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bears by beesley TMHi guys. :DI know this question has surely been asked before but what the heck, I will ask again. I am having a terrible time pricing my bears and was wondering what formula you guys are using? I try to factor in the cost of materials and my time but as the old saying goes.... If they are not selling fast enough rethink your strategy. I am up for any and all suggestions. In Canada the dollars is much less than US so if I post in Canadian dollars it looks to high for my US market and because Canadians know the difference in US to Canadian dollars they have a fit when they see US Dollars. I dont know, please give nme your best and worst advice. I seem to have a much larger US market than Canadian anyway. We Canadians tend to be frugal. HAHAHA!!!!!:rolleyes::/
Hugs Louise:;)
Loiuse- My mom is an antique dealer and she triples everything she buys as her selling price. I tend to follow that idea.:) I will figure out how much my materials all cost and determine a range that I would charge. 3 times my cost = the lowest I'd ever sell it (maybe to a retailer or if on sale) 4 times =what I'd sell it to move it quickly and 5 times= my normal starting price. It varies on the quality of bear. If I put lots of love and time and creativity into a bear, I might change pricing, but that gives me a place to start. 
Back Road BearsLouise - you might want to check out the topic "price??" posted on June 2 as this might help answer your question.
I charge $10-12 per inch. Or you can sit and figure out the cost of materials, your time, overhead etc.
The going price, to be competitive with everyone else (except a few of those incredibly talented, highly sought after artists :)) is the $10-12 per inch. I add more if I've made an outfit or added an antique item that was costly.
Daphne
bears by beesley TMThank you Daphne and Kirsten. Excellent ideas. I believe I try to stay within those boundries. Appreciate all the help I can get.
Hugs Louise
Delartful BearsHi Louise,
It's terribly difficult, I know. I had no idea what to price my bears at also. I sell for way cheaper on eBay than what my price is on my webpage. I figure with auctions if I can sell more by selling cheaper, I am happy - I can continue to afford to make bears, and I don't need a lot of room (which I don't have!) Plus, hopefully my eBay price will rise once I've been selling there for awhile (only been selling on eBay for about a month)
My webpage price is somewhere in the middle of what other artists charge. I have seen bears in the 6" size starting from $50 US up to $250. I think my work is nice, I put a lot of time into the sculpting, so I charge around the $90 US mark. The Australian dollar at the moment is around the Canadian.
I hope in the end you're happy with what you can get. Don't undersell your work, or you'll never be happy!
Winneybears and Friends$10. to $15 per inch. for the bear only, add more for accessories and the time to make them.
Don't forget, it often takes as long to make clothes as it does to make the bear so if you are adding clothes, figure it out first before you do it so you can see what it costs, material and labor. It may work out better if you can modify the clothes in some way to cut down on costs and still have a nice bear in the end.
I make fashion bears fully dressed and found I had to modify the costume so it isn't so time consuming in order to keep the finished bear within a certain price range....Winney
