Stitches

What would be an appropriate price for selling a crocheted gingerbread house?

I am crocheting gingerbread houses to sell, but I don't know how much to sell them for. You can find a picture of it if you search.... how to crochet a gingerbread house. It is on the Crochet Today website. I'm just not sure how much to ask for one. It takes 3-5 days to make, because it has a LOT of little attachments. Please answer.

Public Comments

1. Pricing questions get asked here a lot and there is no definitive answer. It depends on where you are going to sell it, the quality of the workmanship, the materials used... If you are selling on etsy then look for something similar. I know they do a lot of doll furniture sets. Take excellent pics. It's the picture that will sell the item. Write a creative block on the sale page. You will do better than a bland description. Study what the large etsy store sellers do. How they market their items. Something like that might do well at a craft show. Impulse buys can often generate more than website sales. At craft shows location is key. If your table is in a low income area you won't get what a sale a few miles up the road in a high income area will. Keep in mind that this is an item that will be on display for a few weeks of the year. How much would you spend on a Christmas decoration?
2. How much are you willing to take for 3 to 5 days of work? Here are some suggestions: 1. Keep track of the actual hours you spend crocheting. Then calculate what you would earn at your state's minimum wage (my state's is $7.25 an hour) just for the crocheting. 2. Determine the amount of money you have invested in the materials for each house. You'll need to estimate the cost of partial skeins of yarn, partial bags of findings, and that sort of thing. 3. Estimate the overhead costs, which include transportation if you're selling at crafts fairs, the fee for the fair booth, a portion of the cost of display racks, and so on and divide by the number of houses you sell. 4. Add up all of the costs, including your "wages." That's the amount you can sell a house for and BREAK EVEN--not make any money, but not lose any either. If you sell for less, you're accepting less money for your labor than an employer could legally pay you, and you might be better off getting a part-time job rather than becoming a self-employed entrepreneur. I'm guessing that your total will exceed $100 and may exceed $150. If your houses are well done, and if you can connect with the right purchasers, you can sell them for that amount. Do your research to see which of the sales sites available to you caters to the type of purchaser you're looking for. So how do you plan to connect with the purchasers? If you intend to use Etsy or another on-line sales site, you'll probably want to change the design significantly, since it's a Crochet World design and is not original with you. You could change the trim a lot without detracting from the design. Have you thought about making just a few houses as samples and then taking orders (and a 50% down payment with the order)? You could customize houses that are sold to order--put the house number and street name out front, put bushes where the buyer wants bushes, put a cat or dog in the doorway, that sort of thing. You'd also have the money for the materials up front, so you do not get stuck wth a house that nobody wants. Don't forget that you will have to collect and remit sales taxes on any purchases sold within your state and you will have to pay income and self-employment taxes on any profits you make. Take that into consideration when planning your prices. Many sellers will build the sales taxes into the selling price and state "I'll pay your sales taxes for you" to the customers to make life simpler for the customers.
3. Pricing is extremly difficult, it is well known amoungst most craft sellers that you will never get what your item is worth, you will never get your time for sure as adding in your time would hike the price to where no one would want to pay for any item whether a Gingerbread House or a sweater. I usually take my total costs of materials and multiply it by 7 and charge that and I hasve never had a problem selling something. Good luck to you!! Just be sure you do not over rpice or you'll have GB Houses ready made for gifts!!!
4. I found this one on etsy for $45 plus $10 shipping but this seller has not sold one of these yet according to their sales page http://www.etsy.com/listing/64625776/crochet-gingerbread-house?ga_search_query=crochet%2Bgingerbread%2Bhouse&ga_search_type=user_shop_ttt_id_5743805 There are also some on ebay for a similar price. My blog http://mymadeupstory.blogspot.com/