What to charge for your handmade work?
How much to charge for handmade cards
When you fall in love with cardmaking it's easy to make the leap into deciding to start selling your handmade cards and crafts. In this article we look at all of the different factors you should take into account when coming up with a price tag for your work. Whether you're specialising in extra special birthday cards, personalised cards or just wanting to sell Christmas cards you still need to work out the best formula to price your work.
What do you want to achieve from your cardmaking business?
Before you start making and selling handmade cards or looking around for craft markets it would be wise to set down some goals. You can do this by asking the following questions, the answers will help you work out where to start with your pricing strategy.
- Do I need to make a profit from selling handmade cards or am I happy to just cover the costs of my materials?
- Do I see this a serious long term business idea that could bring me a regular income.
- Am I doing this for myself or for a charity? How much of the cost should go to the charity, all of it or just the profit?
- How much time each week do I have to devote to cardmaking?
- How much time each week do I want to spend on marketing and admin?
- Do I need help with marketing or selling cards online?
The Cost of Materials used
If you want to start selling handmade cards it's important that you start to keep a record of what you have bought and ensure that you also add in the cost of delivery. This isn't only useful for deciding what to charge for your cards but if you ever need to do a self-assesment tax return you will have all of this important info on your expenses to hand.
Consumables: Don't just look at the main elements of the card, you need to account for all the little items used. It may be a good idea to get your calculator out so you can do a little maths on how much glue, embellishments etc cost per dot or dab.
Packaging: You also need to consider the packaging, will you buy acetate bags for the cards to make them look more professional or do they need boxes to keep them in perfect condition. It all adds up.
Tools: Don't include tools as part of the cost of the card, they're more about investing in your business. Only include dies and stamps etc if you have had to purchase them for a specific commission.
Once you start looking at the costs of supplies in detail you will see how important it is to get bargains, bulk buying is usually the best way - but only if you have room to store it and you are serious about selling your cards in bigger quantities.
Are you going to pay yourself?
In the UK the lowest hourly rate a business is allowed to pay an employee is £8.21. Now being realistic if a card makes an hour to make can you really charge that kind of price plus materials? Maybe you could if it's a one of a kind project - don't undersell your time.
Most card makers don't pay themselves they do it because they love making handmade cards, they just want to make sure their costs are covered and a little extra. Plus if you are making for charity then you are volunteering your time by making the cards.
Batch making cards will always be a more profitable way as you can make lots in a few hours. selling them in packs of 5 etc will also be a good way to increase profit margins as people will see the value in buying multiple cards and saving on postage.
Wastage and errors
When you are making bespoke handmade cards to sell it's likely that the occasional card will be assigned to the scrap pile and you'll have to start again. This is especially true when doing one off commissions where you need to spend some time practising the technique.
Postage Costs
You should consider this before you even start designing your cards let alone selling them. The weight and size will have an impact on how much a customer pays to have it posted to them. The buyer should cover all the costs of postage however many people can be put off by hefty postage costs. Do a little research into your designs and check out the rates of postage where you are before you start making.
You may find that if you create cards that are lower in weight or a little smaller you could incorporate the postage into the card and offer 'Free Postage' - this would be more appealing for many buyers.
You can find all of the UK prices for Royal Mail standard postage HERE
Marketing Costs & Fees
Craft fairs and online market places will all want a cut! Whether that's a small fee for the table or a percentage of the sale. You need to add this into your costs column.
You may want to think about ways you can avoid these costs by selling handmade cards directly at work or using Facebook or Instagram where there wont be any fees.
While you may think marketing just comes down to your time and energy you still need to think about little extra costs. If you have a website do you pay a monthly fee? Have you had any business cards printed, are you spending money on petrol and lunches while you're at a craft fair. Be sure to factor in all the little additional costs.
Remember your target market - they're not looking for cheap and cheerful!
Now for every penny you can save you'll make that little extra profit, however...
Do not compare your handmade cards with mass produced cards you can buy on the high street. People are buying your cards because they are handmade. When choosing a price to sell your cards you want it to reflect the quality of your card. Whilst you personally may not be able to afford to spend £10 on a handmade card some people will be happy to, especially for a really special occasion card.
When people buy handmade they are going for luxury and quality! Whilst you may pay more for the materials people will pay more to feel they have something that is top quality and designed by a professional.
Bear in mind that many people want to know a card is made from sustainable materials. You can incorporate this into your marketing, letting people know where you source your card and embellishments, this may get your cards noticed by a whole new market and it gives you a great talking point.
Thinking Big!
If this is the start of a part or full time business idea you may want to consider setting trade prices. Beware of under pricing if you are planning to go down this route as the company buying the cards will want to make at least 50% in terms of profit.
So if you price your cards at £4.00 each, they'll probably only pay you £2.00 per card... you need to work out if that's profitable for you using your cost calculations.
It's easy to say yes and be excited by an offer to sell your handmade cards from a local shop, but be sure to do the maths!
One of a kind cards
The very nature of a commission from a customer means that you are likely to spend far more time and far more on the materials than a card that you batch make.
For many cardmakers commissions are what they love most, getting really creative with a customers ideas and themes. Just bear in mind that you will have deadlines, so don't take on too much. You need to factor in the extra time and creativity into the cost of the card, think about how different the cost of a cake from a supermarket is to a bespoke birthday cake made by a professional. You need to have confidence to charge what you're really worth!
It would also be a good idea to set a limit to how many bespoke cards you can take on in a week. The last thing you want is to rush and make expensive mistakes.
Find out more about selling handmade cards!
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