It has been a wonderful first month with the online store and an exciting challenge to keep all of the plates spinning. Order management, shipping, glass processing, raw material management, and of course, setting prices. When it comes to pricing our art, I had to consult a couple of experts and ultimately, I ended up using their advice: find an equation that works and stick with it! Our equation is cost of raw materials + time($20/hr) + 1% of overhead costs (like website fees and new tumbling equipment). Several folks have commented that we could charge more and get to our growth goals faster. We decided to keep the price lower for our main 12 x 12 product so it could be a collectable item and aim to sell 100-200 per year. For those math nerds, we wouldn't start saving money for whatever the next phase looks like until after 100 frames due to our overhead costs. We decided that that is a perfect amount of time to figure out what the next phase looks like and to make sure that this remains fun. We don't ever want this project to feel like something we HAVE to do; we are trying to keep the pace fast enough to be exciting but slow enough so that it doesn't consume other areas of life. We also chose to run some specials in the beginning along with a free shipping test to see what works. The business nerd in me is loving this - pricing strategy is fascinating!
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