Pricing help on first baby

First ever baby! Will be getting rooted lashes and some more detailing on hands/ feet. Now I’m lost on a price!

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I think you should keep your first baby. She is cute, can’t wait to see her with lashes.

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Lashes always bring a baby together!

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Nice baby but this is your first baby.

Gonna have to make a whole lotta babies before you can start selling in my opinion.

This is not directed at you personally but we have so many people who buy the stuff, make a baby and get business cards. This takes time, there is a lot to learn, and you will have to let people know this is your first baby and price it as a very new first time baby. Too many newbies think they are going to jump in the deep end before they learn to tread water. It feels so good to get that first baby made, trust me…we have all been there.

Some people do this as a hobby and sell babies so they can buy more kids and that is cool but that still puts you in a different category than someone who is making a lot of babies and developing skills at a different level.

I am only saying this so you and anyone else who is putting a baby on a platform to sell can kinda find their lane.

A good place to start is reborns.com. On that platform you can see different babies made by artists with different skill levels, with different styles and take a look at some of their work in their nurseries.

To price I would add up what you paid to make this baby, every little thing from the kit to the body, down to the diaper and headband. Pay yourself and hourly rate for you time. Find three babies (this kit) that are painted at your skill level and see where you fit in, take an average. You might find it isn’t too profitable in the beginning but don’t worry, the more you practice and find your style, develop a customer base, a social media following you will find your prices will start to creep up, but it takes time.

Some people just take costs and triple that and get a baby price but that doesn’t take into account what the baby looks like, how popular the sculpt is and how the work was executed.

Hope this doesn’t make it seem bigger or harder than it is, it isn’t, it just takes practice.

I heard somewhere that putting in your 10,000 hours at anything will make you a master at it, and let me tell you these babies are so addicting to make you get your 10K in fast!

Again, that is a lovely first baby.

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She is a amazing first baby!!! She really is, but, it’s your first baby, you should always keep your first baby, to not only see how far you come in the art…but it’s a learning process.
I didn’t sell any babies until I made 10 or so…then they were only sold at supply cost to make another, the first 10 or so we’re given to my children and family members.
Your doing a great job but I wouldn’t even worry about pricing or selling until you’ve done some more babies

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Hey! I’m one of those cost x 3 people :shushing_face:

LOL, but really @Gabriell is right. I had a lot of practice before adopting this pricing scheme and the way things are going, it is hard for any newcomer to break into the $300s on the regular.

I sold my first baby and my second and I don’t regret it. I did not love them and they earned enough to buy the next kit, so I basically made negative profit. I kept that third baby because she was the first one I did that actually looked like something, so yeah still heavily in the red at that point. I did not turn a profit on a doll until I sold my 6th doll.

Your Ruby is a lovely baby and you did a great first job. I would have kept my first if it had looked like that. What I have done with a couple of my early babies is to update them -added details, new hair, etc. In fact, now that I work with alpaca that 3rd doll of mine is about to be plucked and rerooted. It is fun to see photos of her evolve.

If you are determined to sell her, I would stick to the $150-300 range. Under promise and over deliver and you will start catching eyes.

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I decided to give this baby away on my instagram instead!

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That’s very thoughtful and a great way to get your name out there! I’d follow if I had insta! Best of luck she truly is a beauty!

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Thank you!

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I think you should keep her. I am not in love to my first baby as I didn’t know anything about sculpts and she was the least expensive BB sculpt at that time, but she has emotional value for me as my first and I like to look at her and still be amazed what I did and how I did it, and also see how much I grow as a reborn artist since then. It is sentimental - first mottling, first painted nails, first painted hair…

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I gave my first babies to my mom. She still has them… they are horrid little monsters. I thought they were Great at the time. After that , for my first year… I put them up on eBay bidding started at the cost it took to make them. I let people bid, and I usually made double my cost. It took that long to put a price on them… you don’t want an unhappy customer… they will ruin your name. That would be expensive after buying all your templates, cards, birth certs, etc. haha our Goal is making people really happy when they open that box. :grinning:

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First , you should keep it. I still have mine, I was so happy with her…and she is so ugly . I can see where I started and where I am now .

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Agreed! I painted my first and sold her for right around 100$ shipped. Also included the fact that she was essentially a practice baby, my very first and would be “as is”. I don’t think artists with one or even 10 should sell for much more than I did and always should let people know, in the post, that you’re learning.

To original poster:
Love it!!

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I agree with Gina. My first was so horrid that it went into the trash after being stripped and repainted to no avail. My second was a Berenguer I stripped of all factory paint and painted with air dry paints. He sold for $18 on eBay. I took a few online reboring classes and did some tutorials, studied a lot of photos of real babies and other reborns. My first decent reborn sold for about $130 on eBay. Your first baby looks galaxies better than mine did.

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Thank you for saying this. :pray:t2: