Putting price tag on your creations?

[FilipT]

Hey guys,

I really want to sell couple of my bows and if interest is good, do it also in the future, maybe offering somewhere a custom making. Problem is that I really don't know what price to put on my bows.
How do I assess my bows without putting price too high or too low? How do you guys do it? Do you measure price according to time you spent making particular bow, according to shape, or even according to draw weight?

Advice is greatly appreciated.

[jaxenro]

Don't sell bows I doubt anyone would buy mine but I have sold other things

Pricing has nothing to go with time, materials, or the like, as absurd as that seems. They have to do with profitability. As Warren Buffet says a stock isn't worth what you paid for it but what you can sell it for. The same applies a bow isn't worth the time effort and materials you have in it but what you can sell it for

Figure out what a comparable product is selling for and what, if anything, differentiates you from that and use that to develop your baseline. If five comparable bows by different makers average x dollars then yours should also sell for x maybe the low end of x until you build a name

Once you determine x you then plug in your time and materials to see if it is viable to sell them

[FilipT]

Thing is that we have this website in Croatia where you can sell anything or buy anything. Regarding archery subsection of website, most of the stuff you can buy are either compound bows or fiberglass ones. Just couple of self bows.
So, regarding self bows, I would have small number of "rivals".

Regarding selling bows or not. A small influx of money would be great for me, as a jobless student. I love my creations but I am not so much attached to them so I wouldn't feel sorry for selling couple of bows.

[jaxenro]

If the website lets you search past sales look for comparable bows and use them to determine the price.

As I said once you have the price you can determine if it's worth selling for you. For instance if you enjoy making them you might want to sell for materials cost and a small amount over that for some extra cash. So you might then price yours below another's price and be happy with it. All looking at the other bows does is determine a price baseline sort of a small version of market research.

I used to buy and sell a lot of collectibles on eBay. We used to use the idea that the third highest bid determines what you could sell a comparable item for or resell it for if you bought it

In Example

High bid $250
2nd high $245
3rd high $195

I would price at $200

[Del the cat]

It's a tricky question...
Self Yew ELBs and Warbows from professional bowyers can be £500 -£600
On the other hand there are some dodgy quality bows On the auction sites at moderate prices say £150 - £200 which is why I would never sell one on there.
I don't sell many and I prefer to sell to people who will visit, I also will maintain or replace bows and I tell people my guarantee is the pride in my workmanship and I will have no qualms about  refunding or repairing if there is a problem.
Basically I have to be happy with the price as does the customer so I tend to go for a nice round £300.
I take no deposits and I tell people it's a gentlemen's agreement. I undertake to try and make a bow and if they want it they can buy it, but they are under no obligation to do so.
I've had very few no shows, but I have had to replace one and refund one which developed an irreparable problem.
Now I've retired I'm more inclined to only make them for people close at hand, friends or people who take the trouble to visit.
Beware of having bows out there which you can't maintain, that's why I won't ship overseas.
To me it's about the fun of making them, the money is very much secondary, although I wouldn't want to be depriving professionals of their livelihood.
Dunno if that's any help.
Del

[Pat B]

Priceless!   

[FilipT]

Very good advice from you guys.
But I must say that even 200$, which is for you guys maybe smaller amount of money, translates into 1/3 of the average Croatian monthly salary. I must think of price even lower but not so low enough. After all, I have to earn something.

To illustrate, one guy I saw on that website sells his bow for about 260$ and I guarantee you he will never sell that bow. That small number of Croats interested in archery would rather go to one particular hunting website and buy a fiberglass one, or buy a Samick from olympic archery shop (*vomit*).

It will probably be under 200$ for one of my bows.

[Eric Krewson]

I have always priced my bows so the average person could buy one. I started at $150 20 years ago, raised the price to $300 over the years but never went higher except for the price of snake skins.

When my price was $150 you could by a custom recurve made by a reputable dealer for $250. Now a custom recurve could cost $500 and up. My price would still be $300 if I were to sell one but I have stopped offering them to the public.

My advice is to start low on your price, develop a customer base and gradually raise your price. If you make great bows, the word will spread and people will seek you out. I was turning down up to a dozen people a month when I was at my peak making bows, I could only make so many working full time at a regular job.

I never advertised but sold bows all over the world, people in other countries found out about me somehow. Word of mouth is a powerful advertising tool, especially if you are a stand up guy, offer a great product, replace broken bows no questions asked and refund money if the customer is not happy with a bow like I did.

Think of a fair price to charge archers in Croatia and don't base it on what we pay here in the states, your economy is vastly different. Establish your good reputation first and the orders will come flooding in. 

[BowEd]

Stalker....what I've done is hand them over to a bow shop owner friend of mine to sell that loves the primitive aspect of bow making.He makes some himself too.

[jaxenro]

Hi,

The $200 was just demonstrating a method to use online auction sites to determine pricing not a recommendation of what to charge. My main auctions buying and selling was coins and collectible knives and this worked well for that. The thinking being if I buy at auction i need to beat the next higher bidder but if I then go to sell it he only needs to beat the third highest bidder as the first (me) is no longer in the buying pool. So if I buy at $250 he only needs to beat the third bidder ($195) and doesn't need to go to $245 again.

If the site you have in Croatia is an auction style this can also help to determine the market by gauging the number of bidders.

One other consideration if there is a public archery range or club near you join and bring your bows and shoot them. See what people offer you for it or for making them one like it

[FilipT]

Its not auction site so there is no bidding. You just put your ad of product you want to sell.

I think I got enough good advice here. I am gonna start low, and see if the word spreads. Thanks all. I am going to leave this thread open for other potential advice.

[PatM]

Are you sure you've made enough successful bows to be sure of their long term reliability?

[Hawkdancer]

Ask yourself, "what can I afford to pay for the bow, and of course, back it with a guarantee.  Can another student afford one of my bows?"   Many of us have been in the broke student mode at various times so we know that part of the situation.  The difference in economies is important to consider.
Hawkdancer

[willie]

how about some sunshine?, Pat

[PatM]

Things grow best when it rains.