[Jewelry making - Article 00643] - Re: [Orchid] Why Young People Care About Handmade Things

[Sam Patania]

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>     For many years, my boothmate, marked everything up, 3 times
>     material cost. Somehow, she didn't think that she could charge for
>     her labor (since your labor isn't deductable). 

    I don't know what " labor is not deductable" even means. The
    formulas for pricing I have been using and have studied are 5 times
    material cost PLUS labor, that is fair to the producer and consumer.
    Otherwise the producer gets nothing for their labor and how can
    anyone survive with out charging for what they sell? Labor is sold
    just like material and needs compensation. In fact labor is what
    makes the material I buy into anything but sheet and wire, if the
    consumer could make what I make they wouldn't be a customer for me.
    The rational for a multiplyer of 5 is to cover shipping costs, and
    the costs associated with finding suppliers as well as paying for
    overhead. It costs money to have a booth, for instance, and there is
    also a lost opportunity cost for producing or selling anything, the
    question there is, would my money make me more money doing something
    else? If a savings account is making 5% then I would be foolish
    putting my money anywhere that won't make at least 5%. The break even
    formula is so important and underused. Having said all that, I am an
    artist who regularly is foolish in the name of creating my art, what
    I love but, I also do it with eyes wide open to the larger business
    world. 

    Beaders face a larger competition but also have a larger market but
    that market is looking not so much for artists but for price and
    color. So there seems to be a built in sealing for beading prices,
    in my opinion, they are competing with overseas producers ( I live
    and work in the US) who can beat US labor prices every time and
    maybe materials costs too, although they still have to ship to the
    US. I have watched the handmade bead market all but dry up in the US
    Southwest, it is just too costly to make sterling beads by hand here
    in the US. 

    I think that as soon as esty is discovered by import businesses it
    will be taken over. If I were an import business I would make me
    look like a small time US producer and start up on etsy and any
    other place that low priced crafts are being sold. 

Sam Patania, Tucson
www.silverhuntress.com
www.bahti.com
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