I’m thinking about starting a little web-based business making wedding veils, headpieces, floral arrangements, etc. It’s fairly fast, easy work, for the most part, and the start-up costs would be pretty low. I could do as much or as little as my schedule and inclination dictated, and it would give me something to do while my job search drags on (and on…and on).
The question is, how much should I charge? The material costs and labor is generally pretty minimal, but if I set my prices too low, people in wedding mode will think it’s shoddy work and avoid me like the plague. Of course, we all know the dangers of setting the prices too high.
So where does the middle lie? I have totally different ideas about reasonable costs for wedding stuff than most women, so I’m completely out at sea, here.
is it possible that you could offer a range of price ranges? Something like “budget” “mid range” “hideously expensive” - but obviously phrased with a little more flair than that? That way, your customers will just think that you can cater to every need and for every budget, which can’t be a bad thing. You could also do some research in the stores and see how much such things are being sold for at the moment?
Best of luck with the new venture; also with the job search. I know what you mean with regards to that.
I guess what I’m really asking is how much over my costs and labor I should set prices. Obviously longer, more detailed veils will cost a lot more because there’s more material and labor involved.
To give a concrete example, I’m making a veil as a favor/wedding present for an online friend that would cost $150-$200 in a bridal salon. The lowest price I’ve seen anywhere for a veil that length with similar but lower-quality decoration is $75. She’s spending about $25 on the materials, and I’ll have about 2 hours of work in the thing.
If I were to charge $75 for this chapel-length veil sprinkled with Swarovski crystals, that would give me a payback of $25/hour for my labor. That seems exhorbitantly high to me, and yet it’s half the store cost. I guess maybe the bridal industry is just an even bigger rip-off than I’d thought.
CrazyCatLady, IMHO, you’re looking at it from the wrong end. First, you must determine how much other places charge for such things. Then you look at your material costs. Assume you clip 10-20% off of the lowest price you’ve seen for a similar (but equal quality) design, in an attempt to gain market share. What you have left is your (I believe) gross profit.
Out of this gross profit, you must then be able to pay your salary, your marketing costs (please, advertize in local papers as well as the web. The ‘wedding’ industry in a city of any size should be large enough to accomodate one more veil-maker without having to rely on out-of-area customers), and any expansion costs (more materials for the next set of stuff you sell).
Note also that the stores also have to compensate their designers, who are seldom the same person as the seamstress. If you’re copying store designs, then you’re benefitting from the work of the designer without paying the designer for that work. Not a rare occurance in the fashion industry, but still might be something you hadn’t thought of.
Anyhow, once you subtract all of your costs from the price of the thing that you make and sell (note again: Unless you custom-make each order, not every veil you make will sell. So if you make 3 of those veils, you have to sell 2 before you make any profit. Which is also why stores have to charge more.), and there’s your gross salary. You then take the appropriate taxes out of it, and I doubt that what you have left is really as much as you think it’s going to be.
