One of the most common questions I get from friends, family, and other artists, is
How much should I sell this for on Etsy?
In the past I have sent them to wherever they are going to sell (usually etsy) and tell them to research the categories or search for like items and see what they are selling for. Find like items, and check sales, etc...
This is very time consuming and most people get discouraged and either under price or over price their items. As I have been preparing to open my new store for my logos I hit a roadblock. I realized that since I have never sold my designs before to the public I had no idea how to price my items.
I am a relatively new self taught designer. I am also like most beginner, and even some experienced, etsy artisans a single mother on a low income diet with big dreams. Or as I like to say about my previous sewing business, "I opened my store with $50 and a dream."
I wanted to keep my prices for both my stores low, while still making a profit, and not devaluing mine and the work of my fellow designers. This is a fine line to walk and I am sure I have stepped on either side of the line at one time or another. Your constantly tweaking and trying to keep up with the times.
So I set out to do the old song and dance or trying to price items by searching on etsy. Imagine my amazement when I tried to change the gallery view to a list view and I discovered something called the "research view". Etsy in an amazing moment of epiphany added a handy tool for us sellers called the Research View that gives you a handy graph with prices of what items are selling for similar to your search keywords.
The research view is really rather easy. You search for products like yours. Don't limit yourself to one search though! If you sell crochet hats for example, search for "crochet hats" "crochet baby hats" "crochet adult hats" etc... Each one will have a slightly different research view.
The purpose of this research is not to show you what is trending but rather what price range is popular. While most people will buy premade logos at $10-$14 dollars the runner up is $25-29. I know for my area that staying withing this range of $10-$29 I will be about average market. Now I can make some more elaborate more expensive and it should not cut into sales. And a good thing to keep in mind is people are going to think they are getting what they pay for. So you don't want to be way below or on the lower end of the average market because odds are folks are going to think that your product is inferior.
Now there are sometimes when you will get research that says your item you should charge $30 for is being sold a lot for only $10. Your probably looking at the research thinking WHUCK?! Yeah that is what I thought. But another thing to consider and look at is underneath those little research graphs are words like "pre-made business" and "Photography graphic watermark" so it may not be exactly what your selling. Click on the graph bar and it will give you examples of the work being sold.
If it is what your selling than it may be one of two things. People undervaluing their product and time, or you may need to re-evaluate where your getting supplies and the cost to make your product. Usually it is the first problem.
While etsy has created a market place for handmade to make a popular comeback, it has also quickly become a place to find cheap crafts from the hobbyist that is selling at cost or just a few bucks above cost. This is a problem for those of us that are trying to quit our day job. But don't worry ! Most people know that you get what you pay for.
While the research view is a great tool it is still not a complete replacement for shopping your competitors and comparing prices and sales. But it is a great start off point!
Hats off to etsy for helping all of us sellers out!
-Megan
