pricing

[DanCrabtree]

I feel kinda ripped off since I sold one of my knives for 15 dollars. This isnt a bladesmithing question but a pricing question. This is about my 11th forged knife. It has a razor edge, aluminium finger gaurd. and an oak handle. What do you think its worth. My Knife I sold for 15 dollars

[Ray Rogers]

Only one person's opinion of what a knife is worth is important and that is the opinion of the potential customer (the marketplace). You can figure up the cost of your materials that went into making the knife and add to that the hourly wage you want times the hours invested to get a minimum price put on that knife. A customer may think it's worth far more than that or they may think it's worth far less.

After you come up with a starting price you may find that you sell your knives as fast as you can make them. In that case, raise your price . On the other hand, if your knives aren't selling you may have to lower the price. The rest is marketing.

It's acomplicated subject but the bottom line is the market will decide the value of your knives. Marketing is how we encourage the comsumer to believe the value is where we want it to be. There was a rather lengthy thread on this subject a few months back. You might want to Search for it....

[hammerdownnow]

lol...... 15 bucks looks like a right fair price for that one. I wish some one would offer me 15 bucks for one of mine. I asked my buddy if he wanted one of mine and he said, "Naw"....lol

[hybred]

link Ray was talking about
I did some looking around and found this post I thought you might find useful. . Ihave not, nor have I wanted to sell any of the few ive made(ive had several offers on my machete, there is a pic somewhere in here of it) but id does put a big ol grin on my face that I have got offers. I have found that when I spend 20+hours on a knife I grow attached to it and don?t want to get rid of It.. lol
Here are my ?newbie? thoughts on the matter. Like my machete, I have had several offers on it and people that have seen it want to make another one for them a little smaller or a little different. Ive told them that when I can make one that will be totally functional, not take me a month, and will Represent my work, time and skill (lol) I will be happy to sell one to them but not yet. Im sure the 15 $ sound kind of disheartening but I still didn?t sell even after offers of 100$ because I didn?t want to hear that they spent 100$ on a wallhanger. On the other hand that?s 15$ you can spend on making more knives, eventually leading up to what they are worth. Just my thoughts. . Hope the link helps, its long and has tons of info...............Jim

[Jason Cutter]

I think its a process of learning. I once sold a knife and took 5 cents for it. Just as a token payment. Hope you find some good stuff with the search function. An obvious part of marketting is that starting with a low price is more likely to give early results than starting high. It will give a chance for you to gauge what the "market" is like and what the "market" is saying about your work. Actually making a sale, any sale, particularly with the first few knives, will be groundbreaking for your development as a maker.

Another thing to consider is that as one improves in the craft (any craft), your impressions and critical appraisal of your earlier work is likely to change. I have knives I made and sold earlier in my knifemaking lifetime, I would love to buy back from their current owners. Just so I can destroy the knife... Jason.

[beebee58]

I second that Jason, I would love to have a few knives back "just to destroy".

[Nalis]

Do it like the oldtimers use to do..... keep account of how much it cost in materials, metal, wood, ect. Then times it by 3. 1/3 for materials, 1/3 for labor, and the last 1/3 for profit.
Of course that might suck as far as your time in concerned but we cant all be Bill Moran's when we first start out. Just a thought and my 2cents.

[Jason Cutter]

Originally Posted by Nalis

Do it like the oldtimers use to do..... keep account of how much it cost in materials, metal, wood, ect. Then times it by 3. 1/3 for materials, 1/3 for labor, and the last 1/3 for profit.
Of course that might suck as far as your time in concerned but we cant all be Bill Moran's when we first start out.

I like this one. Jason.

[rhrocker]

Hey Dan, just blow this one off to experience. All of us learn from selling our work, just part of the process. You did make someone happy with the tranaction, and that's a good feeling, no matter the $$ involved. You'll know how to handle it better next time around. Besides, I suspect even a Moran sold for $15 once )

[beebee58]

Dan, I was going to send you a photo of my first forged knife but was unable to send you a e-mail.

[DanCrabtree]

my email is dancrabtreeblcksmth@yahoo.com