How Much!?! Sorry it's too expensive for me!

I have been trying to write a Blog on pricing goods, I have deleted it and re-written it so many times. So hopefully today is the day and someone other than me is reading this.

So you had an idea; you put it down on paper and eventually it became something you are ready to sell. How do you decide what to charge? Well, you could pluck a figure out of thin air write it on a tag and hope it sells BUT is it a fair price? Have you covered the material costs, your time, the cost of utilities used etc? Are you making a profit?

There are lots of books, Blogs and videos out in the world that will give you many different equations on how to price your goods but there are so many variables that I feel it should be up to the individual how they make up the cost of an item.

Do we cost the research time for an item, the planning stages, the proforma stages or do we only count the time spent on the final item? If we are making items for say a craft market or to make stock for an on line store we probably only count the time spent making the specific item. If we are working on a bespoke item then the design time for a specific customer may to be taken into account.

Clearly there are so many variables to be added into any calculations used for pricing. Let us try and look at some of them individually and see if we can make our own equation.

1. Material costs ... you need to work out how much the materials cost you, don't forget to take into account the postage you paid or the cost of travel to collect materials. Did you pay VAT?
2. Your time ... so many of us under charge when we calculate this one! At the very least you should be charging at minimum wage BUT realistically as an artisan, a skilled worker you should be charging more than minimum wage. Your time is valuable and you should be charging properly for it.
3. Utilities ... when you are creating your hand crafted item the odds are you are using one or more of the following, power for tools, lighting, heating and running water.
   Who pays the bill? You do. So surely you should consider passing some of the costs to the customer.  
4. Profit ... that is quite a scary word to some people, often people feel embarrassed to talk about their profit on an item  BUT you are in business and as such you want/need to make a profit. How much profit margin you add to your items has to be up to you; some people add as little as 2.5% whilst others add 50% or more.
5. Wholesale or retail price ... these are different. Wholesale is usually when you are making a quantity of something for the same customer that they are going to sell on to their own customers. You need to charge a reasonable figure for wholesale but you also have to price it so that your customer will be able to make a profit when they sell it on. You will need to know your Retail price to calculate a RRP to tell a wholesaler (RRP = recommended retail price) If you are selling the items direct to the customer you are charging the RRP ... the difference between wholesale and retail is a % profit. BUT when you are selling wholesale you still need to make a profit.
   So basically you need to calculate two prices for your items the wholesale price and the retail price.
6. Are you charging VAT? If you are then you will of course have to add this into the calculations
   Please note that VAT in the UK at the time of writing this is 20%

So here goes at an attempt to make an equation ...

materials + time + utilities + profit = wholesale price

wholesale price + profit = retail price

Don't forget that you may also be adding VAT to the above equations

What we haven't taken into account here things like photography to display your items on line, stand fees and travel to craft events to sell your items, your time at craft events, website costs, postal costs, paypal or bank charges involved in taking payments, costs of other on-line stores. Only you can decide which of these you pass on to your customers. 

I can already hear people saying "if I charged minimum wage for my work plus all the other stuff being suggested people wouldn't buy my items." I ask you ... are you not worth minimum wage?

I am only making suggestions here, this is not set in stone, I am not telling you this is what you have to do, these are purely suggestions. You have to decide for yourself what you are going to charge but I hope this has given you something to think about, somewhere to start. You know your target market and the price range that they would be willing to pay. Believe it or not people will pay more for good quality hand crafted goods.

I am sure this is a topic we shall revisit as I am sure there will be much feedback from our readers, some agreeing with what I have written and others wholeheartedly disagreeing. 

fluffy love & hugs
from
Mother Duck

Should I really be flattered if my work is copied?

Why is it when people see a piece of your work or a picture of it they say "I think I might make one of those" rather than where can I get one of those? Even if said in jest it makes the designer of the original piece bristle and get upset.

How many times have you been at a craft fair and heard someone say 'I could make that' or 'that's expensive it's just a couple of beads(fabric or whatever)".
I have been creating items to sell via craft fairs and wedding fairs for a number of years now and I still hear it, yet every time I want to tell these people how long it had taken to make from inception to completion. Often at craft fairs or on the website we don't price items to their true value, taking into account the work put into the item, materials, cost of utilities used, transport to get it to the craft fair, your time for a day at a fair etc (the thorny issue of pricing our products are for another Blog) and we know that the people saying these things are unlikely to actually go away and do it but you never really know.

I spend a lot of my time making a product to sell; not just the physical time spent making it but the time spent sketching ideas, drawing or writing a pattern, checking the pattern works by making a prototype (often several to get it just right) and finally sourcing all the materials etc to make it just right BEFORE it gets to my stand at a craft fair or the website.

We are all told that pride comes before a fall BUT why shouldn't we be proud that we have designed something, if we've created the pattern, adapted it several times to get it just right and finally producing something beautiful ... even a practical item can be beautiful. Why shouldn't we be proud of the hard work, and final item?
Hold your head up high, say I designed and made that. If you are using someone's pattern then you can say I made this beautiful thing because such & such a person took the time to create the pattern; give credit where credit is due.


A word of advice if you use a pattern, whether knitting, crochet, sewing, jewellery or anything else make sure you read the fine print. Many patterns have a little note that says "for personal use only" which in a nutshell means you cannot sell the items you make from this pattern. You need to get written permission to sell items you make from commercially produced patterns; just because a crafter publishes patterns in their Blog it doesn't mean you can take that pattern, make it and sell items ... check with the Blogger first.  No matter where you purchase or find a pattern check the fine print ... even if the pattern is in a book there will be a note in the front or back of the book saying whether you can use the items made to sell. If you cannot find it in the small print then it probably means you cannot sell the items you make BUT no matter where you get the pattern from you should out of courtesy name the pattern creator. For example "this item is made using a pattern from ........." NEVER claim it to be your original design if it isn't.

Many designers of patterns that you can find in books or on the internet are happy to sell you a licence that will give you the permission you need to sell the items you make; obviously they set limits and these should be adhered to to avoid legal issues at a later date. A licence will cost you but better to buy the licence than risk a very expense law suit for breach of copyright. Some companies have what is called an Angel Policy which will mean that they give limited permissions for their patterns to be used, each is different so check them out don't make an assumption you can sell if they have an angel policy. The thorny issue of intellectual copyright is too complex to tackle here but is one you have to consider if using designs created by someone else.

There are many, many agencies that will register your unique designs to protect them; I haven't personally used these,yet, but if you do have a truly unique item and want to protect it then it might be worth checking the agencies out. The one I have noticed at larger craft events is http://acid.eu.com/  I have also had these two suggested to me http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/ and http://copyright.co.uk/index.html  I haven't used any of these Agencies and cannot vouch for them; you will have to make your own mind up whether you want to register your UNIQUE design/item and whether any of these can help in your own situation. You could also seek legal advice but be aware this may cost more from the outset.

As crafters, artists, and designers we enjoy making something new to share with the world but that doesn't give the world permission to copy what we have made and say that it is their own.

Be unique!
with fluffy love & hugs from
Mother Duck

And the winner is ...

Thank you to everyone that took time to enter our competition.
The winner is Sarah Stiff.
We selected the winner from all of the correct entries received by numbering them in the order they were received and selecting a number using Random.Org

I do hope Sarah gets great pleasure from her necklace when it arrives

much fluffy love
from
Mother Duck

Treasure Hunt or Hunt the Hunk as it has become known here

If you would like the opportunity to win this necklace from Mother Duck then all you need to do is go to our website
 www.dizzy-ducks-creations.co.uk
and follow the clues.
I must just say at this point that we have used pictures of scantily clad men and women to hold the clues! You have been warned, just trying to save your blushes LOL

Please note that we do not hold the copyright to any of the 'hunk' images (except the puppy, he's ours) they were all found on Google images.

So here’s how to be in with a chance to win ...
1.
Follow the clues, these will take you to our online shop, our gallery and our website.
You will need to open the picture of the item to find the clue and may need to scroll down on the picture of the hunk as the clues are at the bottom of the picture.
2.
When you find the last picture you will be asked a question (the answer can be found on the website).
3.
Once you have the answer send it in an email to competition@dizzy-ducks-creations.co.uk
4.
Only one entry per person ... we trust you not to enter using multiple email addresses

The competition closes at 8pm (UK time) Sunday 15^th Janaury.
The winner will be chosen at random from all of the correct answers received.

The winner will be emailed and once we receive acknowledgment from them, including an address for posting, we will announce the winner on the Blog and our facebook page.
The pix holding the clues will remain on the website until the winner is announced and there is nothing to say you can’t go and view the images more than once.

You have to be in it to win it and it's not going to cost you anything!

Have fun searching the website for the hunks and their clues.

love & fluffy hugs from
Mother Duck

So we have waved goodbye to 2011

So 2011 has passed into the filing system of time.

We should look at 2012 as a new chapter in the book of life, each day is a lovely new blank page for some wondrous adventures. As Mother Duck has always said we can make some amazing memories from even the most mundane tasks. 

My biggest dilemma for any New Year is the new diary selection ... I am so particular about its configuration and all the little extras that I want too. Am I the only one that is so picky and therefore finds it so hard every year to find the perfect diary. This year I have the answer, I think, I have a filofax. I am like a little  girl in a sweetie store I didn't know there were so many different things I needed for my diary! LOL

So what adventures lie in store for 2012 for Dizzy Ducks Creations?

The first wonderful thing happening is the updating of our logo ... we are not getting rid of Dizzy, we just couldn't do that; our Logo was one of the first things that we purchased when we started the business and Dizzy is one of the ways our returning customers can locate us at craft fairs and wedding fairs. So no he isn't going anywhere he is getting a make-over ... not a how to look good naked kind of make over, heavens we couldn't ask Dizzy to ditch his feathers for anybody! We have trusted the lovely Claire at  https://www.facebook.com/DesignatNo.11 with his make over. She is also creating Mother Duck's new business cards, letter head and compliment slips. We are so excited! We have had a peep at our new Dizzy and he is soooooooooooooooo cute but we are not giving away any secrets. We are looking forward to his launch on the website, our fb page and hopefully some new banners for craft fairs and wedding fairs.

Mother Duck's next  Blog will also include a little competition ... I will be offering the chance for someone to win the lovely necklace in the picture above. But I have a problem with this ... the last time we did a similar competition we didn't really get a great response. So let me ask you, is having a competition on the Blog a good idea? The competition would probably be in the form of a question to be answered and the winner will be randomly selected from the correct answers.

So apart from wishing you all the most amazing adventures in your book of life for 2012 Mother Duck wants to send you all lots of fluffy love & hugs.

Where did the summer go? As we move into autumn we reflect on what we have been doing since out last Blog.

The workshop, affectionately known as “The Duck pond”, has had its refurbishment. Lots of lovely new shelving and a new hand built computer desk. We have so many plastic boxes – everything has been given a lovely new box so it will all fit beautifully on the shelves; we cleared the two closest Staples stores of a particular size of box. I wonder what they thought we were doing.  But the workshop is finally coming together, although there is still an awful lot that needs to find a tidy home! Mother Duck thinks we may need an extra little ‘shed’ so that we can have a fabric stash storage area – lots of yummy fabrics in storage boxes and on rolls, there is so much of it all! 

The workshop is also now in the 21^st Century as we now have an internet connection; not sure if that is a good or bad thing as the easy ability to get on to the web could easily be a distraction.

This is part of the fabric stash, for the time being in the corner of the workshop; sat beautifully next to the hand built computer desk.

Did you know that you can buy from Dizzy Ducks Creation 24/7 via our website? http://www.dizzy-ducks-creations.co.uk/
We also have an open order book; if you see something on the website either for sale or in the galleries or in our fb photo albums, contact us and see whether we can make something similar for you. We also love making bespoke items, designing something just for you.  If you don’t ask you never know whether we can make something for you unless you ask.

Since our last Blog we have added a tab for Wedding Stationery to the website and we are actively attending Wedding Fairs. We are planning to make a full collection of our Swarovski crystal wedding jewellery, we have a volunteer who is willing to don her wedding dress and model for us and a local wedding photographer will take some professional pictures for us. We will let you know when it is happening.

We also have several Craft Fairs in the run up to Christmas – eeekkkkk we have mentioned the dreaded C word! There are 108 days until Christmas (today is 7^th September) and it is NEVER too early to shop for Christmas!

We are frantically planning, albeit a bit late, our Autumn/Winter collection it will include jewellery, bags and gift items. If you have any ideas or particular wishes please contact us, we have a contact tab on our facebook page and on the website, so let us know and we can try to include them too.

love & fluffy quacks

Mother Duck

The trolls and the disappearing ducks

It has been a while since Mother Duck has paid any attention to our Blog ~ sorry; life just has a habit of getting in the way of things!

So what news from Dizzy HQ?
Mother Duck had a short but successful stay in hospital; she is relieved to report that all results were negative and that we can all breathe a sigh of relief.

Our fb has been visited by trolls, an altogether unpleasant experience, causing us to close the page for a few days. So what is an internet troll?

 "a troll is someone who posts inflammatory or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion"

It was a very distressing experience and not one that Mother Duck would like to repeat. There are apparently many fb pages being targeted at the moment and the only way to beat the trolls is to delete the comments, ignore the rubbish they are spouting, report them to fb, delete the person leaving the comments and block them from the page.

On a lighter note we are getting a makeover, for the first anniversary of the website in September we will be getting a revamp ~ choices, choices, choices. That is not the only revamp ~ we are also doing a makeover in the workshop. After six years of working Dizzy Ducks has changed dramatically and so our work space needs to adapt to our current needs.

Change is very exciting but can also be somewhat daunting so there will be lots of discussions over the coming weeks as to what changes we can effectively make that create a better working environment without blowing the budget!

Whilst all that is happening we are squeezing in a holiday!

Hope you all keep busy through the summer whatever you are planning. I will try and blog a little more regularly in the coming months.

Love & quacks

Mother Duck