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Update and Adjustments
a year ago
General
Hey all,
This is going to be a comparatively short journal, but I want to chime in and let folks know what's going on with SFS and in my personal life, which has proven to be far more hectic than anticipated.
First off, with the mental adjustment period over the holiday season from my quitting my job back in October finally coming to a close (despite the persistent night mares) I was given the rather unexpected task of driving to Minneapolis (about 13 hours away) to take care of things if my father—who was rushed into emergency surgery for a blood clot just before valentines day—ended up not surviving the event. Now, it was a close call; had he tried to drive home (as he'd driven to Minneapolis for work) he would have died, had he gone back to the hotel to rest, he would have died, so no one was expecting him to survive (not even the doctors) long enough for the surgery, but survive he did, and much to the relief of everyone involved.
A week later I was hit with a severe sinus infection, and spent a week in bed, but before I got sick I attended a local event where I was able sell some of the jewelry and take commissions (should anyone have actually wanted to buy anything, but I'll get to that in a moment.) While there was a lot of interest in both the jewelry and the laser etchings that I brought to the event, I made zero sales. Now, that was no surprise—I'd expected nothing more than that anyway—but I was surprised to arrive at the realization that the vast majority of potential customers (both in and out of the fandom) tend to believe that the value of my saleable products are lower than the raw material from which they're made. So... as a result, I did a bit of math and came to the exact worth of all of my products and it breaks down as follows:
Now, due to certain limitations and set backs regarding my 3d printing, I'm no longer offering these services for the foreseeable future, so the pricing model for these services is no longer relevant, but I digress...
At present I am no longer willing to negotiate on price through online sales or in person sales due to my experiences at the event in February, however in person sales will always see a steep discount so when I begin traveling I strongly encourage everyone who doesn't want to pay full price for my products to seek me out at the events I'll advertise here and on my website. (Please note I'm not planning to travel for a while, so I will occasionally advertise sales both here and on my website.)
So with that in mind, understand that the prices of my products are going to—in nearly every case—be at least slightly higher than what they have been before, so I'll give you an example with a new product that I'll be introducing in the coming weeks.
In this example we're going to use a 12x12 oil landscape painting for ease of math, but understand that ALL paintings and laser etchings will now follow this formula.
Now, if the canvas and paint supplies costs 20$ (for the painting not as a whole) your material cost is 20$
Add in any value between 1 and 5 dollars usd per square inch (the range in which I'll be basing my prices and sales) for this example we'll use the highest rate of 5$ per square inch, which comes to 720$ usd. Adding tax to the price per square inch at 8% gives the total of 777.60 plus the material cost gives a complete total of 797.60
From there add in shipping, which I calculate on a sale by sale basis and you'll have your total price.
Now if almost 800 for a 12x12 painting sounds like too much, keep in mind, that 5$ per square inch is the most anyone will ever pay. I plan to do two regular sales points, 50% and 75% off of this so, for the 50% sales, that same painting will cost 408.80 (tax and material included) and the 75% sale price will be 214.40 (tax and material included.)
These are the prices that will be listed on my website. They are full price. I will not negotiate this; however, because I know not everyone can afford this, you do have the chance to get not only a lower price, but also a lower sale price. Above I mentioned the potential for my per square inch charge to be as low as 1$ meaning that the same 12x12 will be 144$ before tax and material cost, at 50% off that price point, you could pay 97.76 (after tax and material costs) and 75% off would be 58.88 (after tax and material cost.)
So a painting that costs almost 800$ being sold at an in person sale, or under some stacked promotion for less than 60$—I think—is something that most people can still afford, so yes, my prices are going up, but you still have a chance to get my products for much less than the sticker price.
As far as the jewelry goes, current federal minimum wage is 7.25 and the average work time is 10 hours, so all sticker prices on my website and here will be 78.30 plus the varying cost of material (material plus 20% of shipping cost) and shipping. This price point will still have the same 50 and 75 percent discounts, so a typical piece will run 114.30 after material and tax; with a 50% discount that piece would be 75.15 after tax and material, and with a 75% discount would be 55.58 after tax and material.
Now, if those numbers seem a bit off, keep in mind, the ONLY part of the price I'm discounting is the hourly rate and the price per square inch as those two factors are the only taxable factors and therefore the only factors I have control over. So At the end of all this, I ask you—not for your opinion on my prices—but whether or not any of what you've just read makes anything I sell worth less than the cost of material as was implied to be the case in February.
Anyway I still have a bit of work to do before I can begin bringing the jewelry and paintings online but as it stands, I have a standardized set of prices now, and unfortunately—as I'd genuinely wanted to make my work something than anyone could afford—I can no longer negotiate those numbers outside of discount and promotional sales.
This is going to be a comparatively short journal, but I want to chime in and let folks know what's going on with SFS and in my personal life, which has proven to be far more hectic than anticipated.
First off, with the mental adjustment period over the holiday season from my quitting my job back in October finally coming to a close (despite the persistent night mares) I was given the rather unexpected task of driving to Minneapolis (about 13 hours away) to take care of things if my father—who was rushed into emergency surgery for a blood clot just before valentines day—ended up not surviving the event. Now, it was a close call; had he tried to drive home (as he'd driven to Minneapolis for work) he would have died, had he gone back to the hotel to rest, he would have died, so no one was expecting him to survive (not even the doctors) long enough for the surgery, but survive he did, and much to the relief of everyone involved.
A week later I was hit with a severe sinus infection, and spent a week in bed, but before I got sick I attended a local event where I was able sell some of the jewelry and take commissions (should anyone have actually wanted to buy anything, but I'll get to that in a moment.) While there was a lot of interest in both the jewelry and the laser etchings that I brought to the event, I made zero sales. Now, that was no surprise—I'd expected nothing more than that anyway—but I was surprised to arrive at the realization that the vast majority of potential customers (both in and out of the fandom) tend to believe that the value of my saleable products are lower than the raw material from which they're made. So... as a result, I did a bit of math and came to the exact worth of all of my products and it breaks down as follows:
For JewelryMaterial Cost Plus 20% of shipping to get the materialFederal Minimum WageTaxShippingFor Laser Etchings and PaintingsMaterial Cost Plus 20% of shipping to get the material1 to 5$ per Square inchTaxShippingNow, due to certain limitations and set backs regarding my 3d printing, I'm no longer offering these services for the foreseeable future, so the pricing model for these services is no longer relevant, but I digress...
At present I am no longer willing to negotiate on price through online sales or in person sales due to my experiences at the event in February, however in person sales will always see a steep discount so when I begin traveling I strongly encourage everyone who doesn't want to pay full price for my products to seek me out at the events I'll advertise here and on my website. (Please note I'm not planning to travel for a while, so I will occasionally advertise sales both here and on my website.)
So with that in mind, understand that the prices of my products are going to—in nearly every case—be at least slightly higher than what they have been before, so I'll give you an example with a new product that I'll be introducing in the coming weeks.
In this example we're going to use a 12x12 oil landscape painting for ease of math, but understand that ALL paintings and laser etchings will now follow this formula.
Now, if the canvas and paint supplies costs 20$ (for the painting not as a whole) your material cost is 20$
Add in any value between 1 and 5 dollars usd per square inch (the range in which I'll be basing my prices and sales) for this example we'll use the highest rate of 5$ per square inch, which comes to 720$ usd. Adding tax to the price per square inch at 8% gives the total of 777.60 plus the material cost gives a complete total of 797.60
From there add in shipping, which I calculate on a sale by sale basis and you'll have your total price.
Now if almost 800 for a 12x12 painting sounds like too much, keep in mind, that 5$ per square inch is the most anyone will ever pay. I plan to do two regular sales points, 50% and 75% off of this so, for the 50% sales, that same painting will cost 408.80 (tax and material included) and the 75% sale price will be 214.40 (tax and material included.)
These are the prices that will be listed on my website. They are full price. I will not negotiate this; however, because I know not everyone can afford this, you do have the chance to get not only a lower price, but also a lower sale price. Above I mentioned the potential for my per square inch charge to be as low as 1$ meaning that the same 12x12 will be 144$ before tax and material cost, at 50% off that price point, you could pay 97.76 (after tax and material costs) and 75% off would be 58.88 (after tax and material cost.)
So a painting that costs almost 800$ being sold at an in person sale, or under some stacked promotion for less than 60$—I think—is something that most people can still afford, so yes, my prices are going up, but you still have a chance to get my products for much less than the sticker price.
As far as the jewelry goes, current federal minimum wage is 7.25 and the average work time is 10 hours, so all sticker prices on my website and here will be 78.30 plus the varying cost of material (material plus 20% of shipping cost) and shipping. This price point will still have the same 50 and 75 percent discounts, so a typical piece will run 114.30 after material and tax; with a 50% discount that piece would be 75.15 after tax and material, and with a 75% discount would be 55.58 after tax and material.
Now, if those numbers seem a bit off, keep in mind, the ONLY part of the price I'm discounting is the hourly rate and the price per square inch as those two factors are the only taxable factors and therefore the only factors I have control over. So At the end of all this, I ask you—not for your opinion on my prices—but whether or not any of what you've just read makes anything I sell worth less than the cost of material as was implied to be the case in February.
Anyway I still have a bit of work to do before I can begin bringing the jewelry and paintings online but as it stands, I have a standardized set of prices now, and unfortunately—as I'd genuinely wanted to make my work something than anyone could afford—I can no longer negotiate those numbers outside of discount and promotional sales.
