If you’ve ever stared at a new product you made wondering how some people are selling things that cheap, you’re not alone. Pricing your work is one of the hardest parts of being a maker, especially when you’re the one doing it all: designing, printing, packaging, marketing, shipping, and cleaning up after.
Let's break down a question we see asked time and time again. How do you price products?
1️⃣ Stop comparing your prices to big-box stores (or even Etsy)
When you’re a small business, your cost of goods is never going to look like Amazon’s. They buy 10,000 at a time; you’re buying 10. That’s okay.
If you’re hand-printing shirts or even running your own printer, you’re not just selling a product, you’re selling personalization, speed, and service. Those are worth more. Most people are willing to pay a little more to shop small and work with someone one-on-one versus going to a big business that makes them a number.
Real world advice:
We once had someone say they could just go to Walmart for a shirt and get it cheaper. I smiled and said, “Walmart can’t make one with your dog’s face on it by Friday.” People usually get it when you remind them what makes you different.
2️⃣ Build your pricing up, not down
Start with your actual costs, then add your labor and overhead. A lot of people starting out make the mistake of being the lowest cost around, or chasing the bottom line. Don't get stuck in that or you will burn yourself out.
Here’s a quick breakdown that works for almost anything:
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Materials: ink, blanks, transfer film, packaging (things that go into the product)
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Labor: your time × shop rate (ex: how much you want to pay yourself per hour. You HAVE to pay yourself, this isn't negotiable)
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Overhead: rent, utilities, software, insurance, water, sewer (if you are working from home, that is still a percentage of your bills.)
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Profit margin: 20–40% is healthy for handmade goods.
Market Research: Look at costs in your area or the area you sell to be competitive, but do not undercut yourself. Make sure your still making a good margin. If you can't be competative you may have to look at your processes to figure out why you aren't on par with local pricing.
If you build your pricing from the bottom up, you’ll know what’s safe to discount and what isn’t. If you always run sales, keep that in mind when pricing products.
Tip:
Track your real production time for a week. You’ll be surprised how many “5-minute jobs” are actually 25 minutes when you include setup, cleanup, and communication.
3️⃣ Your time has value, even if you’re not physically producing
Answering emails, updating listings, filming social posts, those are all business hours.
If you only charge for the minutes a machine is running or you're actively making a product, you’ll always feel like you’re chasing your tail. Build your hourly rate with all those hidden tasks in mind.
4️⃣ You can’t please everyone
Someone will always think your prices are too high. That’s okay, they’re not your customer. The right customers value quality and consistency and working with YOU. The wrong ones burn your time, drain your energy, and still complain about $3 shipping. Be firm and your ideal customers will come around. Know your worth.
5️⃣ Keep adjusting
Pricing isn’t one-and-done. Material costs change. Labor changes. Electricity changes. You’re allowed to raise your prices. (OR if you get faster at making it sometimes they can even go down). Maybe you buy a new tool that speeds up your production time. Or you hire someone who does your bookkeeping and now you aren't spending hours a week on that. Your business can’t grow if your pricing stays stuck in year one.
🧡 Final thought
You didn’t start your business to work for free. You started it for your own reasons, but also to build something sustainable, creative, and flexible, something that pays you fairly for the work you love doing.