A question of business

[avia]

So, I am thinking that I might start to do a small business type thing, making patches. The kind that you sew on clothes, or, you can pin them on. They are going to have various neurodiversity type statements on, because, I don't see a lot of people making patches/buttons for actual neurodiverse people, more like cure stuff. I also want to make therian/otherkin/non-human ones, and, similar things that not typical people might want.

(A lot of these, it's meant to be "communication patches", you put them on your clothes/bag/etc. and you can point at them when you don't wish to speak but you have something you want to say.

• simply one that says, Autistic Pride with a rainbow infinity symbol
  
• also, therian/otherkin/asexual/etc. pride ones
  
• “Neurodiversity (in small font: “has no”) Rules”
  
• “I have a right to exist”
  
• “Not making eye contact doesn’t mean I’m a liar”
  
• “I don’t feel like talking right now”
  
• “Please don’t touch me”
  
• “I’m concentrating, don’t interrupt me”
  
• “Not everybody speaks with words”
  
• “Not a native speaker of any language”/”Language is not my native language”
  
• “I speak fluent emoticon”/”I speak best in text”/”I speak fluent kaomoji”
  
• “Stimming IS a language”/”Flapping my hands IS communicating”
  
• “I spend my whole life trying to learn your languages… could you even try to learn a little of mine?”/”I spend my whole life trying to understand your world… could you even try to understand a little of mine?”
  
• “Do not pet” (based on the service dog ones, it could make people laugh because, people do act like they can just pet and touch people sometimes… I want one that says “Do not pet the swan” in particular….)
  
• “Don’t assume I’m not happy just because I’m not smiling”
  
• “I’m not trapped in my own world, I choose to live there”
  
• “Noise hurts”
  
• “Keep calm and stim” (I think, the “Keep calm” trend is a little used too much but, it would be funny in this case I think!)
  
• “The eyes are the windows to the soul. You assume I want to look at your soul.”
  
• “My body is not your property” (I would like this for a general rape/harassment awareness button too!)
  
• "The internet is a part of real life"
  
• "The internet: a place where deaf people can speak and be heard"
  
• "Text IS speech"
  
  I got some blank patches and, I have some iron-on transfer paper that is left from another project. I also want to put charms, beads, etc. hanging from the bottom, and, I want to do custom versions.
  
  For each patch, what I will need is:
  
  
  • blank patch (they cost $1.50 each)
    
  • transfer paper (I think that for $10, I can get about 10 sheets, cutting them into pieces will give me enough for about 100 patches so, it's 10 cents for each patch)
    
  • two safety pins for people who want to pin them on (didn't look at the price of this yet)
    
  • charms and jump rings (I have some jump rings, I don't have charms, the charms will be most expensive. I can probably buy a large box of various beads for not much money, but, for special charms that I want to do, like a paw charm for a therian patch, it will probably be about $2 for each charm)
    
  • shipping cost (about $2 to America plus enveloves?)
  
  Total: about $2 for regular patch, $4 for special charm patch, $4/$6 with shipping
  
  So, I am trying to think of how to make this make actual money for me. I don't want to charge a lot, but, at the same time, it will be hard for me to make anything if I don't charge at least $5+shipping for the special ones.
  
  My questions to you are:
  
  
  • What do you think is a good price for special patches (with charm that matches the patch)?
    
  • What do you think is a good prince for regular patches (would just have beads)?
    
  • Do you think it's fair to charge more for patches with different special charms than the regular ones? Or, maybe I should make it all the same price (meaning that the regular ones are more expensive) to make up the cost of the special ones by selling regular ones?

Comments

[whatawaytoburn]

You should possibly go ahead and look up and see how much other people are selling this sort of thing for, then you can get a better idea of how much you can charge. I have no idea how much these things actually cost aside from the monetary breakdown you gave me, so I can't really give a good suggestion.

[avia]

*nod* The problem for searching for it, I don't think anyone has made anything like this before! With little charms and things. It definitely adds to the price. But, most people are selling patches for $3-4 + shipping, so, that could work, it could add it into the cost of all, in general.

[aethyriek]

I am not sure, because I can't work out the break even for this. You need to make sure you at least break even. I do think it is fair to charge more for special patches, even if only to cover the material cost. Unless you work the overall material costs for all kinds of patches into your break even budget. ...Actually I would still charge a little more for them for labour and, well, it is not wrong to make a living off your craft. (:

[avia]

*nod* I've been thinking of charging something like $4 + shipping for all patches, it seems like a good price and it would cover the cost of the more expensive ones. Hmm~

[redsixwing]

I think I'd charge more than that, honestly. (This from someone who routinely undercharges for art, too.)

On Etsy, machine-made, mass-produced patches are going for anything from pennies to 10-15 dollars a piece, and I didn't see any with the kind of beads, charms, or coolness you're talking about here. I think you could easily charge 5-6 plus shipping for your smalls, and 10 or so for the ones with extra materials and work.

It may even be worth making a trial batch to see how long these take, and figuring out your desired per-hour rate, and thus a guideline to pricing, from there?

[avia]

Hmm, I never thought of pricing it per hour... because I don't track time mostly （´・ω・｀） hehe. But, you have some interesting thoughts! Thank you, I am definitely going to think about it~

[featherhearted_girl]

For myself, I would want, "I speak better in text."

I have a friend who I would get "Don't assume I'm not happy because I'm not smiling." She gets asked so many times if she's "okay" and people try to cheer her up when really she's just focused on something or just...is.

[avia]

Oh, thank you for this~ It's good to know what ideas people prefer.

I am hoping to work on these soon, I got the patches but, I need to test out different types of iron paper for the printer because, the one I have is not good.

(Oh, and I know that a lot, yes. My natural expression doesn't look happy, but, when I'm not focusing on how I look to the world, it's usually when I'm most happy....)