Pricing

I'm in the midst of a quandary about how to price my goods. I try to set a price that I would feel comfortable paying as a buyer but also pricing high enough to make a profit on what I'm selling, not that I've been selling much of anything lately anyway. Some of the things that I make don't cost a lot to make and don't take a whole lot of time, but if it's priced too low, does that make people feel like it's 'cheap'? As in poorly made? Do buyers see a perceived value in things that are priced a little higher? I see things on etsy that I know exactly how much it costs to make and exactly how long it would take to make it, and then I see what to me is a fairly high price for it, and then I also see that buyers are buying it, so it makes me wonder. A good example is a necklace like this:

Very pretty and priced (and selling) at 39.00. Now, I'm not sure how much the chain costs, lets say less than 5.00, and I know the flower is less than 2.00, because I've bought some from a seller on etsy. So, all you have to do to make this necklace is drill a hole in the flower, put in a jump ring and put in on the chain. You may also have to cut the chain to length and put a clasp on it, but I'm thinking 10 minutes to make, and that's a stretch at that. So, let's say 7.00 in supplies and 10 minutes of labor and you're making a pretty good little profit at 39.00 a pop. Now, would I spend 39.00 on such a simple little necklace? Um, no, but that's just me I guess.

Well, I have my own version of this necklace, where I've sugared up the flower with glitter, but used a ball chain which is cheaper than other chains. So, I had this necklace priced at 8.00, thinking that buyers would jump at it, being such a reasonable price, but then got to thinking that if they'll pay 39.00 for a necklace like this, maybe 8.00 is just way too cheap and they need to see a higher price before they'll buy. So, I've raised the price to 12.00, feeling kind of like I'm ripping buyers off with such a high price (to me anyway) for such a simple easy to make necklace.

I went through my shop and raised the price by a dollar or two on a lot of things yesterday, so we'll see if higher price=higher percieved value or not.

I'm also thinking of getting away from just jewelry and trying some other ideas, like the embroidered hoops in yesterday's post, but it's hard to spend money on new supplies when money is so very tight right now. I know over the course of my etsy career I've wasted huge amounts of money on supplies for things that didn't sell or didn't come out the way I had envisioned. Good thing I can write all the mistakes off on my taxes, though!