“Be who you are and say what you feel. . .because those that matter don’t mind and those that mind don’t matter”
I’m not sure who said this, but it was brought to mind today…
No crafty talk today, but instead a little blurb about people and how some can be completely oblivious to how rude they are (although it is craft related).
I received a message on Etsy today from another seller. She simply stated that compelled to tell me that these magnets that I had for sale were “adorable”, but that she felt they were underpriced and that I wasn’t being properly compensated for my talent. Nicely put, and although I noticed that she sold product similar (for much more), I took it as constructive criticism and told her that I appreciated her sharing her opinion. Which was crap… I could see her angle from a mile away.
Anyway, she felt the need to send me another message. This time, the sweet concerned tone took a turn in a different direction. In this message she proceeded to tell me that not only was I calculating the cost of making these items incorrectly, but she also accused me of drastically underpricing other sellers – as if that was my objective.
Now, these magnets are made from recycled beer caps. I take used beer caps, put scrap-booking paper or magazine photos inside and then I fill them with a craft epoxy. Then I simply hot glue a craft magnet on the back.
It doesn’t cost me a thing for the caps – as I, and many of my friends and family often enjoy a cool refreshing brew from time to time. I (or someone else) enjoys the beverage, recycles the glass, and then I upcycle the cap. Most of the time the pictures that I use don’t cost me a thing either. I either use bits and pieces of old scrapbook paper, or small photos from magazines, or sometimes I print the images from my computer. The only things that really have a measurable cost to them in this process are the epoxy and the magnet. Although the epoxy can be a little bit spendy, I always buy it when I have a 40 or 50% off coupon. Not to mention one box of epoxy can make 50 or so bottle caps. I get magnets for roughly 10 cents a piece.
The last thing I consider when pricing items is the mark-up to compensate for the time and effort I put into the craft. I rarely mark it up more than 1.5 times the cost of materials. I take a lot of pride in my work. However, I don’t feel that my “pride” or ego should be reflected in the price of my work.
I’m sorry that you feel so self-important that you need to charge an arm & a leg every time you glue a piece of garbage to a thumb tack. Or maybe it is that you don’t feel good enough about yourself that you need some sort of monetary ego boost to get help you sleep at night. Either way, I really could care less that I don’t make as much “profit” as you do. I actually make this stuff because I love doing it, not because I want to sponge as much money from my buyers as I can.
That being said, I often wonder if people like that realize how rude they are. Although my response isn’t exactly “nice”, I chose to post it here, rather than sending it directly to the person. I know that they could very easily come across the link to my blog and read this – and I am okay with that. However, it is my bet that they are so oblivious that they wouldn’t even realize that it was directed at them.
If anything, it just felt really good to get that off my chest…
My name is Tera and this is my blog...
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