Low pricing wonderment.

[James Jaragosky]

I went to a local fair today, there were all your standard craft booths, selling the usual sampling of stuff.
What did amaze me was the low ball pricing on all the hand crafted wood items. I saw a well-made solid cherry blanket rack for $40.00 “wow” the wood alone had to be $20 not to mention the finishing supplies.
I even found one booth filled with goods produced by laser, all very well done; vector projects as well as rastered photos. His pricing was a little more in line with the effort required to produce the product. But he was still well below what I would consider making a reasonable profit.

I have been having a good summer working the local farmers market, selling photos in thins at .50 sq inch, which would be considered low by many here at the creek. However, I have considerably less invested in my equipment than most here. And even at my pricing, compared to what I saw today, I am high priced.
Another thing I noticed at the laser guys booth, The plaques he was using for photos were glue-ups he was getting from JDS and such. Some of the wood was so mismatched I had to wonder if it was all the same species.
I guess the point of the post was to express my amazement over how low some people will price their hard work.
Jim J.

[Joe Pelonio]

I guess if you are hungry you have to take what you can get, and fight for the few dollars the customers have to spend. Shame though.

[Dan Hintz]

When starting my LED business all of those years ago, I couldn't count the number of people who told me my time was worth nothing... I shouldn't expect decent prices on my products until my name was more well-known. In their eyes, I should work for pennies and hour to make them custom designs, and I should be glad to get the money.

Well, needless to say they never got any of my designs, but when you're hard up for money, working for pennies and hour still seems better than nothing. Yes, you could make more working the the local burger joint, but then you'd never have much opportunity to grow the laser business. In the craft fair cases, they're probably not interested in growing their businesses, just keeping their hobby afloat... in that case, pennies per hour isn't so bad (for them).

[Dave Johnson29]

selling photos in thins at .50 sq inch


Hi James,

Not that I want to do photographs as I find them way too labor intensive to prepare, but what do you mean by "selling photos in thins?"

Forgive me if it was a typo but I have tried to apply everything I can think of that you might have meant and I still do not understand.

[James Jaragosky]

Hi James,

Not that I want to do photographs as I find them way too labor intensive to prepare, but what do you mean by "selling photos in thins?"

Forgive me if it was a typo but I have tried to apply everything I can think of that you might have meant and I still do not understand.

I purchased a large quantity of thins last fall. By Thins, I mean .0625 thick plywood. I have them in walnut cherry and Baltic birch. I have two sizes that are popular 6x6 and 8x10. The 8x10's are far more popular. Baltic birch is generally the wood of choice by most of my customers.

I also do photos in .75 Ash from Menard's, I router the edges for a picture frame effect and flip it over and router out a pocket for a CD case. I put their photos on a CD for an extra charge. This is very popular with Grandmothers, and of the 30 or so I have done I have yet to get one ordered of a grandson, it is always a picture of a granddaughter.
The lighter woods show the fine detail better than the darker ones.
I do not charge enough to mess with the photos to much, generally I scan a photo open it in Corel Photo Paint, look for any nicks, scratches or other damage, repair what I find. I then tone down the shiny spots like jewelry and the center of the eye. Save it, and open it with PhotoGrav. I process it as cherry or birch with all the factory settings. Then no matter what PhotoGrav suggests, I use 86% power at 100% speed.
The photo takes around 25 minutes for an 8x10.

I could spend more time processing the photos, and in most cases get a slightly better finished product. But the average customer would not notice the difference. And to date everyone has been more than satisfied,
In the beginning I would spend hours fine tuning all my photos, but I was the only one who felt that this was necessary. Moreover, once I was able to quit being so anal, photos actually became fun and profitable for me.
In fact, last Saturday morning I took orders for over $450.00 in just the 5 hours. That is a good morning for me, Almost too good as I am also doing the full time student thing.
Regards
Jim J.

[Dave Johnson29]

By Thins, I mean .0625 thick plywood.


Thanks Jim, they sound interesting and good to hear you are taking orders.