Rifleman1776
Member
I currently have a pen in "Show Off..." that is priced at $40.00. It is a Tn gold European with stabilized Big Leaf Maple burl wood. Glad to say, it came out well and is a nice pen. Some have said I should ask more for it. That's a compliment and I appreciate. However, after some experience marketing (and trying to market) my pens I have settled on a pricing formula that seems to be working well and is fair for me. I used to use the '3X' rule. Just take costs of materials and multiply by three. But, many of my pens are sold in a store that doubles my price. e.g. and $80.00 pen is priced at $160.00. In some cases, I felt I was pricing myself out of the market. So, I have revised and find that my new formula is working out better. I am selling more pens and making a fair profit for myself. What I do is take cost of material, double that then add $10.00. The $10.00 is for shop overhead and amortization of tools. For example, the Euro: Tn gold kit: $7.50, blank was about $5.00. That's $12.50 doubled = $25.00, then $10.00 added is $35.00. And, yes, you caught me, the pen is $40.00. I added the $5.00 because it is an exceptionally nice Euro and I wanted to set it above the rest I'm offering. BTW, I always price blanks at $5.00 even if they were given to me or I cut the wood myself. Everything has value and the idea is to make a profit. The $10.00 for overhead was not scientifically arrived at. It's just a number I feel comfortable with.