Pricing info

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Status
Not open for further replies.

fireflex8263

Member
Joined
Aug 30, 2004
Messages
20
Location
Liberty Township, Ohio, USA.
I am at a loss. I was recently contacted by a person who wants to buy my pens to sell in her store. She showcases local artists and is interested in buying them outright for a discounted price. I'm not sure how to price the pens. Any ideas. She is going to buy ten and then sell them. Thanks for your help.:)

Troy
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad

PenWorks

Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2004
Messages
5,186
Location
Scottsdale, AZ
Troy, your on the right track. I like the word BUY vs consign. There are so many formulas & variables floating around, it will make your head spin. I hope you can negotiate something agreeable for the both of you. But only you know your costs and how you value your time. Good Luck, Anthony
 

DCBluesman

Passed Away Mar 3, 2016
In Memoriam
Joined
Aug 22, 2004
Messages
7,679
Location
WOODBRIDGE, VIRGINIA
If you have an idea of what you would sell your pens for yourself, I generally discount my pens 40% if they outright buy them. For consignments, I give them a commission of 30%. I figure there is at least that much more risk in consign versus buy. As for pricing your pens at retail, there are numerous discussions you can read here. Simply search on price and you'll be amazed at the number of ways folks price their pens. [8D]
 

Fred in NC

Member
Joined
Oct 14, 2004
Messages
1,887
Location
LANDIS, NC, USA.
Troy: This is a controversial subject. If you do a search in our marketing forum you will understand why I say that.

Pricing depends on many factors, including the cost of all the materials, your time making them, the quality level, and the area you are in.

I was approached by the owner of a crafts store that sells a lot of pottery. She was selling nicely hand-crafted and decorated mugs for $8. from several artists. I figured that my lowest wholesale price for a slimline pen in a common wood would be $12, so she could sell it for $20. Even that price was too high for that store, so I will not sell there.

Some other stores and galleries will not blink an eye at selling a $100 pen. This is much more economically feasible. Even with a pricey kit and nice wood, after the markup you get a decent profit.

Personally I don't think it is worth making a pen that will retail for less than about $20. That is my own personal opinion, and others might disagree. At wholesale you can afford $3-4 max for materials, and wholesale for $12.

Just go and look at what that store is selling right now, and at what prices. That will give you an idea if it is worth it.
 

Daniel

Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2004
Messages
5,921
Location
Reno, NV, USA.
I try to keep in mind that the store owner needs to double the price they pay for the pen to make a profit worth keeping it in their store.
the 40% discount sound right to me for them to actually purchase them from you. this creats a higher than you woudl charge retail price. part of this is justified in that the pens are available on a full time basis at the store, (more convenient for the customer) as well as the stores reputation lends itself to your work. Good or Bad.
in the end the 40% discount is also my rule of thumb. with 30% roughly for consignment shops.
 

Rod Torgeson

Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2004
Messages
6
Location
Appleton, WA, USA.
Troy.....When I lived in Marysville, WA(late 90s), I sold pens and sets to three different jewelry stores. I sold the slimline pen and pencil set for $25, the Mont Blanc(designer) pen for $25 and the Cigar Pen for $25. They in turn sold them for about $50, give or take a few dollars. One jewelry store would give one away with a high dollar purchase. At that time I was making pens and pencils using about 70 different kinds of wood. They bought them outright, no consignment. Hope this helps. Rod in Appleton, WA
 

Rod Torgeson

Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2004
Messages
6
Location
Appleton, WA, USA.
Fred.....I included the case for the pen and pencil sets. The case was one I got from Penn State Ind.(black velvet like). The case for the Mont Blanc and the Cigar pens were wood and if they wanted one, it was $5.00. Other than that, I just put them in the plastic pouches from Penn State. Rod in Appleton, WA
 

PenWorks

Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2004
Messages
5,186
Location
Scottsdale, AZ
Don't sell yourself short on your pen prices.
Daniel just asked me a question concerning MM.
You can easliy factor an extra $2.00 - $5.00 per pen in your pricing, for misc. materials....
Think about it. Initial tool cost & maintinece and up keep
Glues, sandpaper, base wax.... finishes, brushes, rags, cleaning solvents...
Shipping costs, insurance, addvertising, cards, lables etc...
Electricity to keep the tools running.....
I know this is a hobby to me and most of us... but someone has to pay for this.
There has been several discussions on pen pricing, but don't forget these factors.
There is allot more than your hard cost of kit, blank & time.
 

JimGo

Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2005
Messages
6,498
Location
North Wales, PA
Anthony, you forgot what can easily be the single biggest expense of all (other than our time)...the cost of the shop space itself! If you're paying a mortgage on your home, that space you use can cost you a LOT of money! In my area, homes are currently selling for about $300/sq ft (prices are just skyrocketing); that makes a 10x10 shop worth $30,000!
 

JimGo

Member
Joined
Jan 24, 2005
Messages
6,498
Location
North Wales, PA
Also, check out this discussion, which is going on at the same time in this forum:

http://www.penturners.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5080
 

woodwish

Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2004
Messages
966
Location
Lynn Haven, Florida, USA.
I've been on both ends of this before. I sold many stained glass items at craft shows years ago and eventually worked into the gift-store market. Later we bought a share of a gift store and suddenly we were on the other end of the spectrum. Most (key word here-Most) gift shops do what is known as "key-stoning" all items, which is a fancy way of saying they double the purchase price. If we could buy your pen for maybe $10 we would sell them for $20. That works for mass produced items that we bought at large gift markets because we didn't have to compete with the manufacturer. It rarely works well for hand-made items because I have to compete with the craftsman. If I am trying to get a decent profit and sell that $10 pen for $20, and you sell it down the road at a craft show for $15 then I won't ever sell one. That is why most stores would rather consign them, and that is what we would do with anyone that also sold direct themselves. Just good business sense.

We sold out the store years ago but I have gotten back into selling items again. We will hit the craft show market again soon because we enjoy it, but I will also only sell on a consignment basis in stores. Consignment has it's advantages like I still own the pieces, I can pull them if I want, if they don't sell them I can move on and not hear about how bad the items are, etc. This can be a huge debate but this is my opinion.
 

lkorn

Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2005
Messages
395
Location
Virginia Beach, VA, USA.
I Feb I went Skiing in Vermont. In one of the gift shops was a display of wooden pens, basically slimlines, straight shaft turned from non-descript wood that was barely finished. Might have been sanded to 400 grit, maybe. The name of the mountain was laser engraved on the lower barrel. It retailed for $10.00.
Personally, I don't want to compete with the offshore imports like this and will price accordingly.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom