bead pricing question

[bryntaran]

I have only been making beads for a few months. I know I have a long way to go, but I have had a few people asking to buy beads from me. My question is: how much do I charge for them? And how do I judge this? I know what really nice beads go for, but mine are just standard beads, plain glass colors, dots, etc. I would appreciate any and all input.
Thanks,
Judy

[Michelle Walsh]

Hi Judy!

I don't have any pricing words of wisdom for you, but I just wanted to welcome you to LE and tell you that I think it's terrific that people want to buy your beads!

[Wonker]

Hiya Judy,

Pricing drives me nuts too. There are so many things to consider when pricing things. There are all sorts of formulae that people use and they really are a very practical way to price beads. These formula in one way or another all take into account the materials you used, the equipment you had to use (kiln, torch, oxy gen, etc), and either the value of your time or some mark-up. Just as food for thought, once you set a price for beads, no matter how much better your beads will be in a year, those folks will still expect for you to charge (or at least very close) to what you do at the outset. It's weird I know, but I think you'll find that most everyone here went through this. So set a fair price for yourself that includes materials and your time. And good luck.

[DreamMuse]

You might want to check out the marketing section too, because there's a bunch of threads with people asking similar questions. Reading over those answers might help you out.