"Kate" wrote:

Valuing your items - that's a toughie.

Valuing the items is easy, getting people to pay what YOU think it is worth
is the toughie.

How much do you want to earn? How long does it take you to make an item and
what are the material costs? What are the real costs of overhead,
insurance, material procurement, supplies, telephone, etc.

That box with $10 worth of wood may in fact have $20 or more in other costs.
Add in labor and overhead, it may be fair to sell it for $75. The next
problems is, are there buyers willing to pay $75 for the item? If yes,
continue. If no, make some boxes as gifts and enjoy your hobby.

If you feel $75 is a fair price, it may have to be marked up to $150 in a
retail store. Is the market still there?

The other side is pricing too low. If you are comfortable with $75, but is
is truly a masterpiece, are buyers willing to pay $300 for it? If so, that
is the fair value. That same hunk of wood is going to bring a much higher
price sitting in a jewler's window than on a flea market table. Pick your
sales venue with care.

At work, my concern is how many dollars per hour do the machine earn. At a
restaurant, it is how may dollars an hour does each table bring in. Don't
sell too cheap. Far easier to adjust down than up.