olddust1 Posted February 3, 2017 Report Share Posted February 3, 2017 I recently made a chess set for a customer who wanted a Western theme. I made a cowboy for a king and a cowgirl for queen.chess pieces? Saguaro cactus were the pawns and a Kokopelli the Bishop, etc, I charged $5 per piece since there were so many. It takes me about an hour to do 3 or 4, depending on the pattern. He now has a one of a kind chess set. He painted one team green for forest and the other team tan for desert. What do you charge for Chess pieces? John Old Dust Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ike Posted February 3, 2017 Report Share Posted February 3, 2017 The way I price things is by what the market will bare. Another way is the cost of materials X 5, and other is the cost of materials + what you want per hour.. IKE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heppnerguy Posted February 4, 2017 Report Share Posted February 4, 2017 Pricing is totally up to the craftsman. If you are after trying to make some good money with your work, that probably will not happen very often. But if you are selling because you want your hobby to pay for itself, then any profit you make on something can be counted as more blades, glue or wood. For me, selling is for the materials I use so that my hobby is self sufficient. I find it costs my about $ 6O a month to supply all my needs including shipping and I set my sales goal at $140 a month. I almost always sell more than that but I am not pushing it for profit. I turned down 3 offers to place my work in different people's businesses because the last thing I want to do is to turn the fun thing I do in life, into a working, pressure thing where i am out in my shop cutting a bunch of things to supply a craft sale in hopes of selling my things. So for me, I would look at it as.....how much did it cost me to make........Will I be shipping it............Will this sale maintain interest from the buyer to buy again.......my time in my shop is my fun time........I know this does not answer your question and everyone has different ideas on this. I would rather sell something for $40 that took my 4 hours to make and $3 in material and have a come back, happy customer than to sell the same item for $65 and maybe never sell to that person again.. just me Dick heppnerguy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucky2 Posted February 4, 2017 Report Share Posted February 4, 2017 John, you're asking the wrong people, you should have asked the buyer how much they were prepared to pay for the chess set. Then, you would know if it would be worth your time or not to do the job. I always get the price of something out of the way, before I start cutting that something out. Plus, I usually get a 50% non-refundable deposit, this generally keeps the buyer from backing out on a deal. We can tell you what we might charge for an item, but that doesn't mean that you can charge the same. The market will set your price for you, people won't pay more for an item then they think it's worth. Get to know other crafters, they can be a great help when trying to find out how much people are willing to pay. Plus, they will usually do what they can to help a fellow crafter out. Len JTTHECLOCKMAN 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTTHECLOCKMAN Posted February 4, 2017 Report Share Posted February 4, 2017 I think Len just said it best. I know I would have charged 3 times that for each piece and see what the person had to say. I am long done with making things for give aways. That is for the beginners. When you have been doing it for awhile your skills have increased and so has your knowledge. Also you should have a basic idea of what your work is worth in YOUR area. Doing things for family is a different story so do not mix the 2. You start undercharging to friends and workers and you are in a tailspin because people will now start comparing and yes friends do talk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amazingkevin Posted February 4, 2017 Report Share Posted February 4, 2017 I recently made a chess set for a customer who wanted a Western theme. I made a cowboy for a king and a cowgirl for queen.chess pieces? Saguaro cactus were the pawns and a Kokopelli the Bishop, etc, I charged $5 per piece since there were so many. It takes me about an hour to do 3 or 4, depending on the pattern. He now has a one of a kind chess set. He painted one team green for forest and the other team tan for desert. What do you charge for Chess pieces? John Old Dust I'll bet that set was a beauty to behold .wish we could have seen it before it got away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ike Posted February 4, 2017 Report Share Posted February 4, 2017 I make my stuff then sell it . i never take special orders for something I have not made and priced before. that puts too much pressure on the hobby. I try to set the price at $12 per hour. at that rate I usually come out $800 to $1000 ahead of cost at the end of the year. But if i have never made the item before I will not take special orders. and then I don't like special orders while makeing it cI could be mak;ing something new . IKE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Scroller Posted February 4, 2017 Report Share Posted February 4, 2017 I don't give much advice on pricing one because I'm in pounds and two I almost give my stuff away and make enough to buy more glue & blades etc. I'm my own worth enemy. Roly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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