The price of handmade jewelry seems to be a topic that jewelry artists never agree on. There are many different views and philosophies. This article will discuss some of the things to think about when considering how to price your jewelry and some of the common pricing models that jewelry designers use.

Keep in mind that you do a lot more than just making jewelry as a business owner. To cover costs and overhead, it is essential to charge more than your hourly rate + material costs, or to keep your hourly rate on the high side (i.e. $ 18 / hour is much more realistic than $ 10 / hour ) if you want your business to be profitable.

One mistake new jewelry designers often make is pricing their work too low.

Here are some pricing tips:

-Don’t compete with imports on prices! Its quality is better and it will never be able to compete with those who earn 2 dollars a day. Instead, position yourself as the high-quality craftsman that you are and get reasonable prices.

-As a newcomer, you can start lower if you wish and increase your prices as you become more popular.

-Lower prices can also work against you because they lower the perceived value of your work. People tend to think that you get what you pay for, so if you charge too low, people tend to think that you are doing garbage.

I have another reason not to charge too low. This is a kind of my personal soap box:

If you charge too low, you are not only cheapening the perceived value of your own work, you are also cheapening the work of others because the public learns to think that some artisans who charge what they are worth are charging too much.

Artisans who get paid what they are worth have to work much harder to convince customers that their work is worth it.

That being said, as a jewelry designer, you need to consider 2 types of pricing: wholesale and retail.

Wholesale and retail pricing models

Common wholesale pricing models used by jewelry designers:

-3 x the cost of the material

-3.5 x the cost of the material

– $ 18 / hour of labor plus 1x materials plus 50% (or whatever you want your hourly wage to be)

-Eyeballing, that is, guess how much it should be worth (not recommended, but common)

– $ 35 / hour of labor plus 1x materials

– $ 26 / hour of labor plus 1x materials plus 50%

– $ 20 / hour labor + mat. + 5% overhead + 20% profit

Common retail pricing models used by jewelry designers:

-1.4 x Wholesale

-1.5 x Wholesale

-1.6 x Wholesale

-1.7 x Wholesale

-1.8 x Wholesale

-1.9 x Wholesale

-2.0 x Wholesale

-The “eyeballing” method always common but not recommended

Feel free to use any of the wholesale or retail pricing formulas to price your own work.