So you’ve finally decided to turn your love of crochet into a business? Heck yes! Whether you’re selling at craft fairs, on Etsy, or to friends and family, one of the questions that always comes up is: how much should I charge?
Pricing your handmade crochet items can feel confusing and even a little intimidating (especially when people don’t always get how much time and love goes into each stitch). But don’t worry, I’ve got your back!
There are a lot of factors that go into how to price crochet items, but in this post, I’m breaking it all down in a super simple, no-stress kind of way.
Today, we’re going to talk about these topics and more:
- Why do crocheters have the tendency to sell themselves short when it comes to selling their wares?
- How do you make sure you’re actually paying yourself fairly? (because your house doesn’t have to be a sweatshop!)
- How to confidently set prices that reflect the true value of your work – without the guesswork!
If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re charging too much, too little, or just want a better system for pricing your handmade goodies, this is the post for you!
Why Do Crocheters Undercharge?
Crochet has always been a craft of the heart. I can remember my grandmother making baby blankets for anyone who had a bundle of joy on the way. She never thought to charge for her craft.
This was her way of showing love. But you are not here to learn about “love prices”. I love you Granny Rose, but I’m running a business and need to make a profit for my time.
When handmade gifts such as crochet are given so freely, the gift receiver can’t grasp the time that went into it. How many times have you heard, “That’s way too much for crochet!”?
It’s because someone in their life probably gave them something handmade as freely as my grandmother did and it’s one of the reasons it’s so hard to decide how to price crochet items.
Guarantee, if I were to give that same person a crochet hook and said make a sweater, they would crack. Crochet is hard work and crocheters are skilled workers!
You would never ask a construction worker to build your house for the price of materials, right? Hopefully, as crochet becomes more mainstream, so will our prices!
How to Price Crochet Items: Online vs In-person sales
There is definitely a pricing difference from selling online to selling at craft fairs. Have you ever noticed that online prices for crochet are much higher than at craft shows?
Craft Fair Pricing
Attend any local craft fair and you will see the incredibly low prices for crochet items. Crocheters are notorious for under-selling themselves at craft shows.
This is my opinion, but I blame ourselves. We spend months preparing for the craft show. Making enough inventory to fill an entire table. Creating options in every color. Then we worry about having an overstock of inventory that just won’t sell.
So, we drop our prices even lower.
Let’s also remember the type of customers that are at these events. They are looking for ANY great unique handmade items at rock bottom prices. Crochet is not the only reason the shopper attends these shows.
You will see an assortment of vendors. You’ll even get the occasional price haggler. Couple this with heavy competition, and we feel we have to keep our prices low.
My tip in competing with craft fair prices is looking the part. Have a wonderfully crafted display that showcases your hard work. When a customer asks why an item costs so much, kindly explain the work that goes into crochet.
Online Pricing
Personally, that is why I prefer to sell items online and use craft fairs for my overstock. Online you have a larger base of customers who are specifically looking for crochet items.
Plus, you can scope out what the competition is charging, which can give you a serious leg up on deciding how to price crochet items to sell.
You are also able to market yourself on many social media platforms to bring customers to you.
You can potentially grow a large customer base from around the world. After building a reputation online, you’ll be able to increase your prices even higher than your competition.
Sounds pretty good, right? You can learn more about How to Make Money Selling Crochet and the pros and cons of different sales channels on my other blog post.
How to Price Crochet Items: 3 Ways
There are 3 popular options for pricing your crochet. Charging materials x3, charging hourly, and lastly a combination of the first two. We will look at all three and find out which is the right choice for you.
Charging Materials x3
This is my least favorite way to charge a client for a commissioned item. This form of pricing doesn’t take into account the amount of labor put into the project. Remember how I said crochet is a craft of love?
Well, we can see how that factors in when it comes to using this form of calculation. Let’s take a closer look:
*Timing is based on my own personal crochet experience.
Example 1: Crochet Hat Created with Double Crochet
- Cost of Materials: $5
- Labor: 1-2 hours
- Price: $15
Profit: $10
Example 2: Amigurumi Stuffed Animal
- Cost of Materials: $5
- Labor: 5-6 hrs
- Price: $15
Profit: $10
Can you see how this is a bad way to figure out the prices of your handmade items? Crochet is very labor-intensive work. There is a knitting machine and sewing machine. Guess what?
There is no such thing as a crochet machine. Each stitch is created by hand, which is another factor that makes it difficult to decide how to price crochet items to sell.
You can see from the example above how a simple stitch crochet hat is less labor-intensive than amigurumi.
Let me be the first to say that I will never do a crochet amigurumi project for only $10! This is one of the most time-consuming & labor-intensive forms of crochet.
To the untrained eye, amigurumi is a small, cute & quick project. We all know it’s not. Don’t undercharge yourself using an out-of-date pricing system.
Charging an Hourly Rate
Charging by the hour is a better choice than the previous option. You won’t have to do any fancy calculations to figure out how much to get paid. Charging by the hour takes into account how much time you put into your customer crochet creation.
As with most things, you will find some downfalls to using this technique, like the fact that crochet speed is dependent on the creator. It will vary from artist to artist.
Example 1: Baby Hat
- Cost of Materials: $5
- Labor: 30 mins-1hr
- Price: $6-12
Profit: $1-7
Example 2: Afghan
- Cost of Materials: $75
- Labor: 10 hrs
- Price: $120
Profit: $120- 75= $45
In these examples the pay discrepancy is obvious. With the hat, you are making $1-7 a profit! At least with afghan, you make a little more money, but when you subtract the cost of materials, are you truly getting $10 hr?
$45 / 10hrs = $4.5 a hr
Call the labor department on yourself because you are paying yourself sweatshop wages. Why would you choose to make less than minimum wage?
We’ve all seen the craft fair booth that was charging way less than they should have been. Trust me, you don’t want to be that person! Instead, learn how to price crochet items the right way!
Charging Per Hour and Adding Materials.
After a lot of trial and error. I found this to be a better option to calculate the price for your next commission crochet project.
This one involves more brainpower than the previous two options, but you will earn the money that you deserve. Plus, the Crochetpreneur website has a price calculator that uses this method, so that will make it easier!
Like the previous two, this option has some caveats. Before we get to those, let’s look at a few examples.
Materials and Hourly: Cost of Materials + (hourly rate x # of hours) = (wholesale price) x 2 = (retail price)
Comparing All 3 Options for How to Price Crochet Items
Example 1: Hat 1-2 hrs, 1 skein of yarn @ $5
- Option 1: $15
- Option 2: $12-24
- Option 3: $17 (wholesale), $34 (retail)
Example 2: Scarf 2-5 hrs, 2 skeins of yarn @ $5 each
- Option 1: $30
- Option 2: $24-60
- Option 3: $34-70 (wholesale), $68-140 (retail)
Example 3: Baby blanket 5-10 hrs, 6 skeins of yarn @ $5 each
- Option 1: $90
- Option 2: $60-120
- Option 3: $95-155 (wholesale), $190-310 (retail)
Example 4: Sweater 10-15 hrs, 8 skeins of yarn @ $5 each
- Option 1: $120
- Option 2: $120-180
- Option 3: $160-220 (wholesale) $320-440 (Retail)
Example 5: Afghan 30-50 hrs, 15 skeins of yarn @ $5 each
- Option 1: $225
- Option 2: $360-600
- Option 3: $435-675 (wholesale), $870-1350 (retail)
Which Method is the Best Way?
As you can see the price range varies wildly depending on what option you use. So how will you know which method for how to price crochet items works the best for you?
I don’t recommend using the 3x material option. Depending on what project you are making you can really sell yourself short. We are here to make a profit not give away to charity (not that there’s anything wrong with that).
I don’t recommend the hourly option because it varies widely from project to project and from crochet artist to artist.
I recommend taking both materials and hours of labor into account combined with a little bit of research.
Sometimes this method can create some seriously high prices. Depending on what you are creating, retail prices such as the afghans can send your customers running.
$1350 for a crochet afghan can be a scary price (even though you deserve it).
Here’s where you can get creative by reducing the cost of materials by buying yarn in bulk, or by choosing to work with crochet stitches that you are faster at.
I like to use the whole – retail price as a range, then look online for other comparable pricing. Etsy is a great place to see how the competition is setting their prices.
Here’s a break down of the comparison between all three methods:
Conclusion: How to Price Crochet Items
Now you know how to price crochet items like a pro! When you take both your cost of materials and hours spent crocheting into account, you’re no longer just guessing.
Making informed choices that value your time, skill, and creativity will ensure that you get paid fairly for your work, and that you’re able to explain why your crochet items cost the amount they do.
Remember: you’re not just selling yarn and stitches. You’re selling art, hearts, and literal hours of hard work. Don’t let anyone talk you into undervaluing that!
It’s totally okay to make money doing something you love, and it’s more than okay to charge prices that support your goals, whether that’s a little side income or a full-on crochet empire.
At the end of the day, your ideal customer isn’t just looking for something cheap. They’re looking for something meaningful and that’s exactly what you’re offering. Now you know how to price crochet items the right way, so go ahead and set those prices with confidence.
You’ve earned it!
P.S. Don’t forget to check out my other blog post about How to Make Money Selling Crochet. It’s packed with tips about taking good photos, comparing options for where to sell your items, and taking advantage of social media and other marketing avenues.
Or maybe you have been thinking about how to Start a Crochet Blog to Make Extra Money!