Advice on pricing a craft product

[Chez2 10]

Woah.....I didn't expect to see so much good advice on this thread! I craft for myself but used to be on a craft forum where a lot of people were selling finished good or raw materials into the hand made market. Some people were clued up and good with regs to do with testing cosmetics, data sheets, toy regs / testing etc but sadly a lot don't want to hear good advice so I got thrown off for contradicting them.

 

Out of curiosity I tried some of those calculators for working out price and they were way out. You could have used 50p more in raw materials, taken the same time to make something and the price would be significantly different, orders of magnitude different.

 

Some of the methods they (crafters who write articles in magazines) suggest to work out margins and profits and quite crazy.

 

I can't see any advice given above I don't agree with.

[Dubaidani13 10]

just remembered there is a shop opposite the Broadfield pub Abbeydale road called "MADE" think that might be a good place to gauge interest.

[Guest]

...Some people were clued up and good with regs to do with testing cosmetics, ...

OTish: The indie cosmetics area is fascinating. Valuable lessons to be had in the Mentality nail polish saga.

[Chez2 10]

OTish: The indie cosmetics area is fascinating. Valuable lessons to be had in the Mentality nail polish saga.

 

Is that an American article and product? I can't quite work that out. Another area people get confused is that regulations in USA, or other non EU countries are totally different to ours.

 

I'm not sure what that article is trying to say, its not written very well. People can be allergic to almost anything. I had acrylic nails for eight years but developed an allergy to the chemicals. I can't come into contact with any of the products now, not even the dust from newly made and filed nails or polish that has been used on other people who have just had new nails.

 

Those nails look really gross. I wonder if they had them done again once they had a reaction to the product? If not they are really bad for a first time reaction.

[Guest]

Is that an American article and product? I can't quite work that out. Another area people get confused is that regulations in USA, or other non EU countries are totally different to ours.

Yes, they are both American, but the point is not the myriad differences between US and UK product regulations, but the illustration of the principles of product and customer care; the [ab]use of social media to engage with current customers, potential customers and the wider (now rubbernecking) internet; and how to [mis]handle the fallout from a business crisis. Those issues are, of course, universal.

 

The craziest part, however, is how Mentality has handled a fairly straightforward issue of faulty or nonexistent product testing. That is, like an offended child.

 

...I'm not sure what that article is trying to say, its not written very well. ...

Jezebel is a well-respected, if informal, source...

People can be allergic to almost anything. I had acrylic nails for eight years but developed an allergy to the chemicals. I can't come into contact with any of the products now, not even the dust from newly made and filed nails or polish that has been used on other people who have just had new nails.

 

Those nails look really gross. I wonder if they had them done again once they had a reaction to the product? If not they are really bad for a first time reaction.

The underlying cause of the onycholysis has, I believe, yet to be established.

[Chez2 10]

Thank you all for your input once again.

Max, particularly for your link. Reading it leads me to a whole new issue and one that I would love to seek anyone's opinion on. It is about copyrights.

 

I had once bought official Disney fabric for a separate project, some of which was left over. So I was thinking of putting parts of that in my project. Apparently this little thing has opened a whole pandora's box of stuff related to copyright infringement. Word on the net mostly says that it is illegal to sell Disney merchandise without certain legal rights. Anyone who does so risks being sued by Disney.

 

On the other hand, I found this very interesting link:

 

According to it, something like this has happened in the US once and the court ruled in favour of the seller. And that Disney wouldn't want the public to know about it. So should i go ahead and applique Disney on my product? Or risk a potential lawsuit ?

 

(I feel like an ant right now)

 

I don't know if this is the most up to date info, have a look through .Gov website. The company providing your public and product liability insurance may be able to pint you in the direction of more sources of advice.

 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/toy-manufacturers-and-their-responsibilities

[Rushup 10]

Disney will sue you, that I can guarantee. You will need to get a license from them which will be very expensive (as the products they normally license to are amortised over huge volumes).

 

However, if you are making a few for friends and they want to thank you by covering your costs, it probably wouldn't be worth Disney's time and money. But get some good legal advice before you go any further.

 

Steve is right: Disney will sue – even the little people.

 

Someone recently ran a Kickstarter project selling artwork depicting the Death Star from Star Wars. If that alone wasn't enough to breach copyright, using the Star Wars logo and names probably sealed it: the project was taken down in the midst of an intellectual property dispute.

[Mimi83 10]

Omg this just keeps getting tougher and tougher ... I'm beginning to think if quality crafting for money is realistically possible at all?

 

 

 

Steve is right: Disney will sue – even the little people.

 

Someone recently ran a Kickstarter project selling artwork depicting the Death Star from Star Wars. If that alone wasn't enough to breach copyright, using the Star Wars logo and names probably sealed it: the project was taken down in the midst of an intellectual property dispute.

[Dubaidani13 10]

Omg this just keeps getting tougher and tougher ... I'm beginning to think if quality crafting for money is realistically possible at all?

 

realistically if you cant charge a premium to a reasonable market then its probably not worth the time and investment, however if you enjoy it and get some money out of it and dont rely on it to live on just do it.

[steveroberts 10]

Omg this just keeps getting tougher and tougher ... I'm beginning to think if quality crafting for money is realistically possible at all?

 

You might want to plan to go to this http://www.springfair.com/ it is the largest trade show of its kind in the world. You will be able to talk to lots of business owners and hear it from 'the horses mouth'.

 

Good luck

Edited December 18, 2015 by steveroberts
typo

[Mimi83 10]

You might want to plan to go to this http://www.springfair.com/ it is the largest trade show of its kind in the world. You will be able to talk to lots of business owners and hear it from 'the horses mouth'.

 

Good luck

 

wow: I just checked the link. This is amazing! thanks for sharing this, I'll definitely look into this.

 

 

realistically if you cant charge a premium to a reasonable market then its probably not worth the time and investment, however if you enjoy it and get some money out of it and dont rely on it to live on just do it.

 

Thank you, I do enjoy it immensely! I think I'll look into creating a sample to submit to Seasons and see what they say. Incidentally, my friends in Dubai tell me there is a high demand for such crafts over there. Do you know this to be true? If yes, is it realistic to think about creating/selling for that market at all? (Or may be totally ) ?

[Dubaidani13 10]

wow: I just checked the link. This is amazing! thanks for sharing this, I'll definitely look into this.

 

 

 

 

Thank you, I do enjoy it immensely! I think I'll look into creating a sample to submit to Seasons and see what they say. Incidentally, my friends in Dubai tell me there is a high demand for such crafts over there. Do you know this to be true? If yes, is it realistic to think about creating/selling for that market at all? (Or may be totally ) ?

 

i think thats a good idea to get a sample into seasons and the shop on abbeydale road called "Makers" i got it wrong in last post i called it Made!

youre friends are right people in Dubai love crafted and educational toys for kids and they are not afraid of paying top money for anything, give it a go good luck.