I want to thank each and every one of you who wrote to me or posted a comment. The overwhelming majority of you thought that $10.00 per hour was very reasonable, if not cheap, for the artwork I do on the spindles. I even had a few of you write that I have been underpricing my spindles and there were a few who thought that they were about right as they are priced now. I have had no comments saying that they were overpriced at thier current prices.
From now on, I will quote spindles in this manner: Artwork is $10.00 per hour, with a $25.00 minimum charge for retail spindles, and I will give you an estimate of time for your design. The estimate will be an "upper end" estimate and if it takes less time, you will get the spindle for less. That way I will not under price myself nor will any of you have to worry about a bill for a spindle that is a lot higher than you expected.
One thing that I do want to say is that if you ever do not like a spindle I paint for you or feel the price is too high you are NOT obligated in any way to purchase that spindle. That is why I never take payment upfront for a spindle or knitting needles.
In the near future I will put together a page that has various spindles I have done and what the current price estimate would be for each spindle. Hopefully, this will help you get some idea of where your design might fall in the pricing.
The other option that you always have is to ask if the design can be altered to make the price lower. By taking out some of the details or say doing just a unicorn head rather than the whole unicorn the price can be reduced.
The main thing is that if you find that a spindle quote is not in your price range, talk with me and try to work out an option for how we can make something similar that IS in your price range. You may have to settle for less detail and it may not be nearly the work of art it might have been, but I guarantee that it will be beautiful and that you will love it and spin with it for a long time to come. There are always ways to make things work!
For those of you who have spindle orders in with me, I am playing "catch up" this week and next. Right now my list, up to order #5, is as follows:
1) Ashley - Dragon
2) Kae - Fairy Lady
3) Mary - Assortment of Fiber Animals
4) Sharon - George the Cat
5) Anne C. - Roxy the Cat
I will try to keep an updated list on my site so you can see if your spindle is near the top of my queue. Also not, some of you that order simpler spindles may get yours sooner because I do these in between some of the more complex spindles. They are easier on my eyes and don't take as much time an concentration so they are like taking a break while still working.
I knwo the summer has a thrown a wrench in to my queue and that I am further behind than I liek to be. I hope to rememdy that very quickly and not let it happen again. I will be happy to see fall come as I will a lot more time to work and things will get done much faster. Thank you all for your patience through this crazy summer!
Peace & Joy,
Jen
Hi Jen, I'm coming into this kinda late but I think $10 is MORE than reasonable. You're offering a custom product, something that can't be produced in any sort of assembly line fashion, and that always costs more. And the psychology of pricing is that people will value your spindles even more if they need to pay more for them. That doesn't mean you price gouge, but the "laborer is worth his wage" or however that goes. Check some of Barbara Brabec's books, as she deals with this question in detail in them. Meanwhile, I think the system you've come up with sounds pretty good!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your input. I really appreciate it!
ReplyDeleteKind regards,
Jen