Guys, I’m losing my mind over this, and could really use some help. The second and third and forth guessing is becoming a huge struggle.
I haven’t been actively selling lately (needed a long mental break after dealing with a truly insane customer/scammer/stalker situation) and how I used to price myself is not working. In the past, I would seek out the same sculpt on Reborns and price myself based on similar quality of work. Now, most people hide their sold prices on Reborns. Etsy is a hot mess with so many people using stolen photos, so I can’t do work comparison there. (It is shocking what Etsy is allowing these days. It’s infuriating.)
How do you price for a show? What do you find are customer expectations? Pricing less than what they might find online or higher with it being an in-person experience? Are prices all over the map? I’ve seen such huge ranges in online videos from shows that it’s so confusing to know where to even start.
Look on reborns.com again. The ones that have sold often don’t say for how much, but looking at the ones that are listed will give you an idea of what other people are charging for a similar level of skill.
Make your own price they are made by you so it is fair if you ask the price you wanted to have for them
If they not want than they most look furter
It is ridicules now a days the costumer are make there price that is not as it should be
Not sure which doll show you are going to but here is what I saw at DOTW last year.
There is going to be buyers looking for dolls in the $300 and under range. Budget babies or affordables. Typically they expect those babies to look as good as the $600 and up babies. Michelle Manning paints a line of babies she sells in that range and gives them Prisma drawn hair. She apparently has some type of process she uses where she does the same thing on each baby because they all seem to have the same color pallet to me. They are all dressed very nicely. She sells out of those usually.
Then there are the buyers that will buy the babies in the range up to about $600-650. That seems to be where a lot of customers fall. My vinyl babies usually fall in that range but I have some higher prices this year due to rising costs.
Lastly, there are the buyers who are willing to pay $800 and up for babies by their favorite artists that they follow. Some of the artists selling in that range did very well and some of them did not sell anything last year. I had one artist to tell me she can go to Kansas and sell her babies for $800 and up just fine and she marked them down to $600 ish each last year at DOTW and did not sell a single one of them. I am not sure if her following was not at that show or why. The one thing I did notice was that all her babies were dressed in simple white onesies with her logo.
There was another lady there who had nicely rooted babies in the $450-600 range and they were dressed well. I am not sure if she sold any babies or not but they were not all getting snapped up like I thought they would. Here are some of her baby photos I screen shot from her page.
That brings me to my next thoughts. I think presentation and your own following is a huge part of the process. Babies dressed in new crisp and coordinated outfits catch the eye more and seem to get more attention. Babies with nicely rooted hair get more attention. I do not root, I paint hair. So I find I must consider that when pricing my babies, balanced along with my skill level as well as my following. I do have a pretty good following because I have been reborning 20 years now. Last year’s DOTW was my highest selling show ever and I did very well.
I guess what I am trying to say is that there is not a cookie cutter method for this business. First and foremost you have to do you. Develop your own style and if people like it they will begin to follow you. You need to produce well done babies and it takes time to build a following. Until that happens, you can either sell at a lower price point and slowly raise it as you go so you can cover your costs or you can stick to your guns and hold out for what you want. It is a coin toss as to what works best I think. Especially in this market and at a show where there are so many choices for buyers.
You are amazing!! That was incredibly insightful and helpful! I’m going to DOTW. I’m not surprised that Michells’s $275 babies sold like hotcakes, but holy cow, how does she make anything off of them at that price? Their quality and clothing are so nice!
I’m really trying to create a cohesive, nice, presentation, as I agree that is what can initially catch the eye. I have a background in design, so I’m hoping to draw folks that way. I don’t have a huge following…a bit over 1K on IG, and mainly I have repeat customers vs new. I’m not one to do Tik Tok or market myself in that way, and I know that hurts things…but I just don’t have the time or energy. I am proud that my following is all folks that found me on their own and I haven’t done any special marketing to get them there…so at least they are organically interested.
My husband is so supportive and doesn’t care if we lose money, but he is also the kind that worries about NOTHING, even when the sky might literally be falling. LOL! The sky is ALWAYS falling in my mind, so I guess that’s why we’ve been married 20+ years and haven’t killed each other. ACK! I just cannot bear the thoughts of selling nothing and all of what we have in this be lost. We don’t necessarily depend on this for income, but in this economy, we need all the help we can get…don’t we all!!!
In your experience, do vendors lower prices to move remaining babies on Sunday? I’ve seen in some videos where the prices have been lowered and I am wondering if that happens late Saturday or just on Sunday.
Thank you again for all the work you put into your reply. It has given me a lot of factors to consider and put many things in perspective. I appreciate your help more than words could ever say!
Thank you all so much! All of that was extremely helpful.
My biggest fear is that I’m not going to sell a single thing and lose money…which we do not need! I’m honestly not sure I want to, or can, keep Reborning, so I think I would rather make what I can in the moment and not focus too much on the future - i.e holding out for the higher price points - I’d rather sell than not sell.
If anyone wants to toss out pricing ideas, here are some samples of my recent stuff - things that will be at the show.
This image of Tessa is probably the most defining of my work since it shows the detailing the best…
I have two Spark dragons…one more girly and the other more boyish, but both fairly similar. These little guys have been sold out for a while and their kits are being sold for insane prices. (I just saw one unpainted kit go for $500!) I’m not interested in hiking their price through the roof simply because of those kit prices, though. Not here to take advantage of that situation, but he he is quite rare being that he is sold out and there were only 200 made. I’d love to hear your thoughts on how to price the SOLE stuff…
Your work is lovely. With painted hair, I would mark about $450-$500.00. I don’t know about your dragons? I don’t jack up prices on SOLE kits unless I paid a premium price for the blank kit. I sell my rooted hair babies at KDS for $600 to $900.
Your babies are lovely!
Yes, many do mark their prices down on Sunday. In the middle of the day they were making constant announcements over the speaker saying X seller has $50 off or $100 off etc. I do not do that. I bring back my babies and sell them on my website.
They don’t. She had several (5 or 6) on the 2nd day and reduced their prices at DOTWE 2023.
This year at ROSE her sells were nor great at all, even with those prices. Not sure how she did on the 2nd ROSE day, but I know that they all were even lower.
She told me that she price them low in hope that they will all sell to recoup her traveling costs.
This is why she brings LOTS of clothes from the UK.
I do not. Whatever I think my art worth on the 1st day, it’s worth equally on the 2nd.
I think only people who ship boxes or taking them on the airplanes do that.
Now with 4 show per year it seems that people just take them back and sell them at the next show.
Whatever I don’t sell at the DOTWE goes to the Yophi’s with me
Last year I didn’t sell a lot at DOTWE comparing to my friends, however people who saw my babies contacted me after the show immediately. They were willing to pay show price + 4% PayPal fees + shipping.
So, what I am trying to say - in any case, don’t be discourage and don’t let the sales affect your mood and fun that you’ll have.
And those who didn’t sell at DOTWE, were bough immediately at Yophi’s. Go figure.
Some people put absolutely unreasonable prices on SOLE kits. I would not price completed work based on that.
My advice price it what YOU would pay for it if you would be a customer. This is how I do it
I posted almost all my babies with their prices in FB DOTWE group (I am YelenaRey). I am transparent on my pricing and don’t understand when people reply ’ i am not sure about my pricing yet’.
Base on what you posted here I can say that Your work is amazing!
This year sucked for me at ROSE. (like many others)
I however live close (5 hr drive) so I do not attend as a vendor with the NEED to make more than I spent, etc.
But always with the HOPE that I will
Any how I sold 0 out of 7 normal dolls this year. (ranging from $300 - $900 for a rooted toddler)
Painted hair, and rooted hair. All mine were sleepers.
I also had Kiwi, Shelden, Periwinkle (my prototype), and 2 alternative contest entries. (Bronwynn as a dryad and Spark with added clay scales)
0 sold. (I sold 5 online BEFORE the show and 1 online after)
I also brought paci clips, diapers, pacifiers, teething rings, blankets, cake pop rattles, 3D printed plugs and some other random things.
I sold 2 blankets and 3 pacifiers… for the 2 days.
So I was unable to shop at other vendors booths/tables
ROSE
I also vended in 2022 and sold about half of what I had. I think 4 out of 9.
I vended in 2018 and 2019 (the bigger shows) and sold over 10 reborns both years and had a booth both times.
I have never sold an alternative in person, only online.
Just wanted to respond because I am one of those people that responds “not sure on my pricing yet” because that is the truth. I have not set my prices before the show. I have a range in mind but have not figured all the variables into what I think is a fair price.
I’m afraid I’m not finding the kits I need to compare on Reborns. It’s wild, but I’m just not having any luck. 
I’m honestly not sure I want to, or can, keep Reborning, so I think I would rather make what I can in the moment and not focus too much on the future - i.e holding out for the higher price points - I’d rather sell than not sell.
