Question about pricing bowls

[Dave Kartzman]

I would like some advice from anyone who does local craft shows (not high end - but juried). I have been showing my woodturnings at some local craft shows and farmers markets. How do you come up with a price for your turnings that are low enough to attract local sales, but not so high that the local traffic balks.

I have been selling between 15 and 25 bowls at each of the shows I attend. The prices range from $15 (4" small bowls) to $50 (10" bowls). The bowls are not ornate. but rather, functional. I worry about pricing myself out of the market if I raise my prices too much. The other factor I need to point out is that I do buy my wood from suppliers, as I do not have any 'ins' with the local arborists. Consequently, I do have a pretty good variety of species to show, but the cost of the wood (including shipping) eats into any profit I make.

One other question... when you price your products, can I assume that the form and figuring of the wood plays a part in determining the price? Or do you charge a flat price based on the size of the bowl?

One other note... I do not have any of my bowls in any local gallery. It is not a case that they were not interested. At this point, I want to see how I do at shows...

I would sincerely appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks in advance.

Dave

[Bill Bulloch]

15 to 25 bowls per show --- I'd say you have them priced about right for your market. If you are thinking about raising prices to make more profit, you must consider the Rule of Diminishing Returns. That is: As the price is increased, sales will decrease. At some point, the yield rate will fail to increase proportionately to additional outlays of investments of capital, time and labor. For example: if you cost in capital outlay, time and labor is $15 per bowl and you sell 10 at $30, them you will realize a $150 profit. If you raise the prices to $40 and only sell 7 then you will only realize a $137 profit.

[Reed Gray]

Pricing seems okay, not too high, not too low. You are on the East Coast and can get more than I can here. When we get east coast people out west here, they all tell me 'your prices are so reasonable' which means cheaper than what they are used to paying. Do hook up with an arborist. Maybe more work processing the raw wood, but much less cash out put. Do check out other turners and see what their prices. Also, I found family sized bowls, 12 to 14 inch sell a lot as well.

robo hippy

[curtis rosche]

I sell mine between 25$-100$. 25$ for small or simple bowls. $100 for 14inch bowls or unique woods or meathods used.
The gallery where I sell, we agreed to nothing less than 25$ so that there is a reasonable profit for both of us after the split.

[Michelle Rich]

you must learn your market. It is unique. It appears you have them priced well to sell as many as that. You can add $5 to each of your bigger bowls & see if they sell as well..if not drop it back. It' a dance.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I think your pricing seems about right. Like Reed out here in the midwest I can't get that much. I also have people from the east coast that buy from the gallery where I have bowls tell them that boy these are priced nicely compared to back home. 10" to 14" bowls sell pretty well here but anything over 14" just sits.

[Jeremy Leasure]

I don't think my work is anything special yet, being pretty new to turning all told. I've not sold a bowl for less than $30 yet, no matter how small. Less than that and it simply isn't worth it to me. I do put a lot of work into my final surface quality. My bowls in the 9-10 inch sizes are in the $65-$100 range, dependant on depth, figure. Spalting and stone inlay and such things have pushed a few higher than that. Really, I look at each bowl and put a price on it that makes ME feel comfortable. I've sold perhaps 50 bowls this year in this way, though I attend no shows and don't have anything placed in a retail setting. All of my sales have been via Facebook (meager sized friends list, 165 or so at last count) and word of mouth locally. Facebook has been less and less productive lately with the changes they've slowly been ratcheting up in intensity for the past year. No longer do most people on your list see your updates, only a small percentage. At first I thought perhaps I had simply completely tapped the small "market" but now I've confirmation that most people simply no longer see each others posts without directly visiting my page. I originally noticed this when my newsfeed began diminishing more and more each week.

[Dave Kartzman]

Thank you everyone for your responses. I felt that my prices were reasonable as well. But I was also looking to raise the prices a small amount to account for increases in the cost of the bowl blanks as well as the fact that I had not factored in shipping costs into the price I charged for my bowls (this added between 22 and 35% to the cost of each blank).

I really appreciate everyone's comments. At this point we have 5 more small local craft shows and farmers markets prior to Christmas. I am going to keep the prices, roughly the same, except add on the additional cost of the shipping to my final price. It will not be more than $1-4 dollars. I would hope that people would understand that costs do go up. I'm not going to get rich, but at least I am trying to pay for my wood addiction...lol.

One of the most frequent comments that I receive from visitors to my booth is the quality of the finish. Like Jeremy stated above, I also spend a considerable time in the finishing of my bowls, and that, as well as the highly figured woods I turn bring people in.

Many thanks again... and happy turning.

Respectfully....Dave

[Dave Kartzman]

Hi Reed....

Thanks for responding. I don't know if you remember me, but I was the woodturner from South Carolina who met you at the Oregon Country Fair...I hope you had a successful show. We had a great time there... We had no idea what the Oregon Country Fair was when we ordered the tickets... What a trip!

Hope you are doing well...

Dave

[Don Stephan]

Dave:

Didn't see mentioned what your materials costs are per inch and what your time investment is per inch.

[Dave Kartzman]

Hi Don...

Being an amateur woodturner, I realize that I must value my time spent on the bowls, and have come up with an approximate time investment . With respect to the wood that I turn, the price varies with the type of wood, the size of the wood (normally I use 4x2, 6x2, 8x2 and 10.2 bowl blanks).

I realize it is highly subjective, but I have tried to calculate the amount of time that I spend on a bowl (between the rough and finish turning). At the present time, I am factoring approximately $7/hour for my time... Rough turning takes the least amount of time for me, but the time to finish is often elongated by eliminating any remaining tearouts, and applying a proper finish to the wood.

Therefore, when you factor in the cost of the wood, and the approximate time I spend on each bowl, that is where I came up with the price range of $15 to $50. Regretfully, I never factored in the cost of shipping the wood to me and that is why I was concerned about coming up with a realistic price for my bowls. But based on the response, I feel pretty well that my price point is reasonable. As the cost of wood continues to rise (and so does the shipping), eventually I will need to raise the price to cover those costs.

I am hopeful someday that I will be able to ingratiate myself with any of the local arborists and be able to procure fallen wood at a much lower cost.