Thoughts on appropriately pricing your work

This seems to be a dead horse topic but I’d love everyone’s input.

When I’m pricing I go by #1 the popularity of the sculpt,

whether or not “I” like my own work, and I’m proud to put my name on it. ( this usually back fires and I end up keeping the ones I love and the ones I hate go in the stripper bin)

Rooted or painted hair (I’m finding really well done painted hair is more desirable than mediocre rooted cause rooted hair requires maintenance)

Open eyes or sleeping acrylic eyes look ok but glass is more expensive and perceived as quality

Then the biggest factor is …

Are people buying??? What season is it? Are people buying for kids for Christmas? Or themselves with tax refund money :thinking:

Do you price differently for in person sales (doll shows or craft shows) vs online via Facebook Instagram Etsy eBay reborns etc?

The trend at doll shows seems you need to price lower because of all the immediate competition and craft show people will think your nuts asking $1000 for a vinyl doll :thinking:

Do you not really consider the above or factor it in to a formula that includes material and time spent and marketing etc

I got into this for fun and to make one doll for photography purposes and now I’m screwed lol

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My input will not be popular but …

There were 2 different types of Collectors but now there seems to be three.

First are the Realistic people that want a perfect baby
Then there are people like me who want an imperfect doll or Alternative
Then there are doll collectors that want any type of doll that they can afford
All 3 try to fit in one Community. Hoping they will be accepted by everyone. I can speak from experience with my Alternatives that does not go well a lot of the times. Some people do not like selling kits to Alternative Artists. :face_with_peeking_eye: There is more but I will leave it there.

From my experience Alternative Reborns sell faster than Realistic Dolls.
I like a well painted Art Doll that stands out from the rest. Hyper Painted or just a doll that has a Unibrow, Port Wine Stain, Albinism, etc… something different. I don’t care about the eyes, or none, as long as they match the baby. Rooted hair is best but if it is a perfect Art Doll, that doesn’t matter.

For Holidays Grinch Avatar Fairy etc. would sell best. Remember the Yoda craze. I wouldn’t spend $1000 on a doll and would rather have a boo boo baby to fix up myself.

Now that being said I am slowly backing out of Reborning. It is a Hobby for me and I have never sold a doll. I give them away to family and friends and they are always Alternative. I have to con them into taking a Realistic doll. I do have a few realistics myself.

I don’t know if I’ve answered your thoughts but I wanted you to know my opinion.
Hope that helps if even a little. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Yes that’s exactly what I am wanting! Everyone’s input because everyone has so many unique and different ideas we can hopefully help each other and maybe find a nugget or two of information that helps or maybe even some inspiration!

I love seeing other people’s well made alternatives but it makes me sad when I see a badly made baby turned into an alternative just because it was badly made. I’ve thought of it myself with my reject babies :rofl::rofl::rofl: I am saving my crusty burnt Alexa to do something with but not sure what :pleading_face:

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Can’t wait to see what you do with Alexa! :hugs: :melting_face: :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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Me too :smiling_face_with_three_hearts::rofl::rofl::rofl:

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First I consider all my expenses and multiply by 2. Then I ad my “artist fee” (time+experience). I finally adjust the price if it’s a LE or SOLE kit.
I didn’t get to go to a lot of craft fairs, just 2 so far and an other one coming this December and sold nothing but I adjust the price for the market here but I prefer sell them online for the right price than having to sell them too cheap here.
I didn’t find that my alternative sell faster than my regular.

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I don’t sell often. I usually look at what’s sold in the past, see which are similar to my skill level and materials I used and go from there.
I’ve made several alternatives but never actually sold one. I have a bad habit of wanting to keep everything I make.

Now I did turn a badly made baby into an alternative once… But that poor thing was beyond saving. “Yeah, I bought it cheap and tried to fix it but I have no experience painting vinyl”. The whole thing had glue and random paint everywhere, and the paint they used flat out refused to set so it was all sticky and gross. I figured I might as well turn it into something instead of letting them trash it right away. :rofl:

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I am not selling this year - war in Ukraine depression brought no desire to paint, health issues, and painting prototypes that are dear to my heart that I prefer them to stay with me. But I am planning to be a vendor on NC 2023 DOTWE show to pull me out of my ‘no creative’ zone. Seems that it helping so far.

Selling in person to me has bigger advantages then selling online as people can see true coloring, all the details (of luck of them), hold them, etc. So, I am not planning to sell them for less. I also don’t care if other people will think if my prices too high. They worth that effort to me and if I’ll base my formula on the time that I spend, they will be priceless as I don’t paint or root fast due to my full time job. But even if I would not be working I don’t think I want to turn my hobby into money making obligation. I also don’t plan to reduce my show prices on the 2nd day. If they worth that much to me on the day 1, they equally worth to me on the day 2. They can all go back home with me. I am doing it for fun!

Maybe it’s a bad show strategy, but those are my plans.

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Doll show prices don’t have to be lower. The only reason some of us list them for less is because they don’t come with box openings. I try to make a variety of price ranges for the shows, anywhere from $250ish for a cuddle baby to $1100 for a toddler. The ones in the $1000 price range sell just as well as the cheap ones.
As for the last day of the show, lots of artists do drastically reduce their prices so they won’t have to fly home with a bunch of dolls. And some of us lower the prices slightly. And some don’t lower them at all. I drive to the shows. So I don’t feel the need to purge. And this summer I’ll go to Raleigh and then to Kansas 2 months later. So the dolls that don’t sell at Raleigh will be brought to Kansas. And some of the ones that didn’t sell at Kansas this year will be saved for Raleigh. It’s easier to save them for the shows instead of trying to sell them online.

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Is it bad though? :smiling_face_with_three_hearts::smiling_face_with_three_hearts::smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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I think that is a good plan :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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My plan also to see your there :wink: :kissing_heart: :kissing_heart: :kissing_heart:

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It does prep people to expect them to wait until day two and buy them at a discount :pleading_face: do people ask for discounts at shows like they do online? I went to a tiny doll show in Buffalo that had mostly antique porceline and some vintage fashion dolls and they were super cheap! That same show had posted they were looking for reborn artists but there was nothing even close there and I think anyone at the show would have felt some type of way if there were quality reborns there sold at a fair price $600-$1200 cause everything else was so cheap. :pleading_face: it was a show by a “doll club” so they kinda all knew each other for the most part and collected and sold the same things. It would have been like if someone was selling porceline dolls at ROSE. They are beautiful but not the same thing

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I’ve been talking to Mark about it. It’s only ten hours from me so we will see. He says yes every doll show though and you see how that’s worked out :rofl::rofl::rofl:

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I have feelings it will happen this time! :dancer: :dancer: :dancer: :dancer: :dancer: :dancer: :dancer: :dancer: :dancer: :dancer: :dancer: :dancer: :dancer: :dancer: :dancer: :dancer: :dancer:

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@YelenaRey Big big Hugs!!! :hugs: :hugs: :hugs:

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Thank you, Annie! Hugs back to you! :hugs: :hugs: :hugs:

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I have about 15 reborns in my living room, with random doll parts here and there. I have to warn guests before they come over. Once we had a closet delivered in the living room and my little zombie scared that poor man so much! :rofl:

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Yes!!! Please come! :heart::heart::heart:

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That sounds like so much fun :heart_eyes: