price for beadwork??

[jinglin'ndn]

Hello! okay i need help im going to be doin a beadset but i dont know how much to charge it consists of hair ties, back clip piece, choker, earrings,and i think a velcro headband.. how much do i charge?
someone said 4 hun. and they say thats to cheap and another told me 1 thous. that sounds to expensive.
i think my beadwork is good, nice, lol not the buissness. but good enough where i get orders from people.
but what do you think a good price is?
thankyou *Joy*

[NativeBabyDoll]

[billyjoejimbob]

it depends on how good you are.

plus, those are all smaller items. $1000 is WAY too expensive. I can get a brand new mens trad set for $1500 and that is about 20X the amount of beadwork.

crow mens trad sets with a belt, cuffs, arm bands, belt and bag are $1000 for a decent nice used set.

I bought a necklace with a rosette and 2 hairties brand new from a trader, (who gets a cut) for $80. Made the matching barette and bags for it. They were 11/0's, the same set in 13/o cuts may be $300!

[wyo_rose]

It all depends....

To figure a hard price you should add up the cost of ALL supplies, then decide how much your time is worth and multiply that by the hours spend making these things.

I try to make between $10 and $20 an hour when making outfits. I know beading takes longer and you might only be able to charge $5.00/hour. I wouldn't go any lower than this. But then you have people like my ex brother-in-law who takes all day to make a beaded pen then sells it for $15.00.

You could also charge by the square inch. Figure out how much supplies and time it takes to bead a square inch (plus preparation), and calculate cost that way.

There is also the issue of quality, and supply and demand. You may have to start with a figure like $400, then discuss it with the customer.

This is by far, the hardest part of the "business", besides coming up with original designs.

[kiowakat]

I agree with wyo-rose charge but the inch and time...you get what you pay for so you can go cheap but if your work is good then they will pay that kind of money....what size beads?....11's are kind of big for hairties and such, the bigger the bead the cheaper.....

[jinglin'ndn]

thx

thankyou your advice really does help. im going to be doing size 8 chuck beads. and the designs are very detailed thats why im using that size. thankyou for your adive i appreciate it.

[Drippin With Beads]

Kiowakat and wyo_rose are right on. If someone, anyone, who has some skill at something, can’t make at least $10 an hour, then they should look for other work or get more education. Asking someone to take less than that would put them at the poverty level, or they are young ones that are working at fast food places and still living at home. I don’t think anyone would want anyone else to be making an income that would put him or her into poverty!

Those of us that do beadwork for others have a real quandary. We do it because we love it. It is what we are supposed to do. We all could make more in the “Corporate World”, however, God gave us this gift and we can’t turn our back on this. With being the case, we also have to pay the bills, keep food on the table, and provide for our families. I don’t mean to cause bad feelings, but billyjoejimbob , if you are only offering $1,500 for a full set of beadwork, you are simply taking advantage of someone. I hope that you make at least $500 per week. This is actually less then the average adult worker in the country. I don’t know about every other person and their speed at which they can do bead work, but I do not know of anyone that can bead a whole set in 3 weeks. If you are talking about a set including just the Belt, Belt Bag, Cuffs, and Arm Bands, I estimate at least 6 weeks to complete and finish- out a set of good work. So at $1,500, this puts them in an income bracket of a bit more than minimum wage.

NDN People get the shaft enough. We should not treat our Bead workers/Artists with the disrespect of paying them minimum wage for the work they do for us.

[kiowakat]

http://cm.ebay.com/cm/ck/1065-29296-2357-0?uid=219758177&site=0&ver=LCA080805&item=260015512192&lk=URL

first time selling anything on ebay lol

now this piece took a few hours and lets see if they pay the price.....I even made the hide...lol...i seen same size bag going for $1.00
gawww talking about can't compete with some of this stuff cause people don't know what they are looking at lol

[Eagle Plumes]

I looked at your bag KK and as always you did a awesome job! hope it sells quick for you.

[BeadMan]

I don't know if this is relevant or not. But what I charge for loom beadwork in 11/o beads is $2.50 per square inch. I have standard prices for finishing and mounting, like $30 to mount a belt. That means a belt for a 38 inch waist would be $290. That's my basic rule. Sometimes I will cut back to say $250 for a good friend, I may go to $310 if I know they are just going to resell it or something.

This is for my "good work" I do budget stuff that is pretty generic for $2 a square inch plus mounting. Comes out to $240 for the same size belt with a basic design.

My list of people wanting just belts is longer than my arm. I have continuously increased prices over the years, but the quality keeps getting better as well.

Don't know if this will help.

[Blackbear]

twenty bucks is'nt unreasonable for that bag. I've seen far less asking for far more.

[kiowakat]

I looked at your bag KK and as always you did a awesome job! hope it sells quick for you.

Thanks Eagle Plumes!!

[kiowakat]

twenty bucks is'nt unreasonable for that bag. I've seen far less asking for far more.

Hi BB its total 49.95...like I said this is my first time so still learning, if you guys have any suggestions please share lol

[Blackbear]

49.95? Well I kinda doubt you'll see that paid.... but who knows. I charge that much though for one of those peyote beaded necklace bags myself.. you know the kind that end up looking like a picture? But then I do seriously undercharge. You'll probably see a range of 25.00- 35.00 bid on it though. If that happens you gonna let it go for that price?

[kiowakat]

49.95? Well I kinda doubt you'll see that paid.... but who knows. I charge that much though for one of those peyote beaded necklace bags myself.. you know the kind that end up looking like a picture? But then I do seriously undercharge. You'll probably see a range of 25.00- 35.00 bid on it though. If that happens you gonna let it go for that price?

no I wouldn't sell it at that price dang thats the material and the time to make the material alone, I would probably gift somebody with it. besides they sell better when they can pick one up and look at it close, the feel alone is better than these commercial hides. was just trying ebay for the first time.