Not sure how to price? Custom plushies!

[Scraleos]

I'n not massively sure where to put this but if it's in the wrong place I'm sorry!
I'm wondering how to price a custom plush. Not to buy one, but to make one. I don't make plushies that often anymore but my mother does! Someone asked us about life-size plushies but we have no idea what to charge! We're gonna have to figure out how to make our pattern larger but we're not sure how to do that yet. But I hope my mother is up for it because the pony plushie business is being pushed out of the way for those cheaply made knock off plushies making a life size Princess Twilight will get us a lot of popularity in the long run! If you wanna gauge the quality of our plushies, there's a link in my sig.

Thanks everyone!

[hathorcat]

I am going to pop this over to the Art forum for you

You ll get more expertise over there with people who make plush and perhaps have thought of similar projects.

Good luck with your plan. A life size TS would be amazing!

[ZennaBug]

Plushies are hard to price.  When you take into consideration the time and materials, they often end up being so expensive that very few people can afford them.  But they are still popular, so they can bring in decent prices still.  When you say life-size, do you mean actual pony-sized?    Because that would be enormous and totally awesome.  Your mom's plushies look very nice.  I think our plushie artists would be able to give you a better idea of price than I can, as they are the ones who sell them. 

[Skeen]

Well, I'd just scale up from what she normally charges.  Like, how much bigger is this life-sized plush from her normal ones, percentage-wise?  Find out, then charge at least that much more percentage for everything. 

...Did that make any sense?  ::more coffee::

[Tilas]

Best way to price something is Cost of Materials + Labour + Oh crap.

Cost of Materials-
This isn't just fabric, you also have to take into consideration your tools like scissors and pencils, your machines like your sewing machine, and even the power it costs to operate your machines, light and heat your workspace.

Labour-
This is always the hardest as so many people short change themselves. Look at it this way- would you work at a job for $2/hour? If the answer is no, then why are you making plushies for that price? Sure, maybe charging $20/hour is extreme, but find a happy medium. I believe that your labour wage should be whatever minimum wage is in your area. So if it's $8/hour, then charge around that. You must always be fair to YOU.

Oh crap-
Things happen. Waste happens. Mistakes happen. And especially- the customers needs can change. Always tack on at least SOME form of leeway to your work, that way, if some big mistake does happen, or more often, the client makes a change in the middle of the project, you're still covered. Any contractor will tell you the same thing, they always write this quotes with this in mind. I've worked with many contractors in a variety of fields from electrical, plumbing, carpentry, to upholstery, and they've all said the same thing, you always need to be prepared for "extra things".  Usually they do a percentage (+30% of materials is common) so that when something does come up, they're not losing their shirts over it.

Remember, this is a business, and you (and your mother) are artists who deserve to be treated with fairness.

[Scraleos]

Thanks for the advice guys! People always seem to want great quality for a cheap price, which is really what we are since my mother doesn't want to raise her prices lol but I just don't want her charging something silly for it like £20 extra on top of our regular prices! Because scaling our pattern up is gonna be a challenge lol