16:30 yes. thank you. I'm in some facebook groups for sharing free patterns and someone will ask how much they should price something that took them like 4 hours to make, and people will just go "where I live you couldn't sell that for more than $8, I recommend $5" and it's like. what is wrong with you. You wouldn't dream of accepting that kind of payment from an employer.
Yes! Exactly! I know in some circumstances traveling to other areas isn't feasible. However, I suspect for a lot of people, it's more doable than they realize. I didn't realize how many different events were actually around me until I started working them. I know that's not going to be the same for everyone, but it's unrealistic to habitually undercharge.
I'm glad to hear your views. I'm 75 and been crocheting since 7. Recently, I crocheted themed doll that I designed. I asked my friend for $100, and he reacted as i stepped on his foot. I didn't back up. Since his a friend i allowed him a payment plan. It's important to know the value of your work and talents. I love the idea of crochet being a luxury item! ❤
I wish other people would understand that if they're undercharging for their work, they're just making it even harder for the rest of us to actually get paid the ammount our time, effort, and skill are worth.
It definitely can. However, even in the 2 years I've been in business, I've already started to see a shift in mindset in this area. People are realizing this isn't just their granny's favorite hobby. It's art too. And not only is it valuable, they also need to appreciate their granny more for all the things she's made for them over the years haha. Not everyone will feel this way, but as crochet gets more and more mainstream, more and more people will start to "get it".
You GO girl this is 100% truth!! We don’t go out to eat and expect them to charge the price we could get the same food for at the grocery store. Just because it is a self owned business does not mean we can’t price items high enough to be profitable like all other consumer businesses!
Say it louder for the people in the back, baby!!! I'm GOING to make money at this. Period. Hard stop. And if that means I make slightly less sales because my stuff is slightly higher in price, than so be it because that means my time is ACTUALLY being accounted for and I'm not working my a$$ off just to break even.
This is definitely something that needs to be talked about more. Obviously everyone has their own opinions, but this is useful to hear. There is definitely not a one size fits all for this kind of business. Im still in my beginning stages, so Im not to the point of making a livable income yet. But this gives me more confidence to how I price my items. So thank you 😊
I agree with you completely. Crochet must be made by hand, no machine duplicates what we can do or what we can create. Paying yourself minimum wage, at minimum, will tell the people buying what you make that you value your time as much as they should. Even your time at a market to sell what you made is valuable, too.
You are very knowledgeable and have a great business sense. I am very impressed with you young women starting your businesses at home and some of you work outside of the home. Best of luck to all of you!
Say it louder for the people in the back!!! Crochet IS and will likely ALWAYS be a little extra special for that reason, why are we telling people something that took hours is only worth $5-$10. Gift if at that point, then it's all the more special!
There's a stall at this antique market that I found recently. The vendor had sooo many unique patterns and amazing stitch work, but her pieces were priced so low!! I told the shop owner that the seller should really price the pieces higher and talked up her work. I really hope this got back to the seller and that she prices higher.
I love & appreciate this rant. Thank you very much. Your thoughts are spot on. I have been selling at markets for 12 years now, have had an Etsy shop for 10 & recently started my vlog. I have continued to raise my prices over the years & will continue to do so. Bravo! Also, I will be watching more of your videos as a new subscriber. ❤️
I actually am going to be doing a better job at accounting for materials for my fall markets, so I'm upping my prices too. The fact is, in this economy, EVERYTHING is expensive. Including the yarn to make things. So in order to profit, we need to actually price well!
hahaha I make hair bows and I have NEVER EVER EVER nor WILL I EVER lower my prices and I am super blessed enough to say I MAKE A PROFIT and have been able to stay in business MAKING MONEY for 11 years now!! We now stream on WhatNot and my daughter moderates for me and says "mom no one has EVER complained about your prices" and I have a deal where buy 12 bows get the 13th free for $46 and she is amazed at how often that bundle sells. The number of REPEAT customers is crazy! I'm with you I'm not doing this for fun, I'm doing this for PROFIT!!!!
Love this video. So much good information. I love the business learning with you. It's very fun. 😃❤️ I have encountered crochet hobbiest at markets, where they just earned enough for "yarn money ". But just going to a market or a bigger event is very expensive. I like your thinking for a business you have to sell! 🎉
Events can be expensive for sure. In other industries, it's not uncommon for people to pay $200-300+ for markets, but those kinds of markets are already kind of outside of our grasp because it takes so many crochet hours just to break even at those events. But even for the "cheaper" events we tend to do, you still have to price well to make a profit. And I would venture to bet, if I ran down THEIR numbers, they're not even making enough for yarn money. Also, thank you so much!!! I try!!
As someone who sells my mushroom fidget pops made from parfait chunky and ended up at a market with someone selling them in Bernat Blanket for $3 sometimes its about the quality and people will buy the more expensive one. To be fair tho she said she had also only been crocheting for a month and I think theres something else to be said for people who learned last week and already selling today before making it look nice first.
That's true. Plus, newer people don't KNOW how to price effectively yet. It's not like that was taught in school. So while that can be a bit annoying (though, thankfully it didn't hinder your sales), she gets a pass because she has yet to learn the skill of pricing for profit. And it is a skill because you really have to think big picture about it. The problem lies in the people who think that it's okay to just price to cover the yarn and it just really doesn't work like that haha.
I really wish, people would master crochet before going to market. I have 50 yrs experience, started at 5. I literally cringe at the sight of some market makers lack of skill, and then they will say that took 5 hours to make and sell a 10 inch plushie for 95 dollars😂. You can 't effectively pay yourself 15 an hour when you don't know what you are doing. 1 Dino pattern, 15 of them in the bin all the same type of yarn but none were the same size, all wonky and misshapen.
Thank you for saying this! I get so frustrated by people underpricing because they asked "an old lady at knit night" if they'd pay $X for a hat and they said no.
I totally agree! And it's not even that everything needs to be expensive, but I don't think expecting $20 for a dinosaur that takes like 45 minutes to make is insane or overcharging or asking a lot or unattainable to the average person in this economy haha. It's very reasonable, and there's like a billion smaller patterns out there in this size so you can make a whole table of stuff in this price range to not exclude anyone but still make a profit!!! Which, I know you understand, but still haha, it needs to be said!!! I use plushies as an example because that's what I do, but some hats are fairly fast to make so use those patterns for your "lower price" items, and then you can still make fancier hats that take more time and still charge appropriately for them, and those are just for people looking to splurge a little more!
The thing is, if people are not willing to pay what something is worth, then they don’t need it. And I’m not talking about Walmart monopolizing potato chips and charging $18 a bag, I’m talking about something being priced to cover materials and overhead AND paying for your time. If it’s not worth that price to them, they can make it themselves.
That's absolutely true. If they truly don't think it's worth that price but won't it, then can make it themselves. Thankfully, I've run into very few people that ACTUALLY don't think crochet is worth that much. The people who don't buy are always so gracious and compliment my work, nonetheless, even if it's not the right time for them to buy. Which I'm appreciative of because, it might not spend the same as money, but having people excited about my work is just as thrilling to me as making the actual sale a lot of the time. Like that moment when they walk into my booth and like pause and take it all in and just say, "woooow! This is so cool"... it's a really awesome feeling.
Thank you so much! I really like being able to talk from the stance of a "regular person" honestly. Though, at the same time I'm also excited for the opportunities doing stuff like TH-cam has brought me. And this isn't exactly a regular part of the crochet business model. But I feel like this kind of stuff is just common sense. We work hard, we should be paid, and it's okay to like your job AND be well paid. That's a nice way to live.
Thank you for reminding people that it’s not the individual price, it’s the price for everything you’ll produce. Instead of “how much would you want for mowing the lawn” imagine how much money would you like to have after you mowed a lawn every day for a month. Put the labor in perspective. I made this mistake pet sitting, never again.
For sure. Like you might make $1000 at a market, but if it took you two months to make all that stock, that's not much money AT ALL. So the bigger picture is really important to consider. It is hard though. I've taken A TON of business classes. I have a degree in marketing and almost a BA in business administration and somehow that wasn't enough to avoid the trial by fire phase.
Jacki, thank you for your video. Not sure why I never thought of crocheted items as a luxury and that I should keep my items at a profit. I have fell pray to the “I won’t get $40 for an 16” long Dino even if it took me 2 hours and $10 in yarn. I’m retired and pay myself $8-10/hr and when I priced a detailed amigurumi cow and a pig and a horse (all 12” tall), the shop where I sell my items said people were rolling their eyes and complaining. But you are right! It doesn’t matter that I live in So. Mississippi. If someone wants to buy an heirloom, handmade,keepsake 12” cow then they will be willing to pay $58. There is something called perceived value and if makers create a small whale and charge $3, the handmade toy is perceived no better than a dog chew toy. I know this but lowered my pricing anyway. Thank you for snapping me out of it.
Yesss! You should be paid well and your plushies ARE special and could really be long term keepsakes/heirlooms, so they should be charged as such. I definitely know that it's hard to price well because you don't want to put anyone off, but at the same time, you're right. If you're selling something for only $3, you're basically telling them that it's a disposable item with basically no value. That's why I really like to charge a range. So, I have some inexpensive plushies for my families on a budget, or that have multiple kids. Because $15 isn't a lot of money TECHNICALLY, but it becomes a lot when you're shopping for 5 children lol. So I try to stock quite a few different options in the $5-$10, and then my larger plushies consistently go up to about $50 (with stuff at $10, $15, $18, $20, $25, etc in between the $10-$50 range). AND THEN, even from there I have the occasional outlier that's even more expensive than that and that's simple a pattern that I wanted to make that I'm also going to sell eventually haha. But that way, all price points are covered, so no one gets left out!
i wanna do a flea market, im only 13 , i crochet and i really wanna sell. im really confused about everything behind it i thought you just pay the booth fee then sell your items, any good tips?
Well essentially, that IS the bare basics. You bring your stuff, and you sell it. And that could be the only part of a crochet business you're interested in, so you just have to make sure your pricing accounts for paying for materials (stuffing, safety eyes, yarn, etc), some time for you (I recommend your hourly wage be no less than whatever minimum wage is in your state), and market fees (so if your market costs like $50, and you're bringing 50 plushies to sell, at least add a dollar onto the price of your plushies to be able to afford to pay for your markets). However, markets aren't the only thing you can do with a crochet business. You can sell online on Etsy or your own website (with your parent's permission... Etsy is the cheaper option when first starting out, but you'd need to connect a bank account to it, so your parent's absolutely need to know/be involved in the online business area, just so they can help make sure your financially covered... it's easy on Etsy to turn on ads and not realize how much money you're spending and rack up a big bill, which would be upsetting for both you and your parent's bank account. So just get permission and help if you go that avenue). You can also do research and learn how to write your own patterns, which is good if you're selling online. You can even get into running your own crochet TH-cam channel and learn about crochet content creation. From there, you can get paid just for views on your channel or even for recommending products and having people buy them through something called "affiliate links". Like I like to Amazon products I like, like the hooks I have. And if someone clicks on my link to buy those hooks, I get like 5 whole cents haha. It's not a fantastic way to make money, but every little bit helps. But again, definitely get your parent's permission before putting yourself or any information about yourself on the internet. It can be a very dangerous thing for ANYONE, including myself, but especially a person your age. But doing markets is a good place to start. It'll help you ease into having your own business. And you can look up videos on how to make sure your market set up looks really nice/professional. I'm doing a video on this soon, but it's not up yet, so just start checking out other videos that are out there. There's tons of videos about this topic that can help!
Thank you so much!!! I try! I just want to make sure that everyone can have as successful of a business that they want! And a lot of that does come down to pricing, and finding good markets where people understand why your prices are the way they are, but that's a whole separate topic haha. But we do cool shi*t and it's special, so we shouldn't be scared of charging for it. And it's not even that everything needs to be expensive, but I don't think expecting $20 for a dinosaur that takes like 45 minutes to make is insane or overcharging or asking a lot or unattainable to the average person in this economy haha. And there's like a billion smaller patterns out there in this size so you can make a whole table of stuff in this price range to not exclude anyone but still make a profit!!! Which, I know you understand, but still haha, it needs to be said!!!
Your info is spot on. We need to treat our businesses as a business. I wasn't able to finish watching as the noise in the background was getting too distracting and made it hard to listen and hear what you were saying. Good luck to you.
Sorry about that! My kids are usually pretty good when I'm filming, but sometimes they're chaotic haha. But I do appreciate you watching as far as you could and even leaving a positive comment!!! It means a lot!
The first and only market that I had so far was a total flop. The market ran from 10am to 4-5pm, and I made 2 sales over the entire day (one of which was a friend that came by to chat). There was another crochet artist at the booth right next to me and they did make a small profit. A few contributing factors; a huge booth (4m wide, which made the booth setup a bit sad looking), me just starting out and the rain drizzles during the day probably didn't help. Also, the market was advertised as this big market while in reality it wasn't that big.. I haven't done any other markets since, partly because it was a flop and because life got pretty busy after that.
I would give it a try. In my experience, even a little bit of rain can really kill the traffic at an event. Try to find markets that are centered around a special occasion, like a fall festival or a strawberry festival, or a pioneer days kind of event, versus more "generic" events like a monthly farmers market. The farmers market can still be profitable, they'll have their regulars, but the specialty kind of events draw bigger crowds. Bigger crowds mean more opportunities to make sales, and more opportunities typically means more actual sales. If you do just ONE market in fall, try something for October. Those were my most profitable fall markets last year.
@@WorksofWhimsyCrochetCo unfortunately in the Netherlands there aren't a lot of markets. But I'm currently too busy with my job and my two bachelor studies to even think about doing a market. But I definitely want to do more in the future, when I'm able to afford it more easily!
We have been "sold" attendance numbers for markets before that just were untrue. Best thing is to visit markets frequently even when you aren't selling so you can decide which markets to shoot for in the future. We don't go to markets we don't know.
I will take your word for it, because I sure don't know South Carolina law! But I know in Florida, you have to pay tax on the sales you make, for sure. And that's ALL sales technically, so it's not just market dependent. AND the real annoying part is the tax rate varies from county to county, so I have to know what markets I did where to calculate the right tax rate. It's tiresome haha.
Thank you so much!!! I just want all of use to be as successful as we can be and not be held back in achieving our potential because we've underpriced!
I'm all for trying to make money with anything that you do, but sometimes people do overprice crochet items especially items made with thick yarn. Those yarns are not the best quality. I am all for pricing items the way you want to price them, but please keep in mind quality over quantity will yield better customers for the long term.❤
I hear you, but I disagree because quality is subjective. For a child, a durable, yet washable fluffy yarn like bernat blanket IS good quality for a plushie. Parfait chunky, as far as chenille yarns go, is also reasonably durable and washable, so also good for plushies. Same with small toys made with acrylic yarn, since it's washable yet durable, it's actually a smart choice. Now, would I use acrylic for a dish cloth? No. Something like a kitchen cotton is better quality for that application. Would I use a kitchen cotton for a nice summer shirt though? Nope, kitchen cotton is definitely perfect for wash cloths, soap savers, face scrubbies, but it's too rough a cotton to really make a quality top. So what makes something quality is subjective. Most kids don't want a stuffed animal made with tiny fancy yarn lol. They want something squishy and of a good size lol. Plus, if someone wants to charge a super high hourly rate, that's on them. They've decided their time is valuable, and are charging as such. If they're making sales, you, objectively, might think they're overpriced, but clearly there is still a market demand for their items at those prices. And if their high prices discourage sales, then they know they need to adjust. But I personally don't think there's anything wrong with aiming high. It's not like selling all your plushies at like $60 a pop ever made anyone an actual millionaire. That's still hardly a livable wage, so no one's pricing is really even THAT crazy.
I spent 8 hours crocheting a big snake to sell and my mom was trying to shame me into selling it for $10, even after I explained to her how long it took and how many materials it required. I used hand-harvested canna lily seeds to fill the head rather than polyfill. She's been a professional artist her whole life, you'd think she's grasp how valuable an artist's time is. But nope!! "it's just a hobby, no one wants to pay a lot for it" yeah, because you don't think I'm worth even paying minimum wage.
Omg! That's absolutely worth FAR MORE than $10! There are definitely always going to be people who see it as a "hobby", but that's why we gotta continue to educate people. I get asked all the time how long various items take and people are always shocked. It's far longer than people realize. However, once that clicks, they start understanding why the pricing is what it is.
It seems everyone uses plushy yarn these days. I use worsted weight for my amigurumi. It means they take longer to make and probably should be priced higher than plushy yarn items, even though they are usually smaller (if going by the same/similar pattern). It hasn't slowed my sales though. I am just wondering if I am the only worsted weight amigurumi crafter left!
I use worsted weight! I tried the dollar tree chenille once and hated it. The fuzz, can't find my stitches, snapping on magic ring, getting caught on itself while using or weaving in ends? Yuck. Plush vs worsted has the opposites of: plush yarn = expensive, but fast & big Worsted = cheap, but slow & small It feels weird for me use a plush yarn intended pattern and charge the same price or even higher as the plush creator that took 20 minutes for them, while Im making half the size in 40min 🥲
I use worsted weight for SOME stuff. But yes, it absolutely should be priced higher even if it's smaller, if the time invested says so. If I make something that takes 2 hours but is only 4 inches tall, it still took 2 hours so I'm going at least $40 on it.
I still think pricing by time should go for worsted weight. I made a doll that's like 6 inches tall in worsted weight, and I'm 100% pricing it for like $70-$80. It was time consuming. And just fyi, not all plush yarn is like that. Bernat blanket doesn't shed. Premier parfait chunky can shed some but it's less fragile too. I'm not sure if you ever branched out again, so I just wanted to let you know there were other options.
I just found you and I love your rant!! I’m not a fan! It makes me so mad when I am in competition for someone who says oh I just want to make enough for more yarn.
And you KNOW if they did the math, they're actually losing money. It just doesn't feel like it because they get to walk away with $200-$300 per event, without realizing they've actually spent at least that in yarn, food at the event, event fees, gas to get to events, patterns, safety eyes, etc.
I don't think you're 100% right, following your own point of a business always wants profit and crochet is a luxury, you have to underprice sometimes if you wanna sell at all, specially with the location (ik you said that's not a valid excuse but it's not a excuse) you gotta know your crowd. I know that in person I'm most likely to sell 10 5 buck items than one 40 buck one, so I gotta underprice so I can meet my margin and make profit out of time, materials, etc but online I know that I can raise the prices and even overprice it sometimes and people will pay for it bc they specifically seeked me out
If the market you are at can't afford your $40 pieces but buys your $5 pieces, then you don't under price your $40, piece you make sure your inventory supports an equivalent amount of $5 pieces. You also still bring your $40 pieces out because you don't determine a customers budget, they do. You can also offer services (like cleaning cards, subscription discounts etc) to make your $40+ items look more palatable. This also gives your business more credibility and brings return customers. It's also worth making sure you are connected in your market area so you are able to be in the know on higher quality markets that bring higher paying customers. 😊
Respectfully, I disagree. As Rebecca said, if you know your customers shop mostly within the $5-10 range, you can find small patterns that are fast to make, like mini octos, mini frogs, mini whales, mini mushrooms, small fruits (like strawberries or blueberries), small flowers, etc. So you still have tons of options for things you can make in that price range that only take you 10-15 minutes to make, so you're still making a decently hourly wage and profit. And that doesn't mean you can't make those bigger items at higher price points still for when people want to splurge, but you can still absolutely stock your market with inventory that your customers can afford WITHOUT losing money. And there's a difference between a lower profit margin and flat out underpricing. Like you may only make $15 an hour on something that I may be able to make $25 an hour on, but you're still paying yourself for labor, which should be factored into your profit margin. So, like if you want your hourly to be $15 and you sell ten $5 octos that take 10 minutes each to make, you've made $50 in revenue, but then you need to account for the $25 in labor you need to pay yourself. 10 octos for 10 minutes each is 100 minutes. 100 minutes divided by 60 minutes means that's 1.66 hours. 1.66 hours x $15 an hour is $25. So you need to take your $50 in revenue, pay yourself $25 for labor, we'll call it a generous $10 ($1 per octo in supplies, but it's really probably closer to half that lol) for materials. That still leaves you with $15 in ACTUAL profit. You can re-invest that profit back into your business in the way of more markets, starting your online store, etc. And you did that on selling $5 items.
@@WorksofWhimsyCrochetCo people don't want tiny stuff, they'll buy it if that's all you have but mostly they want cute bigger stuff for a reasonable price, you must have got it wrong, I'm not underpricing a 40 dollar worth piece for 5-10, it's most likely a 10 to 6 or a 20 to 10. To me, that's underpricing so you can make a profit and in my experience, it's a bigger profit than if I charged what I thought that piece was really worth
@@Babybearcroche people do want small items. I started selling in May, in a low income area, with prices based on $15/hour and materials with at least a 20% profit increase after that. I have big items and small items. And I have sold A LOT of items that are small and even my larger ones. It just depends on how much they want them. If you don’t try to charge the prices you would like to make and just assume it won’t sell for that, you’re never going to make what you could if you correctly priced.
Yes but wouldn't all that then depends on how many attend the market and actually purchase. Because $5 items are going to require more buying customers. I think there's more to consider.@@WorksofWhimsyCrochetCo
Oh yeah. I am all about properly pricing. I have had plenty of people stating that my items are priced too high. And while I know you said where you live shouldn't determine price. I live in Boca Baby!!😂 That is in South Florida. High cost of living and lots of rich people. Lol. No I am not one of the rich people. But I plan on making more larger one of a kind items and less amigurumi. I am currently working on a filet crochet piece that has over 6,000 stitches. Then I am going to attach it to a quilt which I will also make. Probably make swimsuit covers and have sea creature amigurumi too. Oh i love making alligators.
Yes!!!! I love that for you!!! Though, to clarify, I said where you live isn't a real to underprice specifically. You shouldn't essentially set yourself up to where you're literally losing money because you don't think someone would buy a piece for more. HOWEVER, I do think location should be taken into consideration when pricing. I know when I go more rural, I'll knock off a few dollars on my larger stuff. But like a few, like $5 or less. But that's also why this year, I've really tried to focus on trying to find the best events so I'm not having to price shift at all. Re-tagging things sucks haha.
agree to disagree. not everything make from yarn is a luxury item. I would say i personally understand the quality and longevity of a good quality handmade item that is made to fill a specific need and made by a skilled craftsman/woman. Pricing will always need to cover the cost of materials at minimum, or they wont be able to keep doing it for long. If people are flocking to cheap items, those are probably not the clients you want either. Maybe your niche should change if you are finding it too competitive. maybe you should buck the trend and make something useful that is quick and can be fairly cheaply made that people can feel good about and when it wears out. maybe they come back.
I wouldn't say necessarily that the items themselves are luxury. HOWEVER, I do think there's a clear difference in value between a Walmart teddy bear and a crocheted teddy bear even if they're all synthetic materials. You're paying for my time and skill more than the materials in a lot of cases.
We were working on a new trial set up outside, tent and all during daylight hours (tent and all don't fit well in my house to do it inside), and it just took a little longer than I thought it would moving stuff around and trying to figure it all out, so it got dark. I didn't want to bring all the plushies back inside to do the video where I share prices that I do before every event, so we just did it outside. Though, obviously the fact that it was basically pitch black was less than ideal haha. If you watch my other videos sharing my prices, I promise the quality is a smidgen better... well the lighting at least is better haha.
I love your rant. I've been so frustrated lately with another local crochet business. She's been at 2 of my last 3 events, and her peices are ridiculiusly low. From what i see, she does excellent work and ahould be charging a lot more. People stop at my booth after and consistenly complain about my prices (which are actually still too low, but I'm raising them gradually as I figure out what the market can support) because hers are much lower. I don't know why she's in business at all given the tiny profit she must be making.
Yeah, I definitely understand it takes time to get comfortable pricing, and I have like a $5 pricing window that I shift within for certain areas. Like if I'm going real rural, some of my larger stuff goes $5 lower. But of course, I'm still ensuring I make money because I've got bills haha. And just crochet related bills at that, not even my house bills, but I'm working on making a full time income for realsies with crochet. And I think I may hit that next year based on my growth in the last year and a half. I think WERE in the minority still, the people who want crochet to be profitable and a real way to make money, but we need keep working on the perspective shift, in my opinion.
Sadly, many of the crochet businesses are up against hobby crocheters. Hobby crocheters are at markets. They do not tax deduct anything and they sell to get rid of and just get a bit of money for them.
I get what you're saying, but that, at least speaking from the perspective of living in the US, is illegal. You're making money and not paying taxes on it so that's technically tax evasion, for one. And for two, it's not that we're against hobby crocheters, it's that hobby crocheters basically always under charge as a rule, because "it's just for fun", but if it were just for fun, you wouldn't be charging at all, and once you start charging, it becomes a business. And it messes up the perceived market value of crochet products when a large portion of crocheters think it's okay to sit in this "hobby business" category that ACTUALLY doesn't exist because, at this current time, there seems to be more people like that than more people trying to treat their crochet business as an actual business. And, to remind people, if you are selling something for money, it's a business.
I'm here because in an artisan groupe on facebook someone is selling a set of snow white finger puppets for $120 and she said it took 50 hours to make. Without taking the cost of material out it comes to $2.40/hour. We're based in Switzerland, nobody should be paid less than 20/h here. People like that are fucking up the market for everyone else. It's out of the question that I compromise my prices because of stupid and selfish people like that. I'm so angry right not. I made a comment about it and her reaction was to laugh. I already hate that person even though we don't make the same type of crochet, she's devaluing the work for everyone else.
So many crochet sellers are really low skilled. I appreciate that people should charge for their time but with that, if I hired a gardener and they didn't know how to actually garden properly they shouldn't be charging full price.
I agree, but acting for time doesn't necessarily mean we should all be working at the same hourly wage. Lower hourly wage for people who are newer/slower. Higher hourly wage for people who are more skilled and putting out higher quality work, faster.
I both agree and disagree. I do think people just are rude about pricing for profit regardless because that's just something they've not gotten the hang of yet (which, understandable, because it weirdly takes practice to be comfortable with), but I DO think it's like a bit political to discuss pricing. Though, indirectly kind of. Everyone's excuse for not pricing effectively is the economy, which IS affected/influenced by political bodies. So, it is kind of political to talk about. And I used to kind of tip toe around it and be more like, "this is just what I do, you don't have too" instead of saying what I do now, which is "this is what I do, and YOU should too" because I'm actively considering how many expenses I have throughout my whole business and how much I'd like to be able to scale/grow my business in the future, when I'm setting my prices now. And so many people overlook the fact that materials aren't the only expense in their business, even if they do JUST do markets (versus someone like me who does markets, online sales of finished plushies, patterns, and felt eyes, content creation, affiliate marketing, and I have hopes of having my own crochet book one day and I know I'll have to pay for tech editing and probably even photography if I want it to be really good. So I'm trying to build up my income to accommodate that in the future.)
We've actually tested this theory and found that when wearing professional or branded clothes we make more money and get more traffic than when dressed too casual. There's something to be said about your business being recognizable through passive marketing like branded clothes.
You could be right but I think there's also subconscious messaging we send potential customers with how we look and how our booth looks that really can affect things. Maybe more than we think. It's the same concept that is the motivating reason why a lot of fast food restaurants have red in their color scheme. McDonalds, Hardees, Jack in the Box. There have been studies done that show red is the most stimulating color for our appetites. It's like subliminal messaging telling you to eat and eat a lot. So lots of food businesses lean into this. Of course, it really could just be a fluke, but it is interesting that it lines up with the one time I dressed casually. Id test it more but I don't necessarily have a lot of money to play with in case I have another flop again haha.
16:30 yes. thank you. I'm in some facebook groups for sharing free patterns and someone will ask how much they should price something that took them like 4 hours to make, and people will just go "where I live you couldn't sell that for more than $8, I recommend $5" and it's like. what is wrong with you. You wouldn't dream of accepting that kind of payment from an employer.
Yes! Exactly! I know in some circumstances traveling to other areas isn't feasible. However, I suspect for a lot of people, it's more doable than they realize. I didn't realize how many different events were actually around me until I started working them. I know that's not going to be the same for everyone, but it's unrealistic to habitually undercharge.
I'm glad to hear your views. I'm 75 and been crocheting since 7. Recently, I crocheted themed doll that I designed. I asked my friend for $100, and he reacted as i stepped on his foot. I didn't back up. Since his a friend i allowed him a payment plan. It's important to know the value of your work and talents.
I love the idea of crochet being a luxury item! ❤
Yes! I love that for you!!! Excellent job being fair but also not compromising on your worth!!!
I wish other people would understand that if they're undercharging for their work, they're just making it even harder for the rest of us to actually get paid the ammount our time, effort, and skill are worth.
It definitely can. However, even in the 2 years I've been in business, I've already started to see a shift in mindset in this area. People are realizing this isn't just their granny's favorite hobby. It's art too. And not only is it valuable, they also need to appreciate their granny more for all the things she's made for them over the years haha.
Not everyone will feel this way, but as crochet gets more and more mainstream, more and more people will start to "get it".
You GO girl this is 100% truth!! We don’t go out to eat and expect them to charge the price we could get the same food for at the grocery store. Just because it is a self owned business does not mean we can’t price items high enough to be profitable like all other consumer businesses!
Say it louder for the people in the back, baby!!! I'm GOING to make money at this. Period. Hard stop. And if that means I make slightly less sales because my stuff is slightly higher in price, than so be it because that means my time is ACTUALLY being accounted for and I'm not working my a$$ off just to break even.
THANK YOU. 1000%
This is definitely something that needs to be talked about more. Obviously everyone has their own opinions, but this is useful to hear. There is definitely not a one size fits all for this kind of business. Im still in my beginning stages, so Im not to the point of making a livable income yet. But this gives me more confidence to how I price my items. So thank you 😊
Yes, don't burn yourself out by working your tail off only to barely break even!!!
I agree with you completely. Crochet must be made by hand, no machine duplicates what we can do or what we can create. Paying yourself minimum wage, at minimum, will tell the people buying what you make that you value your time as much as they should. Even your time at a market to sell what you made is valuable, too.
You are very knowledgeable and have a great business sense. I am very impressed with you young women starting your businesses at home and some of you work outside of the home. Best of luck to all of you!
Say it louder for the people in the back!!! Crochet IS and will likely ALWAYS be a little extra special for that reason, why are we telling people something that took hours is only worth $5-$10. Gift if at that point, then it's all the more special!
Thank you for being so supportive
There's a stall at this antique market that I found recently. The vendor had sooo many unique patterns and amazing stitch work, but her pieces were priced so low!! I told the shop owner that the seller should really price the pieces higher and talked up her work. I really hope this got back to the seller and that she prices higher.
Yes! Good for you for looking out! That's amazing!
I love & appreciate this rant. Thank you very much. Your thoughts are spot on. I have been selling at markets for 12 years now, have had an Etsy shop for 10 & recently started my vlog. I have continued to raise my prices over the years & will continue to do so. Bravo! Also, I will be watching more of your videos as a new subscriber. ❤️
I actually am going to be doing a better job at accounting for materials for my fall markets, so I'm upping my prices too. The fact is, in this economy, EVERYTHING is expensive. Including the yarn to make things. So in order to profit, we need to actually price well!
hahaha I make hair bows and I have NEVER EVER EVER nor WILL I EVER lower my prices and I am super blessed enough to say I MAKE A PROFIT and have been able to stay in business MAKING MONEY for 11 years now!! We now stream on WhatNot and my daughter moderates for me and says "mom no one has EVER complained about your prices" and I have a deal where buy 12 bows get the 13th free for $46 and she is amazed at how often that bundle sells. The number of REPEAT customers is crazy!
I'm with you I'm not doing this for fun, I'm doing this for PROFIT!!!!
What's your Whatnot handle? I love Whatnot and stream regularly!
YESSSSSS!!!! I love that for you guys! And you're training your own little entrepreneur!!! She's going to have an amazing business sense!!!
Love this video. So much good information. I love the business learning with you. It's very fun. 😃❤️
I have encountered crochet hobbiest at markets, where they just earned enough for "yarn money ". But just going to a market or a bigger event is very expensive.
I like your thinking for a business you have to sell! 🎉
Events can be expensive for sure. In other industries, it's not uncommon for people to pay $200-300+ for markets, but those kinds of markets are already kind of outside of our grasp because it takes so many crochet hours just to break even at those events. But even for the "cheaper" events we tend to do, you still have to price well to make a profit. And I would venture to bet, if I ran down THEIR numbers, they're not even making enough for yarn money.
Also, thank you so much!!! I try!!
As someone who sells my mushroom fidget pops made from parfait chunky and ended up at a market with someone selling them in Bernat Blanket for $3 sometimes its about the quality and people will buy the more expensive one. To be fair tho she said she had also only been crocheting for a month and I think theres something else to be said for people who learned last week and already selling today before making it look nice first.
That's true. Plus, newer people don't KNOW how to price effectively yet. It's not like that was taught in school. So while that can be a bit annoying (though, thankfully it didn't hinder your sales), she gets a pass because she has yet to learn the skill of pricing for profit. And it is a skill because you really have to think big picture about it. The problem lies in the people who think that it's okay to just price to cover the yarn and it just really doesn't work like that haha.
I really wish, people would master crochet before going to market. I have 50 yrs experience, started at 5. I literally cringe at the sight of some market makers lack of skill, and then they will say that took 5 hours to make and sell a 10 inch plushie for 95 dollars😂. You can 't effectively pay yourself 15 an hour when you don't know what you are doing. 1 Dino pattern, 15 of them in the bin all the same type of yarn but none were the same size, all wonky and misshapen.
Thank you for saying this! I get so frustrated by people underpricing because they asked "an old lady at knit night" if they'd pay $X for a hat and they said no.
I totally agree! And it's not even that everything needs to be expensive, but I don't think expecting $20 for a dinosaur that takes like 45 minutes to make is insane or overcharging or asking a lot or unattainable to the average person in this economy haha. It's very reasonable, and there's like a billion smaller patterns out there in this size so you can make a whole table of stuff in this price range to not exclude anyone but still make a profit!!! Which, I know you understand, but still haha, it needs to be said!!! I use plushies as an example because that's what I do, but some hats are fairly fast to make so use those patterns for your "lower price" items, and then you can still make fancier hats that take more time and still charge appropriately for them, and those are just for people looking to splurge a little more!
😂😂😂 the Worst. Yes.
I am glad someone has brains just do your thing
Thank you! I do my best!
I can't wait for your video on the do's and don'ts of crochet market displays!
Coming soon! I promise!
The thing is, if people are not willing to pay what something is worth, then they don’t need it. And I’m not talking about Walmart monopolizing potato chips and charging $18 a bag, I’m talking about something being priced to cover materials and overhead AND paying for your time. If it’s not worth that price to them, they can make it themselves.
That's absolutely true. If they truly don't think it's worth that price but won't it, then can make it themselves. Thankfully, I've run into very few people that ACTUALLY don't think crochet is worth that much. The people who don't buy are always so gracious and compliment my work, nonetheless, even if it's not the right time for them to buy. Which I'm appreciative of because, it might not spend the same as money, but having people excited about my work is just as thrilling to me as making the actual sale a lot of the time. Like that moment when they walk into my booth and like pause and take it all in and just say, "woooow! This is so cool"... it's a really awesome feeling.
You're very down-to-earth and I completely agree with your stance.
Thank you so much! I really like being able to talk from the stance of a "regular person" honestly. Though, at the same time I'm also excited for the opportunities doing stuff like TH-cam has brought me. And this isn't exactly a regular part of the crochet business model. But I feel like this kind of stuff is just common sense. We work hard, we should be paid, and it's okay to like your job AND be well paid. That's a nice way to live.
Thank you for reminding people that it’s not the individual price, it’s the price for everything you’ll produce. Instead of “how much would you want for mowing the lawn” imagine how much money would you like to have after you mowed a lawn every day for a month. Put the labor in perspective. I made this mistake pet sitting, never again.
For sure. Like you might make $1000 at a market, but if it took you two months to make all that stock, that's not much money AT ALL. So the bigger picture is really important to consider. It is hard though. I've taken A TON of business classes. I have a degree in marketing and almost a BA in business administration and somehow that wasn't enough to avoid the trial by fire phase.
I had another business & had to pay monthly FL sales tax, also. Adds up!
It really does and you just reminded me I missed my Q3 filing date. Ugh, I hate taxes lol.
Jacki, thank you for your video. Not sure why I never thought of crocheted items as a luxury and that I should keep my items at a profit. I have fell pray to the “I won’t get $40 for an 16” long Dino even if it took me 2 hours and $10 in yarn. I’m retired and pay myself $8-10/hr and when I priced a detailed amigurumi cow and a pig and a horse (all 12” tall), the shop where I sell my items said people were rolling their eyes and complaining. But you are right! It doesn’t matter that I live in So. Mississippi. If someone wants to buy an heirloom, handmade,keepsake 12” cow then they will be willing to pay $58. There is something called perceived value and if makers create a small whale and charge $3, the handmade toy is perceived no better than a dog chew toy. I know this but lowered my pricing anyway. Thank you for snapping me out of it.
Yesss! You should be paid well and your plushies ARE special and could really be long term keepsakes/heirlooms, so they should be charged as such. I definitely know that it's hard to price well because you don't want to put anyone off, but at the same time, you're right. If you're selling something for only $3, you're basically telling them that it's a disposable item with basically no value. That's why I really like to charge a range. So, I have some inexpensive plushies for my families on a budget, or that have multiple kids. Because $15 isn't a lot of money TECHNICALLY, but it becomes a lot when you're shopping for 5 children lol. So I try to stock quite a few different options in the $5-$10, and then my larger plushies consistently go up to about $50 (with stuff at $10, $15, $18, $20, $25, etc in between the $10-$50 range). AND THEN, even from there I have the occasional outlier that's even more expensive than that and that's simple a pattern that I wanted to make that I'm also going to sell eventually haha. But that way, all price points are covered, so no one gets left out!
Good explanation of pricing and a business. Anyone thinking of entering markets etc should watch.
i wanna do a flea market, im only 13 , i crochet and i really wanna sell. im really confused about everything behind it i thought you just pay the booth fee then sell your items, any good tips?
Well essentially, that IS the bare basics. You bring your stuff, and you sell it. And that could be the only part of a crochet business you're interested in, so you just have to make sure your pricing accounts for paying for materials (stuffing, safety eyes, yarn, etc), some time for you (I recommend your hourly wage be no less than whatever minimum wage is in your state), and market fees (so if your market costs like $50, and you're bringing 50 plushies to sell, at least add a dollar onto the price of your plushies to be able to afford to pay for your markets). However, markets aren't the only thing you can do with a crochet business. You can sell online on Etsy or your own website (with your parent's permission... Etsy is the cheaper option when first starting out, but you'd need to connect a bank account to it, so your parent's absolutely need to know/be involved in the online business area, just so they can help make sure your financially covered... it's easy on Etsy to turn on ads and not realize how much money you're spending and rack up a big bill, which would be upsetting for both you and your parent's bank account. So just get permission and help if you go that avenue). You can also do research and learn how to write your own patterns, which is good if you're selling online. You can even get into running your own crochet TH-cam channel and learn about crochet content creation. From there, you can get paid just for views on your channel or even for recommending products and having people buy them through something called "affiliate links". Like I like to Amazon products I like, like the hooks I have. And if someone clicks on my link to buy those hooks, I get like 5 whole cents haha. It's not a fantastic way to make money, but every little bit helps. But again, definitely get your parent's permission before putting yourself or any information about yourself on the internet. It can be a very dangerous thing for ANYONE, including myself, but especially a person your age. But doing markets is a good place to start. It'll help you ease into having your own business. And you can look up videos on how to make sure your market set up looks really nice/professional. I'm doing a video on this soon, but it's not up yet, so just start checking out other videos that are out there. There's tons of videos about this topic that can help!
Thank you so much!!! I try! I just want to make sure that everyone can have as successful of a business that they want! And a lot of that does come down to pricing, and finding good markets where people understand why your prices are the way they are, but that's a whole separate topic haha. But we do cool shi*t and it's special, so we shouldn't be scared of charging for it. And it's not even that everything needs to be expensive, but I don't think expecting $20 for a dinosaur that takes like 45 minutes to make is insane or overcharging or asking a lot or unattainable to the average person in this economy haha. And there's like a billion smaller patterns out there in this size so you can make a whole table of stuff in this price range to not exclude anyone but still make a profit!!! Which, I know you understand, but still haha, it needs to be said!!!
Your info is spot on. We need to treat our businesses as a business. I wasn't able to finish watching as the noise in the background was getting too distracting and made it hard to listen and hear what you were saying. Good luck to you.
Sorry about that! My kids are usually pretty good when I'm filming, but sometimes they're chaotic haha. But I do appreciate you watching as far as you could and even leaving a positive comment!!! It means a lot!
People do this in the spiritual community as well. Say we shouldn't profit because it's a gift. Spare me. I need to live as well.
Omg, literally! Food costs money, even for extra special people lol.
@WorksofWhimsyCrochetCo nah we can just all live on air. Who needs food anyway! 🤣
The first and only market that I had so far was a total flop. The market ran from 10am to 4-5pm, and I made 2 sales over the entire day (one of which was a friend that came by to chat). There was another crochet artist at the booth right next to me and they did make a small profit.
A few contributing factors; a huge booth (4m wide, which made the booth setup a bit sad looking), me just starting out and the rain drizzles during the day probably didn't help. Also, the market was advertised as this big market while in reality it wasn't that big..
I haven't done any other markets since, partly because it was a flop and because life got pretty busy after that.
I would give it a try. In my experience, even a little bit of rain can really kill the traffic at an event. Try to find markets that are centered around a special occasion, like a fall festival or a strawberry festival, or a pioneer days kind of event, versus more "generic" events like a monthly farmers market. The farmers market can still be profitable, they'll have their regulars, but the specialty kind of events draw bigger crowds. Bigger crowds mean more opportunities to make sales, and more opportunities typically means more actual sales. If you do just ONE market in fall, try something for October. Those were my most profitable fall markets last year.
@@WorksofWhimsyCrochetCo unfortunately in the Netherlands there aren't a lot of markets. But I'm currently too busy with my job and my two bachelor studies to even think about doing a market.
But I definitely want to do more in the future, when I'm able to afford it more easily!
We have been "sold" attendance numbers for markets before that just were untrue. Best thing is to visit markets frequently even when you aren't selling so you can decide which markets to shoot for in the future. We don't go to markets we don't know.
I needed this pep talk btw my last market was $40 fee and I only sold 4 $15 plushies 😢😢😢
Ugh, that hurts!!! I'm so sorry! I'm sure it was a fluke, but that doesn't make it suck any less!!!
On your pricing rant:
Girl.
Did we just become best friends ? 😁💗
Absolutely! Welcome to the dark side! Here we do this crazy thing where we ACTUALLY make money selling crochet products!
In South Carolina, if you only do 4 events or Markets a year, you do not need a license or collect taxes.. More thar 4 a year you do.
I will take your word for it, because I sure don't know South Carolina law! But I know in Florida, you have to pay tax on the sales you make, for sure. And that's ALL sales technically, so it's not just market dependent. AND the real annoying part is the tax rate varies from county to county, so I have to know what markets I did where to calculate the right tax rate. It's tiresome haha.
Really appreciated this video. Lots of good points.
Thank you so much!!! I just want all of use to be as successful as we can be and not be held back in achieving our potential because we've underpriced!
I'm all for trying to make money with anything that you do, but sometimes people do overprice crochet items especially items made with thick yarn. Those yarns are not the best quality. I am all for pricing items the way you want to price them, but please keep in mind quality over quantity will yield better customers for the long term.❤
I hear you, but I disagree because quality is subjective. For a child, a durable, yet washable fluffy yarn like bernat blanket IS good quality for a plushie. Parfait chunky, as far as chenille yarns go, is also reasonably durable and washable, so also good for plushies. Same with small toys made with acrylic yarn, since it's washable yet durable, it's actually a smart choice. Now, would I use acrylic for a dish cloth? No. Something like a kitchen cotton is better quality for that application. Would I use a kitchen cotton for a nice summer shirt though? Nope, kitchen cotton is definitely perfect for wash cloths, soap savers, face scrubbies, but it's too rough a cotton to really make a quality top. So what makes something quality is subjective. Most kids don't want a stuffed animal made with tiny fancy yarn lol. They want something squishy and of a good size lol. Plus, if someone wants to charge a super high hourly rate, that's on them. They've decided their time is valuable, and are charging as such. If they're making sales, you, objectively, might think they're overpriced, but clearly there is still a market demand for their items at those prices. And if their high prices discourage sales, then they know they need to adjust. But I personally don't think there's anything wrong with aiming high. It's not like selling all your plushies at like $60 a pop ever made anyone an actual millionaire. That's still hardly a livable wage, so no one's pricing is really even THAT crazy.
I spent 8 hours crocheting a big snake to sell and my mom was trying to shame me into selling it for $10, even after I explained to her how long it took and how many materials it required. I used hand-harvested canna lily seeds to fill the head rather than polyfill. She's been a professional artist her whole life, you'd think she's grasp how valuable an artist's time is. But nope!! "it's just a hobby, no one wants to pay a lot for it" yeah, because you don't think I'm worth even paying minimum wage.
Omg! That's absolutely worth FAR MORE than $10! There are definitely always going to be people who see it as a "hobby", but that's why we gotta continue to educate people. I get asked all the time how long various items take and people are always shocked. It's far longer than people realize. However, once that clicks, they start understanding why the pricing is what it is.
It seems everyone uses plushy yarn these days. I use worsted weight for my amigurumi. It means they take longer to make and probably should be priced higher than plushy yarn items, even though they are usually smaller (if going by the same/similar pattern). It hasn't slowed my sales though. I am just wondering if I am the only worsted weight amigurumi crafter left!
I use worsted weight! I tried the dollar tree chenille once and hated it. The fuzz, can't find my stitches, snapping on magic ring, getting caught on itself while using or weaving in ends? Yuck.
Plush vs worsted has the opposites of:
plush yarn = expensive, but fast & big
Worsted = cheap, but slow & small
It feels weird for me use a plush yarn intended pattern and charge the same price or even higher as the plush creator that took 20 minutes for them, while Im making half the size in 40min 🥲
I use worsted weight for SOME stuff. But yes, it absolutely should be priced higher even if it's smaller, if the time invested says so. If I make something that takes 2 hours but is only 4 inches tall, it still took 2 hours so I'm going at least $40 on it.
I still think pricing by time should go for worsted weight. I made a doll that's like 6 inches tall in worsted weight, and I'm 100% pricing it for like $70-$80. It was time consuming.
And just fyi, not all plush yarn is like that. Bernat blanket doesn't shed. Premier parfait chunky can shed some but it's less fragile too. I'm not sure if you ever branched out again, so I just wanted to let you know there were other options.
I just found you and I love your rant!! I’m not a fan! It makes me so mad when I am in competition for someone who says oh I just want to make enough for more yarn.
And you KNOW if they did the math, they're actually losing money. It just doesn't feel like it because they get to walk away with $200-$300 per event, without realizing they've actually spent at least that in yarn, food at the event, event fees, gas to get to events, patterns, safety eyes, etc.
@@WorksofWhimsyCrochetCo I meant to say I am NOW a fan lol. I assume you figured that out though. Yes I felt your rant to my core girl! Grrr!
You really shouldn't be 'mad' about people who want to just make enough to cover their yarn. It's none of your business what they choose to do.
I don't think you're 100% right, following your own point of a business always wants profit and crochet is a luxury, you have to underprice sometimes if you wanna sell at all, specially with the location (ik you said that's not a valid excuse but it's not a excuse) you gotta know your crowd. I know that in person I'm most likely to sell 10 5 buck items than one 40 buck one, so I gotta underprice so I can meet my margin and make profit out of time, materials, etc but online I know that I can raise the prices and even overprice it sometimes and people will pay for it bc they specifically seeked me out
If the market you are at can't afford your $40 pieces but buys your $5 pieces, then you don't under price your $40, piece you make sure your inventory supports an equivalent amount of $5 pieces. You also still bring your $40 pieces out because you don't determine a customers budget, they do. You can also offer services (like cleaning cards, subscription discounts etc) to make your $40+ items look more palatable. This also gives your business more credibility and brings return customers.
It's also worth making sure you are connected in your market area so you are able to be in the know on higher quality markets that bring higher paying customers. 😊
Respectfully, I disagree. As Rebecca said, if you know your customers shop mostly within the $5-10 range, you can find small patterns that are fast to make, like mini octos, mini frogs, mini whales, mini mushrooms, small fruits (like strawberries or blueberries), small flowers, etc. So you still have tons of options for things you can make in that price range that only take you 10-15 minutes to make, so you're still making a decently hourly wage and profit. And that doesn't mean you can't make those bigger items at higher price points still for when people want to splurge, but you can still absolutely stock your market with inventory that your customers can afford WITHOUT losing money. And there's a difference between a lower profit margin and flat out underpricing. Like you may only make $15 an hour on something that I may be able to make $25 an hour on, but you're still paying yourself for labor, which should be factored into your profit margin. So, like if you want your hourly to be $15 and you sell ten $5 octos that take 10 minutes each to make, you've made $50 in revenue, but then you need to account for the $25 in labor you need to pay yourself. 10 octos for 10 minutes each is 100 minutes. 100 minutes divided by 60 minutes means that's 1.66 hours. 1.66 hours x $15 an hour is $25. So you need to take your $50 in revenue, pay yourself $25 for labor, we'll call it a generous $10 ($1 per octo in supplies, but it's really probably closer to half that lol) for materials. That still leaves you with $15 in ACTUAL profit. You can re-invest that profit back into your business in the way of more markets, starting your online store, etc. And you did that on selling $5 items.
@@WorksofWhimsyCrochetCo people don't want tiny stuff, they'll buy it if that's all you have but mostly they want cute bigger stuff for a reasonable price, you must have got it wrong, I'm not underpricing a 40 dollar worth piece for 5-10, it's most likely a 10 to 6 or a 20 to 10. To me, that's underpricing so you can make a profit and in my experience, it's a bigger profit than if I charged what I thought that piece was really worth
@@Babybearcroche people do want small items. I started selling in May, in a low income area, with prices based on $15/hour and materials with at least a 20% profit increase after that. I have big items and small items. And I have sold A LOT of items that are small and even my larger ones. It just depends on how much they want them. If you don’t try to charge the prices you would like to make and just assume it won’t sell for that, you’re never going to make what you could if you correctly priced.
Yes but wouldn't all that then depends on how many attend the market and actually purchase. Because $5 items are going to require more buying customers. I think there's more to consider.@@WorksofWhimsyCrochetCo
Oh yeah. I am all about properly pricing.
I have had plenty of people stating that my items are priced too high. And while I know you said where you live shouldn't determine price.
I live in Boca Baby!!😂 That is in South Florida. High cost of living and lots of rich people. Lol. No I am not one of the rich people.
But I plan on making more larger one of a kind items and less amigurumi.
I am currently working on a filet crochet piece that has over 6,000 stitches. Then I am going to attach it to a quilt which I will also make.
Probably make swimsuit covers and have sea creature amigurumi too. Oh i love making alligators.
Yes!!!! I love that for you!!! Though, to clarify, I said where you live isn't a real to underprice specifically. You shouldn't essentially set yourself up to where you're literally losing money because you don't think someone would buy a piece for more. HOWEVER, I do think location should be taken into consideration when pricing. I know when I go more rural, I'll knock off a few dollars on my larger stuff. But like a few, like $5 or less. But that's also why this year, I've really tried to focus on trying to find the best events so I'm not having to price shift at all. Re-tagging things sucks haha.
Love this walk through 😍
Thank you so much!
Great video!
Thank you so much!!! I really try!!
agree to disagree. not everything make from yarn is a luxury item. I would say i personally understand the quality and longevity of a good quality handmade item that is made to fill a specific need and made by a skilled craftsman/woman.
Pricing will always need to cover the cost of materials at minimum, or they wont be able to keep doing it for long. If people are flocking to cheap items, those are probably not the clients you want either. Maybe your niche should change if you are finding it too competitive. maybe you should buck the trend and make something useful that is quick and can be fairly cheaply made that people can feel good about and when it wears out. maybe they come back.
I wouldn't say necessarily that the items themselves are luxury. HOWEVER, I do think there's a clear difference in value between a Walmart teddy bear and a crocheted teddy bear even if they're all synthetic materials. You're paying for my time and skill more than the materials in a lot of cases.
Just curious, why are you outside?
We were working on a new trial set up outside, tent and all during daylight hours (tent and all don't fit well in my house to do it inside), and it just took a little longer than I thought it would moving stuff around and trying to figure it all out, so it got dark. I didn't want to bring all the plushies back inside to do the video where I share prices that I do before every event, so we just did it outside. Though, obviously the fact that it was basically pitch black was less than ideal haha. If you watch my other videos sharing my prices, I promise the quality is a smidgen better... well the lighting at least is better haha.
I love your rant. I've been so frustrated lately with another local crochet business. She's been at 2 of my last 3 events, and her peices are ridiculiusly low. From what i see, she does excellent work and ahould be charging a lot more. People stop at my booth after and consistenly complain about my prices (which are actually still too low, but I'm raising them gradually as I figure out what the market can support) because hers are much lower. I don't know why she's in business at all given the tiny profit she must be making.
Yeah, I definitely understand it takes time to get comfortable pricing, and I have like a $5 pricing window that I shift within for certain areas. Like if I'm going real rural, some of my larger stuff goes $5 lower. But of course, I'm still ensuring I make money because I've got bills haha. And just crochet related bills at that, not even my house bills, but I'm working on making a full time income for realsies with crochet. And I think I may hit that next year based on my growth in the last year and a half. I think WERE in the minority still, the people who want crochet to be profitable and a real way to make money, but we need keep working on the perspective shift, in my opinion.
Sadly, many of the crochet businesses are up against hobby crocheters. Hobby crocheters are at markets. They do not tax deduct anything and they sell to get rid of and just get a bit of money for them.
I get what you're saying, but that, at least speaking from the perspective of living in the US, is illegal. You're making money and not paying taxes on it so that's technically tax evasion, for one. And for two, it's not that we're against hobby crocheters, it's that hobby crocheters basically always under charge as a rule, because "it's just for fun", but if it were just for fun, you wouldn't be charging at all, and once you start charging, it becomes a business. And it messes up the perceived market value of crochet products when a large portion of crocheters think it's okay to sit in this "hobby business" category that ACTUALLY doesn't exist because, at this current time, there seems to be more people like that than more people trying to treat their crochet business as an actual business. And, to remind people, if you are selling something for money, it's a business.
I'm here because in an artisan groupe on facebook someone is selling a set of snow white finger puppets for $120 and she said it took 50 hours to make. Without taking the cost of material out it comes to $2.40/hour. We're based in Switzerland, nobody should be paid less than 20/h here. People like that are fucking up the market for everyone else. It's out of the question that I compromise my prices because of stupid and selfish people like that. I'm so angry right not. I made a comment about it and her reaction was to laugh. I already hate that person even though we don't make the same type of crochet, she's devaluing the work for everyone else.
So many crochet sellers are really low skilled. I appreciate that people should charge for their time but with that, if I hired a gardener and they didn't know how to actually garden properly they shouldn't be charging full price.
I agree, but acting for time doesn't necessarily mean we should all be working at the same hourly wage. Lower hourly wage for people who are newer/slower. Higher hourly wage for people who are more skilled and putting out higher quality work, faster.
I didn't listen to the end of the video. It was impossible to listen because of the noise in the background. terrible
I will take your feedback under advisement for future videos.
nothing you said was politically correct or incorrect. its not political at all. those people were just tryna bully you into lowering your price.
I both agree and disagree. I do think people just are rude about pricing for profit regardless because that's just something they've not gotten the hang of yet (which, understandable, because it weirdly takes practice to be comfortable with), but I DO think it's like a bit political to discuss pricing. Though, indirectly kind of. Everyone's excuse for not pricing effectively is the economy, which IS affected/influenced by political bodies. So, it is kind of political to talk about. And I used to kind of tip toe around it and be more like, "this is just what I do, you don't have too" instead of saying what I do now, which is "this is what I do, and YOU should too" because I'm actively considering how many expenses I have throughout my whole business and how much I'd like to be able to scale/grow my business in the future, when I'm setting my prices now. And so many people overlook the fact that materials aren't the only expense in their business, even if they do JUST do markets (versus someone like me who does markets, online sales of finished plushies, patterns, and felt eyes, content creation, affiliate marketing, and I have hopes of having my own crochet book one day and I know I'll have to pay for tech editing and probably even photography if I want it to be really good. So I'm trying to build up my income to accommodate that in the future.)
What you are wearing has nothing to do with it. It’s just a fluke. It happens.
We've actually tested this theory and found that when wearing professional or branded clothes we make more money and get more traffic than when dressed too casual. There's something to be said about your business being recognizable through passive marketing like branded clothes.
You could be right but I think there's also subconscious messaging we send potential customers with how we look and how our booth looks that really can affect things. Maybe more than we think. It's the same concept that is the motivating reason why a lot of fast food restaurants have red in their color scheme. McDonalds, Hardees, Jack in the Box. There have been studies done that show red is the most stimulating color for our appetites. It's like subliminal messaging telling you to eat and eat a lot. So lots of food businesses lean into this. Of course, it really could just be a fluke, but it is interesting that it lines up with the one time I dressed casually. Id test it more but I don't necessarily have a lot of money to play with in case I have another flop again haha.
@@WorksofWhimsyCrochetCo The curse of Jake from State Farm! 🤣