You might have visited a website like Etsy or some other artisan platform for buying handmade items and thought, “Why are handmade items so expensive?”
Perhaps you can relate to this scenario: you’re browsing around either a website store or other marketplace where handmade items are sold. You spot something really cool and check the price tag. You were taken aback.
“Whoa, XYZ dollars, that’s not worth it. I can get a XYZ at Walmart for a fraction of the cost!”
You likely can get items similar to handmade items for much cheaper when you go to a big box store. However, buying handmade items is a great way to support local artisans and small business owners, rather than giving all your money to the big guys.
If that’s not a concern for you, then any explanation won’t convince you. There are lots of reasons not to spend the extra money on handmade items. Sometimes it’s a matter of convenience or lack of extra money that stops you. That’s completely fair.
But if the idea of supporting small business owners or local artisans appeals to you but you can’t seem to wrap your head around spending that much money on XYZ, then this article is for you.
Why are handmade items so expensive?
Trust me when I say that pricing handmade items is really hard, even for the most talented artisans. Our tendency is to price our hard work on the lower end so it sells. In doing this without considering at least the time and cost of materials, we can often create the illusion that these items are easy to make and don’t take much time. That’s true only for some things.
In fact, most items that are worth buying take at least an hour to make, if not many. Especially if the item follows a unique pattern, like in the case of my bunny and bear plushies, there is more than the time of simply creating the item. Extra time goes into making the pattern just right. Much time and effort go into creating something we feel is not only saleable, but something we are proud to share with the world.
In the case of my bunny pattern, I’ve probably spent upwards of 20 hours just trying new things and getting it to look exactly the way I want it to. Not to mention, simplifying the overall process so that I can make the price more affordable for shoppers.
So, what are the costs involved in making a handmade item?
Well, at the very least, it’s cost of materials plus cost of time spent. If it’s something like a pattern in PDF form, that’s a little harder to price. That’s because you only make it once and can be sold many times. Also, it’s hard to figure out how much of your application you’ve “spent”. It’s not easily measured, like cups of sugar or ounces of yarn. It’s hard to put a price on something intangible. This is likely why PDF forms and other digital products like this can be sold so cheaply.
In the case of actual physical items that are handmade the costs are a little easier to figure out. As I said before, the first two things to consider our cost of materials and cost of time spent. How much do you want to make per hour for your work? Would you work for minimum wage?
If you went to college to learn your profession likely you wouldn’t want to just be paid minimum wage. That’s completely understandable but what if you didn’t go to college to learn your craft?
It does stand to reason that if you paid for your education then you should be paid more. But even fast food workers are making $15 an hour in some parts of the United States. They don’t make that much because we don’t know how to cook. They make that much because they’re willing to cook for us so we don’t have to–and in some cases we’re willing to pay quite a bit for somebody else to cook food for us.
Artisans don’t create they’re handmade items to get rich. Lord knows that’s a lot of plushies! Personally for me, I create my handmade items because I love doing it. The problem with this is I don’t need 15 plushies!
So why do it? I do it because being creative is mentally healthy for me. In addition to that, these are skills I can use that other people don’t have, and are willing to pay for. To me, that’s a good match.
So in the spirit of staying on topic and considering only those first two costs, materials and time, let’s take a minute to tally up what it costs to make one of my chicken pincushions.
Cost of supplies: $0.35
Time spent creating one chicken pincushion: one hour
Now let’s revisit it’s a question how much do I want to make per hour? For me, I don’t have to make a living off my craft. Because I love to create I don’t mind making $15 an hour. So let’s do some more math:
One hour times $15 equals $15
$15 x 35 cents equals $15.35
Pretty straightforward right? Only that’s not the only cost involved.
If you’re selling on a platform like Etsy, or even if you are renting space every weekend to sell your handmade items there are costs involved. Etsy charges per sale, and for a rented space there is a flat fee.
If you’re shipping your items there’s not only the cost of shipping but there’s the cost of any mailers, tissue paper, business cards, and/or anything else you wish to include in the package. Right there we’ve got at least another $3 for shipping, even though the other items only cost cents on the dollar, they still add up for artisans with successful online shops.
If you were to head over to my Etsy shop Stone Fam Creations you would see that I price my chicken pincushions at $18 with free shipping. That seems like a lot doesn’t it? But even charging that much doesn’t cover the cost that it takes to make and ship this item.
Because of the extra costs involved I am considering vacuum sealing all my products that can be vacuum sealed to save on shipping. What I save by doing this indirectly affects the customer because “free shipping” usually isn’t free. It needs to be built into the price of the item so the artisan doesn’t lose money with each sale. (This is the reason my chicken pincushions are $18 and not $15.35).
In addition to my shipping costs for that type of item, there is a cost for the vacuum sealing bag, as well as the wear and tear on my vacuum sealer, the electricity used to seal the package, the envelope or box I will ship in, etc.
Of course, I can decide not to sell this item. I might do that. But the honest truth is that any handmade items I put into my Etsy shops are going to feel overpriced to the person who doesn’t value the local artisan, understand the costs, or appreciate handmade as much as others might.
There is a good change that you don’t really care that much about the exact breakdown of everything else that it costs to make handmade items. I get that. Still, let me mention the following items that artisans have to consider:
- Any costs of apps, tools, or anything else that used to create the item(s)
- Overhead (cost of electricity, internet, and other intangible things; this can also include tangible items like the place you rent, depreciation of your machines/equipment, and lots of other hard-to-figure stuff)
- If the artisan has to travel to get the items they need to create their wares, there is mileage (especially if these trips are on a regular basis)
- The cost of any service used to print shipping
- The ink that is used to print the shipping label and any advertisements, business cards, or coupons added to the package before shipping
- Any advertising costs incurred for this item, or for the store
There’s so much more that can be said about this topic, and I’m sure I’m forgetting to mention some things. I think you get the idea, though.
The artisan is faced with the difficult task of balancing what their time and work is worth, and what customers are willing to pay. Customers that prefer to support handmade sellers are those that look at paying extra as an investment. If you are of this mind, thank you.
If you are not, that’s okay too. It’s just a difference of opinion and priority, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Thanks for reading.