarily run their own home-businesses, or that wish to, with a total circulation of 250,000 plus per month. Ms. Ireland who founded Make a Diaper Cake, www.makeadiapercake.biz in 2003 has surely succeeded in her quest to create the most beautiful and versatile diaper cakes enabling anyone to reuse each item once her cakes are taken apart. Home Business Magazine found Ms. Irelands creations and decided to feature her and her business because it was more than worthy enough to be noticed by all its readers.

"I am extremely excited that Home Business Magazine picked up on my business, and that it is now available for so many to read about." Ms. Ireland said. "I look forward to helping others succeed in this business, as it has a proven track record of success, which makes me extremely happy!"

With a life-time membership, Ms. Ireland offers individuals the opportunity to learn her assembly technique which ensures that all materials are totally usable after the cakes are disassembled. Unlike other diaper cake designs, packaging tape and other destructive adhesives can damage the gifts in the cake. While other diaper cake designs take roughly four hours to make, Ms. Ireland’s assembly only takes one hour at most! As projected, Ms. Ireland’s business has grown at a phenomenal rate and was also featured in quite a few other media outlets which can be seen on her site at www.makeadiapercake.biz. If that is not enough Ms. Ireland also offers a wonderful affiliate program, and also offers other unique items including e-books to help anyone learn how to create her beautiful cakes.

Founded in 2003, http://www.Makeadiapercake.biz teaches individuals to make unique diaper and towel cakes for fun and for profit! More information can be found at www.makeadiapercake.biz For additional information contact:Barbara IrelandBarb@MakeaDiaperCake.biz http://www.makeadiapercake.biz 847-625-1179

Top Five Reasons For Making Diaper Cakes My Way!

Diaper Cakes are becoming more popular for baby showers and newborn gift ideas. These cakes, which offer everything a new mom needs for her new bundle of joy, can make any baby shower unforgettable. Not only do they leave a lasting impression, but the new mother can use every item in the cake, from the blankets to the diapers, providing a fun and useful gift for the proud mom-to-be. They can be made in different sizes, from one layer to three, depending on the size of the gift and the amount of money you want to spend.

Now you may ask, what makes my cakes so special? Well, let me tell you! It's the method of putting the cake together. Instead of rolling or layering, my diaper cakes are put together using an easy to follow template. I give you step by step instructions that will give you a perfect cake each time you make one. Below are my top 5 reasons for making diaper cakes using my proven method:

1. Easy to construct without rubber bands, tape, or dowels down the center.

2. My method saves you time, money and hassles.

3. With my construction technique, the layers all support one another insuring the best possible way to build a diaper cake.

4. Shipping your cake becomes much easier with my method. Because the layers support each other, you simply wrap your cake in cello, secure with bubble wrap and ship your beautiful cake right out without the need for special packaging or boxes.

5. The new Mom-to -be will be thrilled with such a unique yet practical gift. She will love the fact all she has to do is take the cake apart by taking out a few diaper pins.

Your hand crafted creation will look more professional, pleasing to the eye and will insure that every item in that cake can be used. All new moms are pressed for time. Spending half the day taking apart her beautiful gift by removing rubber bands, tape, dowels, and fishing string often used with other methods is not on her top list of priorities. With my method, your diaper cake will be just what new Mommy will need, right at her fingertips and ready to use.
My easy to follow instructions will show you how to make the perfect diaper cake in a snap, with less money and time. Wouldn't this make the perfect handcrafted baby shower gift? Let me show you how!

Article by:
Barb Ireland is the founder of Make A Diaper Cake, http://www.makeadiapercake.biz/. Articles are free to be reprinted as long as author's bio remains intact.