Welcome to the Muppet Central Forum!
Jim Henson Idea Man
Back to the Rock Season 2
Bear arrives on Disney+
Sam and Friends Book
Buck-Beaver
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 16, 2002
- Messages
- 4,174
- Reaction score
- 162
Hi everyone,
A made this up after the subject of pricing things came up in a thread at Puppets & Stuff...it's an excel spreadsheet that provides a method for pricing your work. Pricing is really tricky - as I'm sure most of the people who sell puppets here know - and a lot of artists don't know how to price properly. There's a number of factors to consider, including:
Step #1 - Calculate Your Fixed Expenses
Fixed expenses are expenses you pay no matter how much you sell. Examples would be:
Once you add up your fixed expenses next you have to figure out how many products (puppets, workshops, or whatever) you can realistically do in a month. Then divide your total fixed expenses by the number of products you can produce in a month. The result is your fixed expense per puppet sold.
Step #2 - Determine Your Variable Expenses
Variable expenses include anything you pay per puppet you sell (foam, eyes, etc.). Don't include shipping costs because they should be added on top of your selling price. Add up your variable expenses for one puppet and add them to the fixed expense per item sold. The sum is your True Cost.
*Once you calculate your true cost, you can't sell your puppets for any less than this amount...otherwise you loose money every time you sell something!
Step #3 - Determine Your Selling Price
Once you know how much each item you sell costs (your True Cost), you can determine your actual selling price. Basically, you have to decide how much of a profit margin you want. For example, in the spreadsheet the true cost of each puppet is about $585. If I wanted a profit margin of 10% then my selling price for each puppet would be about $645 and I'd make about $58.50 in pure profit after every puppet sold. That doesn't sound like a lot, but remember I've already calculated a monthly salary for myself as part of my monthly expenses.
The puppet price in the spreadsheet varies according to the profit margin you enter.
Calculating your profit margin is more art than science and it usually takes some time and experimenting to decide what will work for you. The really important thing financially is that your profit either goes in the bank to be saved or gets re-invested in the business, make your salary one of your expenses!
The spreadsheet is for excel and compressed in a .zip file. Thanks to Shawn over at Puppets and Stuff for hosting it! Please let me know if anyone has any questions.
http://www.puppetbuilding.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/puppetpricingcalculator.zip
A made this up after the subject of pricing things came up in a thread at Puppets & Stuff...it's an excel spreadsheet that provides a method for pricing your work. Pricing is really tricky - as I'm sure most of the people who sell puppets here know - and a lot of artists don't know how to price properly. There's a number of factors to consider, including:
- The cost of your product or service
- Your sales volume
- Your competitor’s prices
- Your company’s competitive/creative advantage
Step #1 - Calculate Your Fixed Expenses
Fixed expenses are expenses you pay no matter how much you sell. Examples would be:
- Telephone/cell phone (if it's for business only)
- Office supplies
- Web Hosting fees
- Insurance
- Anything else I've missed
Once you add up your fixed expenses next you have to figure out how many products (puppets, workshops, or whatever) you can realistically do in a month. Then divide your total fixed expenses by the number of products you can produce in a month. The result is your fixed expense per puppet sold.
Step #2 - Determine Your Variable Expenses
Variable expenses include anything you pay per puppet you sell (foam, eyes, etc.). Don't include shipping costs because they should be added on top of your selling price. Add up your variable expenses for one puppet and add them to the fixed expense per item sold. The sum is your True Cost.
*Once you calculate your true cost, you can't sell your puppets for any less than this amount...otherwise you loose money every time you sell something!
Step #3 - Determine Your Selling Price
Once you know how much each item you sell costs (your True Cost), you can determine your actual selling price. Basically, you have to decide how much of a profit margin you want. For example, in the spreadsheet the true cost of each puppet is about $585. If I wanted a profit margin of 10% then my selling price for each puppet would be about $645 and I'd make about $58.50 in pure profit after every puppet sold. That doesn't sound like a lot, but remember I've already calculated a monthly salary for myself as part of my monthly expenses.
The puppet price in the spreadsheet varies according to the profit margin you enter.
Calculating your profit margin is more art than science and it usually takes some time and experimenting to decide what will work for you. The really important thing financially is that your profit either goes in the bank to be saved or gets re-invested in the business, make your salary one of your expenses!
The spreadsheet is for excel and compressed in a .zip file. Thanks to Shawn over at Puppets and Stuff for hosting it! Please let me know if anyone has any questions.
http://www.puppetbuilding.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/09/puppetpricingcalculator.zip
Maybe you can merge this one with 
